Over the years, I've mourned the loss of some of my favorite Google products: Gtalk, Hangout, Picasa, Google+ (yes, even that one)... to name a few. What's the reason for this? Is it because it's not as noticeable when other companies do it? Or is it because Google is not good at maintaining successful products? One opinion I've heard in the past was that Google makes so much $$$$ with Adwords that it can afford to waste resources on failed products. True or False? Other thoughts?
It’s showing that they mean business. Most products fail anyways. So they roll over what’s valuable into newer concepts. My hypothesis. I like them for that
external branding, internal morale, impact (make better use of engineers' time to generate more $ elsewhere), shareholders satisfaction
Because they can
Throw shit at a wall and see what sticks.
The tried and true method from our fellow primate ancestors. The very first example of the scientific method
Note that products that aren’t impactful relative to other opportunities in the company lose interest from employees because there’s no career growth. Lack of talent will eventually cease the product.
A very good point.
Because they're not good?
In terms of what? Revenue generation? Because many people loved Gtalk.
I loved inbox, sad to see it go
Because they flop. Some are super redundant and meaningless. Example? Google Allo, Google Hangouts, Google Duo, Google Hangouts Chat. They're all one and the same lol
Wait hangout is dead? I had the app for like years
True but even Google needs to prune its search