Close
  • Latest News
  • Cybersecurity
  • Big Data and Analytics
  • Cloud
  • Mobile
  • Networking
  • Storage
  • Applications
  • IT Management
  • Small Business
  • Development
  • Database
  • Servers
  • Android
  • Apple
  • Innovation
  • Blogs
  • PC Hardware
  • Reviews
  • Search Engines
  • Virtualization
Read Down
Sign in
Close
Welcome!Log into your account
Forgot your password?
Read Down
Password recovery
Recover your password
Close
Search
Menu
Search
  • Latest News
  • Cybersecurity
  • Big Data and Analytics
  • Cloud
  • Mobile
  • Networking
  • Storage
  • Applications
  • IT Management
  • Small Business
  • Development
  • Database
  • Servers
  • Android
  • Apple
  • Innovation
  • Blogs
  • PC Hardware
  • Reviews
  • Search Engines
  • Virtualization
More
    Home Blogs Google Watch
    • Blogs
    • Google Watch
    • Search Engines

    Celebrating Google Wave, Other Past Google Failures

    By
    Clint Boulton
    -
    August 6, 2010
    Share
    Facebook
    Twitter
    Linkedin

      So Google Wave is on life support, as many of you must have seen if you follow Google as closely as I do.

      In the spirit of taking up Google CEO Eric Schmidt’s claim that Google “celebrates our failures” (newly minted in the department of positive executive spin), Search Engine Land’s Danny Sullivan couldn’t resist using Schmidt’s comments as a leaping-off point to enumerate the other Google Web services it has shuttered.

      Most of them — Dodgeball, Jaiku, Notebook, Lively — were part of a raft of closures Google made in January 2009, not long after Schmidt himself told the Wall Street Journal he was looking to curb the dark matter at Google.

      Sullivan proceeds to opine what might be shuttered next, including Orkut, Google Knol, Sidewiki and Google Buzz.

      I think Orkut is here to stay … unless Google launches the Google Me social network as it’s rumored to be planning, armed with its newly acquired Slide and partnership with Zynga.

      Popular in Brazil and India, Orkut has been around for like six years without gaining traction in the United States. Wouldn’t Google have shuttered it by then? No, but Orkut users could be ported to Google Me when it launches.

      Knol is toast with things like Hunch and Quora gaining momentum. Sidewiki is a little-used sideshow.

      Google Buzz has tens of millions of users and will be a major part of Google Me. Altimeter Group’s Jeremiah Owyang agrees, telling me today that Buzz could be used to extend Slide and Google Docs over time. Google Me will carry Google Buzz.

      Sullivan lists 11 failed Google Web services and products, which at other places not named Google would be a lot of misses.

      No worries. Google’s success in search and now Android, which is shipping on some 200,000 phones today, is providing a nice one-two search-ad-and-mobile-ad punch to keep Google in the black for years.

      Unless, of course, everyone decides to make Facebook the crux of the Web universe.

      Also read: this Slate interview with Google Research Director Peter Norvig, who says errors are as inevitable for engineers as death and taxes are for the rest of us humans.

      Okay, he didn’t really say that. You get the idea.

      Avatar
      Clint Boulton

      MOST POPULAR ARTICLES

      Android

      Samsung Galaxy XCover Pro: Durability for Tough...

      Chris Preimesberger - December 5, 2020 0
      Have you ever dropped your phone, winced and felt the pain as it hit the sidewalk? Either the screen splintered like a windshield being...
      Read more
      Cloud

      Why Data Security Will Face Even Harsher...

      Chris Preimesberger - December 1, 2020 0
      Who would know more about details of the hacking process than an actual former career hacker? And who wants to understand all they can...
      Read more
      Cybersecurity

      How Veritas Is Shining a Light Into...

      eWEEK EDITORS - September 25, 2020 0
      Protecting data has always been one of the most important tasks in all of IT, yet as more companies become data companies at the...
      Read more
      Big Data and Analytics

      How NVIDIA A100 Station Brings Data Center...

      Zeus Kerravala - November 18, 2020 0
      There’s little debate that graphics processor unit manufacturer NVIDIA is the de facto standard when it comes to providing silicon to power machine learning...
      Read more
      Apple

      Why iPhone 12 Pro Makes Sense for...

      Wayne Rash - November 26, 2020 0
      If you’ve been watching the Apple commercials for the past three weeks, you already know what the company thinks will happen if you buy...
      Read more
      eWeek


      Contact Us | About | Sitemap

      Facebook
      Linkedin
      RSS
      Twitter
      Youtube

      Property of TechnologyAdvice.
      Terms of Service | Privacy Notice | Advertise | California - Do Not Sell My Information

      © 2021 TechnologyAdvice. All Rights Reserved

      Advertiser Disclosure: Some of the products that appear on this site are from companies from which TechnologyAdvice receives compensation. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site including, for example, the order in which they appear. TechnologyAdvice does not include all companies or all types of products available in the marketplace.

      ×