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Huge pet peeve of Google... Develop a great little application/product that pulls you in and develops a decent user base only to have it disappear. I get that

Huge pet peeve of Google... Develop a great little application/product that pulls you in and develops a decent user base only to have it disappear. I get that in a normal company, the finances might in fact dictate that the company can no longer support the user base with the revenue collected. With Google.. these free services seem to disappear with little warning. (to be fair: 4 years of not updating the official Blog was a big clue...) All that said... just as I was getting used to Wave... poof Just as I was getting used to GOOG-411... poof Google Talk... Don't mind the innovation, but it seems that rather than releasing new versions of existing products to introduce new features and help folks migrate, you get an entire new product to learn/adopt. I can't believe I'm saying this but... I prefer Microsoft's approach to improving their product lines. (sigh)

notatoad 11y ago
Picasa web albums has hardly disappeared. It was replaced by Google Photos (then Google+ photos) a couple years ago. They left the old interface around for years to allow people to transition over at their own pace, you can't really expect a better migration path than that.
- Sanddancer 11y ago
  Google photos doesn't have a desktop app. Being able to sort pics on a desktop is just as important, if not moreso, as being able to sort pics on the web. Not everything needs to be, nor should be, a pure webapp.
  - jbob2000 11y ago
    That's kind of Google's modus operandi though, isn't it? They don't make desktop apps unless there is a distinct need for it (Google Earth, for example). They are all about the web!
    - striking 11y ago
      Furthermore, Google Earth only existed on the desktop because Google bought Keyhole who made the app. Google would not have made it if it couldn't be on the web.
      - notatoad 11y ago
        Same with Picasa desktop app.
    - CaptSpify 11y ago
      I think that's the complaint though: Why take a perfectly fine working desktop application, move it to the web, then remove the desktop side? Presumably, if I wanted the web version, I would have started with the web version.
      - usrusr 11y ago
        Because a free great desktop app, paid for by a freemium (or free-for-ecosystem-lock-in) online service was quite a thing, but never a permanent/sustainable one. I suspect that I will use an utterly outdated version of picasa for quite a while, because it already wildly exceeds my demands for an offline snaps-management application in its current version. Hope they did not sneak in a kill-switch in a previous update.
      - degio 11y ago
        by the way, I can find a million alternative cloud based photo services, all with comparable features. On the other hand, there are very few desktop picture managers, especially on windows and linux.
  - D_Guidi 11y ago
    >not everything needs to be, nor should be, a pure webapp google thinks you're wrong. me too.
    - mey 11y ago
      Google of course thinks that wrong, they want you on their platform. Doesn't mean it's what I want as a consumer (with a DSLR and NAS full of RAW images)
      - wstrange 11y ago
        You are not their target market - which is fine. There many good options for serious photographers. 90% of folks just want seamless backup and organization of their photos. Phone cameras are getting pretty amazing in quality these days. Google photos caters to that demand.
        newjersey 11y ago
        Is there any public information on how "unlimited" the unlimited storage is on Google photos? Is there a built in rate limit or max size per account?
    - ploxiln 11y ago
      Soon we'll all be running all our applications in facebook or googleplus or icloud, in a browser, in a virtual machine, on a proprietary-blob-driven all-in-one device. Apps will be announced with huge fanfare (the most innovative thing ever), they'll show up in front of you without any action required on your part, they will change drastically in front of your eyes, corner cases will be buggy, and then in a few months to a couple of years they'll disappear forever. yay, the future is almost here
      - marshray 11y ago
        Time to start working on the smaller, faster thing that gives its users more control on the other side of the pendulum.
  - xd1936 11y ago
