October 12, 2011
Google engineer calls Out Google About Google+

Google engineer calls Google+ a "pathetic afterthought" and "knee-jerk reaction" - making the rounds this morning.

Summary: A Google software engineer who accidentally broadcast a 4,578-word rant about the company's failings saved his toughest criticism for the Google+ service. A list of features can't make up for a complete lack of vision and a company where "not getting it" is endemic.

Update: Just re-reading this and I'm wondering if one could draw a bit of a parallel between Apple and [insert ipod/ipad/iphone killer manufacturer here]. the section where it says:


Our Google+ team took a look at the aftermarket and said: "Gosh, it looks like we need some games. Let's go contract someone to, um, write some games for us." Do you begin to see how incredibly wrong that thinking is now? The problem is that we are trying to predict what people want and deliver it for them.

This is, IMHO, similar thinking to companies believing that they can create an "iPod killer" by producing something that does the same thing but also has an FM tuner and racing stripes, and not understanding that a big portion of what makes Apple's products successful is the backend infrastructure and that people and developers have come to build Apple products and apps because they want to and that's why the (eg) iOS app ecosystem is as good as it is now, not because someone's gone to the Angry Birds people and said "here's some $$, build your app for our platform."

I might be wrong of course, but it's an interesting parallel.





Posted by Arcterex at October 12, 2011 01:45 PM