alt Hacker NewsWhat's funny is that these days if I see a Google product that I'm even remotely interested in, I just immediately write it off because I know it's something they will kill in a very short time frame.
It's just never worth the hassle of buying/using a Google product. Never.
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I was interested but then just immediately wrote it off because of the AI-centric marketing.
Why anything AI make me want to buy a whole laptop? I can use AI from websites, apps, etc. already.
I argue this is both true and not true in stark ways with Google. Just look at Google Groups listserv, it's been running forever and arguably mosts used neighborhood listservs globally and has been very stable.. all largely for free. On the other hand, new experiments get chopped very quickly at Google. So, it's more like if the service can survive 2 years, then Google generally keeps it around*.
* unless it gets merged dozens of times into other similar projects.
Googlebook dot Google.
Pixelbook.
Chromebook.
Google Pixel.
What's next? Nestbook? Drivepad? Geminiphone?
A laptop built entirely around AI, which is definitely a stable business that will be around in its current form indefinitely and whose cost definitely won't go up once Google needs to start making a profit on it.
Agreed. I have been an early adopter of so many google products. I have been burned every single time. They have systemically and carefully sabotaged any trust the industry had in them.
If they don't kill it, they might kill your account with no recourse, or some automatic process might lock you out of certain features, or some major bug might leave you staring at a forum post with a "I have the same question" numbering in the thousands.
Agreed, yet I have a Pixel 8 (2nd hand) right now. The hope is that I don't care about their support anyway, it's just about GrapheneOS.
I really like the Pixel phone.
And when they cancelled Stadia I got a full refund including all game purchases, so it wasn’t that bad.
Not to mention the “customer” “service”. I have yet to talk to a human at google.
Same, I give all Google products a wide berth.
Chromecast has been great for years and years, maybe they just kill the crap that should have never existed just like everybody else
I've had great luck with their hardware (phones / tablets) and they get updates frequently and for quite a long time.
Even if they don't kill it, this is certain to be even more privacy invading than their pre-AI offerings.
It is never for people like you. They try a lot. Something works and many not.
Some people like ikea - try to build. Others want just works items. Why not...
I feel the same way. Looks neat. But hard pass. I've been burned several times.
Google will probably kill off and shut down Google Search at this rate.
They burned that bridge so hard with Stadia.
"Check out this unbelievably cool product. It's a walled garden though that only works as long as we maintain it."
That's cool, but we're not spending actual money on something you're gonna kill.
"No, we promise: this time, it's different. We're not going to kill Stadia."
Nice try, Google. We've read the Boy Who Cried Wolf. We're not buying it.
"No, really. We know we've fucked up repeatedly in the past, but we pinky-promise. This is for the long term."
Okay, we'll dip one toe in, but only one, because we still don't trust you.
"Well, they aren't buying enough games on our service. I guess we should kill it after all."
WE FUCKING TOLD YOU SO!
It will also vacuum up your user data and use it to train AI models and such.
Google Fiber has been advertising a lot in my area. Despite the legacy ISP being as bad as most entrenched ISPs I can't see myself switching and adding another Google product into my life.
It might be cheaper and faster now, but will that still be true in a few years once Google has gotten bored with the project? Are they going to use this service to spam me with AI slop like they do everywhere else? What happens if a Google bot nukes my Google account, will that cut off my entire internet with no warning as well?
I'm not famous enough to raise a social media storm when they screw me over so it's a big risk doing business with the company.
Their hardware is usually fine when it comes to support. Google announces the support lifetime of their devices and sticks to it, with feature updates coming to things like phones even after the support period ended through things like app stores. Just check the support lifetime of the device before buying (early Pixels only had 2 years of support, as was announced at release).
Their cloud services are nothing but hot air but their hardware support has been excellent for the past few years. Easily beats other major manufacturers. I'm still annoyed that Apple won't tell you how long they will support their hardware. Other competitors manage to be even worse.