    > Being able to sort pics Google Photos is amazing, but sorting photos in it is pretty lackluster. You can make albums... That's about it. It's sort of like Gmail; They want you to worry less about your complex organization system, and just use their fantastic search instead.
    - kuschku 11y ago
      > fantastic search Which is beaten by even PostgreSQL’s fulltext search in 'simple' mode. (At least for my mails). Hilariously bad.
      - wstrange 11y ago
        Photo search is pretty cool. I just searched for "James in the Mountains" and got photos of my Son in the mountains. I don't think postgres can do that :-)
        themartorana 11y ago
        Yeah, it's hilariously good actually. I find myself evangelizing the search. It's brilliant, and for the first time in my life, I don't feel a need to organize my photos.
        Jweb_Guru 11y ago
        It can, actually: https://github.com/postgrespro/imgsmlr https://github.com/postgrespro/imgsmlr :P
      - ChrisClark 11y ago
        I love the search. My wife wanted a photo of my son at the park on the slide. So I searched for 'slide'. All my photos that I've taken with any slide in it show up.
      - cname 11y ago
        Really? I've never not been able to find an email I was looking for in Gmail.
  - eva1984 11y ago
    It is on the phone. Just not on desktop.
- XJOKOLAT 11y ago
  How long before Google+ bites the dust? Sounds ludicrous, right? Until it happens. Lesson is: either pay for it, or support open source.
  - kbutler 11y ago
    I'm not sure why the "If I pay for it, it will continue" meme persists. Your payment does not guarantee continuing availability. Many paid products and services vanish as well. Require open source.
    - XJOKOLAT 11y ago
      True. No guarantees. However, my own anecdotal evidence tells me that everything I've ever paid for and cared about is still in existence (even the crappy little utility-apps). That's a far higher success rate than the company in question. And sure, there's a reason for that by the very nature of Google's business model and strategy. Doesn't mean I have to accept or like it.
sk8ingdom 11y ago
I'm still upset about Google Reader...
- masklinn 11y ago
  There's at least two of us then. Reader is what made me swear never to rely on a Google service for anything ever again.
  - sigjuice 11y ago
    I still don't know how to use the Internet without Google Reader :/
    - sls 11y ago
      https://theoldreader.com/ https://theoldreader.com/ works for me
      - 19870213 11y ago
        Ouch, automatic locale detection, and badly in need of a (proper) translator (for at least Dutch). And no way to switch language that I can find (wouldn't be the first time that was translated with ""). I'm currently using https://blogtrottr.com https://blogtrottr.com to get e-mail updates for RSS/Atom feeds.
        Gmo 11y ago
        Huh ? You can change the language (I'm in France and I have my theoldreader in English). You just need to click on your login at the top right and go to "Settings" (probably Instellingen in Dutch).
        19870213 11y ago
        I don't have an account there. But I just figured out that using: https://theoldreader.com/?locale=en https://theoldreader.com/?locale=en will also get me English text. That enables me to properly evaluate it before signing up should I want to.
anoonmoose 11y ago
Your comment about the blog prompted me to go check the Google Voice blog...nothing since May 2013. Crap. I've been using, loving, and recommending GV since I started using it in 2010 when I got my first smartphone...one day they're just gonna up and shut down GV and not only will I lose a service I'm extremely fond of but I also won't get, you know, phone calls, because that's the number I've handed out for the last five years.
- splintercell 11y ago
  OMG, my GV number is so precious to me, all my friends remember it because it's so easy to remember, in case if they lost their mobile phone and need to call someone.
- tshtf 11y ago
  I ported my number out of Google Voice a couple of years ago. Some things to keep in mind with GV: * Your only form of "support", even when paying to port out a number, is a forum staffed entirely with volunteers. If you're actually using GV it's useful to read through here to see the trainwreck: https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!forum/voice https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!forum/voice * As the parent mentioned, the GV Blog is barren. * You're better off porting out your number now given this support situation.
  - anoonmoose 11y ago
    Well, I mean, I certainly don't wish I did it years ago like you did- I love GV. I can't see myself leaving it until they make me, either through closing it down or making it too obnoxious to use or etc..
