Google's constant product shutdowns are damaging its brand
We are 91 days into the year, and so far, Google is racking up an unprecedented body count. If we just take the official shutdown dates that have already occurred in 2019, a Google-branded product, feature, or service has died, on average, about every nine days.
Some of these product shutdowns have transition plans, and some of them (like Google+) represent Google completely abandoning a user base. The specifics aren't crucial, though. What matters is that every single one of these actions has a negative consequence for Google's brand, and the near-constant stream of shutdown announcements makes Google seem more unstable and untrustworthy than it has ever been. Yes, there was the one time Google killed Google Wave nine years ago or when it took Google Reader away six years ago, but things were never this bad.
For a while there has been a subset of people concerned about Google's privacy and antitrust issues, but now Google is eroding trust that its existing customers have in the company. That's a huge problem. Google has significantly harmed its brand over the last few months, and I'm not even sure the company realizes it.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Thexalon on Wednesday April 03 2019, @10:12PM (3 children)
Yeah, but that's way in the future and can't be attributed to the specific bean-counter who made that decision. Cutting this stuff, on the other hand, cuts unnecessary expenses and thus earnings per share right now. What, you thought the people running most businesses in the US even think about the long-term consequences to their firm? Their worst-case scenario is going from being a VP of Uselessness at Google to being a VP of Uselessness at Amazon or Microsoft or IBM or Apple.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Thursday April 04 2019, @12:59AM (2 children)
In my experience beancounters know the cost of everything and the value of nothing.
I have learned from bitter experience that if the company is run by someone with a finance or accounting background I don't want to work there.
Google won't be any difference if the beancounters are running the show.
(Score: 4, Funny) by DannyB on Thursday April 04 2019, @04:02PM
> In my experience beancounters know the cost of everything and the value of nothing.
The opposite is a Lisp programmer, who knows the value of everything and the cost of nothing.
The lower I set my standards the more accomplishments I have.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Thursday April 04 2019, @04:03PM
I heard back in the late 1980s or early 1990s that:
When a company makes more than $50 million, the beancounters run the company.
When a company makes more than $500 million, lawyers run the company.
The lower I set my standards the more accomplishments I have.