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07-21-2011, 09:55 PM
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#1
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Moderator Emeritus
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: Oahu
Posts: 26,856
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Google turns evil
I wouldn't sell Google shares (not that I own them), and I certainly wouldn't short the company.
But they've crossed the line from "startup success story" to "Megacorp": Google is shutting down Google Labs.
Scott Berkun (who left Microsoft after leading part of an IE development team) articulates their newly obtuse behavior way better than I do:
The end of Google Labs « Scott Berkun
Quote:
When you see phrases like ‘extraordinary opportunities’, ‘prioritizing’, ‘process’ and ‘huge amounts of learning’, in reference to something being killed, you know you’re in the fantasy land of press releases. Winding down sounds oh so graceful, like winding down a party. And mentioning Google+, their current darling, is a well-played card.
And the kicker of course is the by-line:
Posted by Bill Coughran, SVP for Research and Systems Infrastructure
When a company has two levels of VPs (SVP = Senior Vice President) you know the days of free willing autonomy and entrepreneurial inspiration have faded.
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I guess Google has decided that instead of growing their own entrepreneurs, they'll just buy them...
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07-21-2011, 10:20 PM
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#2
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Oct 2006
Posts: 7,733
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That is a pretty classic PR spin. I'm pissed that never heard about Google Labs it was barely mentioned in Plex and now they've shut it down.
Still evil is too strong, grown-up or boring more like it.
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07-21-2011, 10:36 PM
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#3
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: SF East Bay
Posts: 4,324
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I do own stock in Google and as you said Nords, am not about to sell it. However, I too was disappointed to hear of the shutdown of Google Labs. I liked the idea that it was a place that Google could experiment with ideas to see which ones worked. The road to success is paved with many failures and if you don't allow yourself to fail, well, you're not going to have as many successes.
I'm sure they'll manage to "grow their bottom line" (or whatever the current corporate-speak is for this kind of thing) for quite a few years to come though.
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On a mission to become the world's second most boring man.
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07-22-2011, 01:55 AM
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#4
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Administrator
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: N. Yorkshire
Posts: 34,056
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Quote:
Originally Posted by clifp
That is a pretty classic PR spin. I'm pissed that never heard about Google Labs it was barely mentioned in Plex and now they've shut it down.
Still evil is too strong, grown-up or boring more like it.
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I think Nords was referring to Google's own corporate motto " Don't be evil".
I only heard about the motto recently while listening to an interview with Doug Edwards, who was employee #59 at Google, and he had just released a book called "I'm feeling lucky".
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Retired in Jan, 2010 at 55, moved to England in May 2016
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07-22-2011, 03:14 AM
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#5
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Oct 2006
Posts: 7,733
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Yes I know about the motto. I read long book about Google, which talks about the evolution of the motto. Short version, the engineers loved, HR and marketing weren't happy, the engineers won..
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07-22-2011, 04:13 AM
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#6
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Feb 2007
Posts: 5,072
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Once one ascends to the top, the trick is staying there.
I don't know anything about the decision... because I have not spent time analyzing google.
But...
Apparently google labs is not working out the way someone thought... whether it is a short-sighted or savvy management decision is yet to be determined.
This does not mean they are stopping R&D... just one method of incubating ideas.
My guess would be that they must see a better way to focus their R&D $.
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07-22-2011, 05:45 AM
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#7
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Recycles dryer sheets
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Knoxville
Posts: 367
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Thanks for the heads up. I am currently just starting to look at how to use the Google Labs App Inventor application. Fortunately for me, Google posted in the forum for the application that it will move URLs, but continue to be available. I wonder if part of the reason for closing Google Labs is to continue developing in-house, without giving an early warning on product ideas to competitors.
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07-22-2011, 07:02 AM
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#8
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Washington, DC
Posts: 11,318
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I still like Google. I wish they had been able to digitize all the books in the world. The certainly have become a big company but that doesn't (yet) mean they are doing evil.
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Idleness is fatal only to the mediocre -- Albert Camus
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