  - neves 11y ago
    Which consumer Google product has a kind of support different than a volunteer forum? Try to get help for Google Music, or Google+, or an Android software. They should at least sponsor and monitor some tags in the stack exchange forums like Microsoft does.
    - 11y ago
Numberwang 11y ago
Why they didnt evolve google talk into a skype clone is beyond me. I have 20 ideas at least of cool features, but as we only have skype this type of product will stagnate.
- whyever 11y ago
  Hangouts is kind of a Skype clone.
- tommoor 11y ago
  Yip, Google Talk is merging with Hangouts ... I wouldn't bet on those 20 cool features any time soon though
snake117 11y ago
> I get that in a normal company, the finances might in fact dictate that the company can no longer support the user base with the revenue collected. Although I never really used Picasa, Dropbox's decision to shutdown Mailbox and, to a lesser extent, Carousel, was particularly upsetting for me. Although in the case of Mailbox it was more due to a decline in acquiring new users after the buyout [1]. I'm not too bummed about it now as I've found better alternatives. [1]: http://www.theverge.com/2015/12/8/9873268/why-dropbox-mailbox-shutdown http://www.theverge.com/2015/12/8/9873268/why-dropbox-mailbo...
- mastazi 11y ago
  They also decided to shut down Skitch which I use on a daily basis. Lately I've been looking for an alternative (on Windows) and I think I will go for Greenshot http://getgreenshot.org/ http://getgreenshot.org/
  - TheWiseOne 11y ago
    Look into Snip from Microsoft (https://mix.office.com/Snip https://mix.office.com/Snip) and ShareX (https://github.com/ShareX/ShareX https://github.com/ShareX/ShareX) for a couple other alternatives.
    - mastazi 11y ago
      Thanks, both Snip and ShareX are very nice, I'm now testing them.
georgemcbay 11y ago
"Develop a great little application/product that pulls you in and develops a decent user base only to have it disappear" The worst part is when they do this with acquisitions (which Picasa was, though admittedly it was acquired quite a long time ago). Also, even when they don't outright kill apps/services, it is painful when they basically let them wither on the vine (see: Google Voice, another acquisition of a promising product that Google snapped up and then basically put into hibernation soon after).
at-fates-hands 11y ago
I rarely put much stock in Google products. Their approach seems to be to get a decent idea off the ground, then turn it over to the masses to use and figure out and suggest how they can make it better. This usually means no support whatsoever. While I can appreciate the whole, "Post something in our forum!" approach to customer service, I can't tell you how many times I've posted a question about a product or a bug and get fucking crickets for MONTHS. I gave up a long time ago thinking it was going to get better. When I see a new product they release, I'll kick the tires and test drive it, but no way am I even remotely putting enough confidence in it to use it on any of my projects. It's just too risky.
- Spooky23 11y ago
  One of my coworkers pursued a bug where Chrome would not update version numbers in WMI like 5 years ago... Fixed like a month ago.
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]
fencepost 11y ago
My expectation of Google Voice going away has kept me from doing more with it or many other Google products; what's funny is that by showing even token effort they could easily turn me into a $5-10/month paying customer instead of one who actively avoids depending on anything Google. As it is I'll keep paying my money to my lightly used long term online fax service and perhaps at some point I'll switch over to a paid SIP provider. As for GOOG-411 isn't it pretty widely accepted that it was free to build up a large pool of voice data without the privacy concerns of using Google Voice customer voicemail? Its end was guaranteed once they had enough training data for minimum viable voice recognition - on the same kind of phone microphones even.
- gst 11y ago
  I don't see a reason to not use Google Voice, after all it's easy to port the number somewhere else in case they shut down.
stordoff 11y ago
None of the shutdowns have really impacted me, but they definitely impacted how I approach Google's offerings. It's not that long ago that I would (at the very least) try out pretty much anything Google put out (e.g. Wave/Reader/Desktop/Drive). Now there's always a nagging feeling of "When (not if) will this be trashed?"

notatoad 11y ago

Picasa web albums has hardly disappeared. It was replaced by Google Photos (then Google+ photos) a couple years ago. They left the old interface around for years to allow people to transition over at their own pace, you can't really expect a better migration path than that.

Sanddancer 11y ago
Google photos doesn't have a desktop app. Being able to sort pics on a desktop is just as important, if not moreso, as being able to sort pics on the web. Not everything needs to be, nor should be, a pure webapp.
- jbob2000 11y ago
  That's kind of Google's modus operandi though, isn't it? They don't make desktop apps unless there is a distinct need for it (Google Earth, for example). They are all about the web!
  - striking 11y ago
    Furthermore, Google Earth only existed on the desktop because Google bought Keyhole who made the app. Google would not have made it if it couldn't be on the web.
    - notatoad 11y ago
      Same with Picasa desktop app.
  - CaptSpify 11y ago
    I think that's the complaint though: Why take a perfectly fine working desktop application, move it to the web, then remove the desktop side? Presumably, if I wanted the web version, I would have started with the web version.
    - usrusr 11y ago
      Because a free great desktop app, paid for by a freemium (or free-for-ecosystem-lock-in) online service was quite a thing, but never a permanent/sustainable one. I suspect that I will use an utterly outdated version of picasa for quite a while, because it already wildly exceeds my demands for an offline snaps-management application in its current version. Hope they did not sneak in a kill-switch in a previous update.
    - degio 11y ago
      by the way, I can find a million alternative cloud based photo services, all with comparable features. On the other hand, there are very few desktop picture managers, especially on windows and linux.
- D_Guidi 11y ago
  >not everything needs to be, nor should be, a pure webapp google thinks you're wrong. me too.
  - mey 11y ago
    Google of course thinks that wrong, they want you on their platform. Doesn't mean it's what I want as a consumer (with a DSLR and NAS full of RAW images)
    - wstrange 11y ago
      You are not their target market - which is fine. There many good options for serious photographers. 90% of folks just want seamless backup and organization of their photos. Phone cameras are getting pretty amazing in quality these days. Google photos caters to that demand.
      - newjersey 11y ago
        Is there any public information on how "unlimited" the unlimited storage is on Google photos? Is there a built in rate limit or max size per account?
  - ploxiln 11y ago
    Soon we'll all be running all our applications in facebook or googleplus or icloud, in a browser, in a virtual machine, on a proprietary-blob-driven all-in-one device. Apps will be announced with huge fanfare (the most innovative thing ever), they'll show up in front of you without any action required on your part, they will change drastically in front of your eyes, corner cases will be buggy, and then in a few months to a couple of years they'll disappear forever. yay, the future is almost here
    - marshray 11y ago
      Time to start working on the smaller, faster thing that gives its users more control on the other side of the pendulum.
- xd1936 11y ago
  > Being able to sort pics Google Photos is amazing, but sorting photos in it is pretty lackluster. You can make albums... That's about it. It's sort of like Gmail; They want you to worry less about your complex organization system, and just use their fantastic search instead.
  - kuschku 11y ago
    > fantastic search Which is beaten by even PostgreSQL’s fulltext search in 'simple' mode. (At least for my mails). Hilariously bad.
    - wstrange 11y ago
      Photo search is pretty cool. I just searched for "James in the Mountains" and got photos of my Son in the mountains. I don't think postgres can do that :-)
      - themartorana 11y ago
        Yeah, it's hilariously good actually. I find myself evangelizing the search. It's brilliant, and for the first time in my life, I don't feel a need to organize my photos.
      - Jweb_Guru 11y ago
        It can, actually: https://github.com/postgrespro/imgsmlr https://github.com/postgrespro/imgsmlr :P
    - ChrisClark 11y ago
      I love the search. My wife wanted a photo of my son at the park on the slide. So I searched for 'slide'. All my photos that I've taken with any slide in it show up.
    - cname 11y ago
      Really? I've never not been able to find an email I was looking for in Gmail.
- eva1984 11y ago
  It is on the phone. Just not on desktop.
XJOKOLAT 11y ago
How long before Google+ bites the dust? Sounds ludicrous, right? Until it happens. Lesson is: either pay for it, or support open source.
- kbutler 11y ago
  I'm not sure why the "If I pay for it, it will continue" meme persists. Your payment does not guarantee continuing availability. Many paid products and services vanish as well. Require open source.
  - XJOKOLAT 11y ago
    True. No guarantees. However, my own anecdotal evidence tells me that everything I've ever paid for and cared about is still in existence (even the crappy little utility-apps). That's a far higher success rate than the company in question. And sure, there's a reason for that by the very nature of Google's business model and strategy. Doesn't mean I have to accept or like it.

sk8ingdom 11y ago

I'm still upset about Google Reader...

masklinn 11y ago
There's at least two of us then. Reader is what made me swear never to rely on a Google service for anything ever again.
- sigjuice 11y ago
  I still don't know how to use the Internet without Google Reader :/
  - sls 11y ago
    https://theoldreader.com/ https://theoldreader.com/ works for me
    - 19870213 11y ago
      Ouch, automatic locale detection, and badly in need of a (proper) translator (for at least Dutch). And no way to switch language that I can find (wouldn't be the first time that was translated with ""). I'm currently using https://blogtrottr.com https://blogtrottr.com to get e-mail updates for RSS/Atom feeds.
      - Gmo 11y ago
        Huh ? You can change the language (I'm in France and I have my theoldreader in English). You just need to click on your login at the top right and go to "Settings" (probably Instellingen in Dutch).
        19870213 11y ago
        I don't have an account there. But I just figured out that using: https://theoldreader.com/?locale=en https://theoldreader.com/?locale=en will also get me English text. That enables me to properly evaluate it before signing up should I want to.

anoonmoose 11y ago

Your comment about the blog prompted me to go check the Google Voice blog...nothing since May 2013. Crap. I've been using, loving, and recommending GV since I started using it in 2010 when I got my first smartphone...one day they're just gonna up and shut down GV and not only will I lose a service I'm extremely fond of but I also won't get, you know, phone calls, because that's the number I've handed out for the last five years.

splintercell 11y ago
OMG, my GV number is so precious to me, all my friends remember it because it's so easy to remember, in case if they lost their mobile phone and need to call someone.
tshtf 11y ago
I ported my number out of Google Voice a couple of years ago. Some things to keep in mind with GV: * Your only form of "support", even when paying to port out a number, is a forum staffed entirely with volunteers. If you're actually using GV it's useful to read through here to see the trainwreck: https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!forum/voice https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!forum/voice * As the parent mentioned, the GV Blog is barren. * You're better off porting out your number now given this support situation.
- anoonmoose 11y ago
  Well, I mean, I certainly don't wish I did it years ago like you did- I love GV. I can't see myself leaving it until they make me, either through closing it down or making it too obnoxious to use or etc..
- neves 11y ago
  Which consumer Google product has a kind of support different than a volunteer forum? Try to get help for Google Music, or Google+, or an Android software. They should at least sponsor and monitor some tags in the stack exchange forums like Microsoft does.
  - 11y ago

Numberwang 11y ago

Why they didnt evolve google talk into a skype clone is beyond me. I have 20 ideas at least of cool features, but as we only have skype this type of product will stagnate.

whyever 11y ago
Hangouts is kind of a Skype clone.
tommoor 11y ago
Yip, Google Talk is merging with Hangouts ... I wouldn't bet on those 20 cool features any time soon though

snake117 11y ago

> I get that in a normal company, the finances might in fact dictate that the company can no longer support the user base with the revenue collected. Although I never really used Picasa, Dropbox's decision to shutdown Mailbox and, to a lesser extent, Carousel, was particularly upsetting for me. Although in the case of Mailbox it was more due to a decline in acquiring new users after the buyout [1]. I'm not too bummed about it now as I've found better alternatives. [1]: http://www.theverge.com/2015/12/8/9873268/why-dropbox-mailbox-shutdown http://www.theverge.com/2015/12/8/9873268/why-dropbox-mailbo...

mastazi 11y ago
They also decided to shut down Skitch which I use on a daily basis. Lately I've been looking for an alternative (on Windows) and I think I will go for Greenshot http://getgreenshot.org/ http://getgreenshot.org/
- TheWiseOne 11y ago
  Look into Snip from Microsoft (https://mix.office.com/Snip https://mix.office.com/Snip) and ShareX (https://github.com/ShareX/ShareX https://github.com/ShareX/ShareX) for a couple other alternatives.
  - mastazi 11y ago
    Thanks, both Snip and ShareX are very nice, I'm now testing them.

georgemcbay 11y ago

"Develop a great little application/product that pulls you in and develops a decent user base only to have it disappear" The worst part is when they do this with acquisitions (which Picasa was, though admittedly it was acquired quite a long time ago). Also, even when they don't outright kill apps/services, it is painful when they basically let them wither on the vine (see: Google Voice, another acquisition of a promising product that Google snapped up and then basically put into hibernation soon after).

at-fates-hands 11y ago

I rarely put much stock in Google products. Their approach seems to be to get a decent idea off the ground, then turn it over to the masses to use and figure out and suggest how they can make it better. This usually means no support whatsoever. While I can appreciate the whole, "Post something in our forum!" approach to customer service, I can't tell you how many times I've posted a question about a product or a bug and get fucking crickets for MONTHS. I gave up a long time ago thinking it was going to get better. When I see a new product they release, I'll kick the tires and test drive it, but no way am I even remotely putting enough confidence in it to use it on any of my projects. It's just too risky.

Spooky23 11y ago
One of my coworkers pursued a bug where Chrome would not update version numbers in WMI like 5 years ago... Fixed like a month ago.
deleted 11y ago
[deleted]

fencepost 11y ago

My expectation of Google Voice going away has kept me from doing more with it or many other Google products; what's funny is that by showing even token effort they could easily turn me into a $5-10/month paying customer instead of one who actively avoids depending on anything Google. As it is I'll keep paying my money to my lightly used long term online fax service and perhaps at some point I'll switch over to a paid SIP provider. As for GOOG-411 isn't it pretty widely accepted that it was free to build up a large pool of voice data without the privacy concerns of using Google Voice customer voicemail? Its end was guaranteed once they had enough training data for minimum viable voice recognition - on the same kind of phone microphones even.

gst 11y ago
I don't see a reason to not use Google Voice, after all it's easy to port the number somewhere else in case they shut down.

stordoff 11y ago

None of the shutdowns have really impacted me, but they definitely impacted how I approach Google's offerings. It's not that long ago that I would (at the very least) try out pretty much anything Google put out (e.g. Wave/Reader/Desktop/Drive). Now there's always a nagging feeling of "When (not if) will this be trashed?"