Google Failures of Epic Proportions
Every day I get up, turn my system on and spend a few hours reading the blogs I follow. And every day I read posts hating Microsoft for reasons that can only be explained by a serious misunderstanding of reality.
Here I present you Google Failures of Epic Proportions (a.k.a the other side of the story).
| Original Idea | Google Copy | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Wikipedia | Knol | Fail, no one uses |
| YouTube | Google Video | Buyout, users don’t come |
| Exchange | Wave | Hype, does not deliver |
| Office | Docs | Mediocrity, does not compete |
| Paypal | Checkout | Poor vendor uptake, too many issues |
| Amazon | Google Catalogs | Discontinued |
| DMOZ | Google Directory | Fail |
| Y! Answers | Google Answer | Fail |
| Craigslist | Google Base | Fail |
| Jaiku acquisition | Fail | |
| Live Messenger | GTalk | Fail |
| WolframAlpha | Google Squared | Fail |
I couldn’t say on most of these, but I’d like to know what your criteria is to determine whether something is a failure. GTalk for instance. Do you call it a failure just because it can’t do everything and more than Live Messenger? And since when is Wave a “Google copy” of Exchange? And what doesn’t it deliver that you think it should, especially since it’s in beta anyway?
A) The hype surrounding it made it seem as if it was going to revolutionize the internet. Everyone played their role in this, both Google and the media.
The truth is that Google Wave’s primary function was/is as an internal collaboration tool for companies that are currently using email for this purpose.
So you could definitely say Exchange was the MS product it was designed to kill (plus the rest of the relevant product line). Just search for ‘exchange google wave’.
The truth is no one thinks much of it anymore. It’s only current purpose is to give small, medium size businesses another way to organize their collaborations.
B) Slapping a beta label on something (for example on Gmail for 5+ years) is a cop out if you use that label as an excuse. Though I do understand it’s still early and there are going to be problems.
Looks like you were spot on about Google Wave, it was put on death row a couple of months ago by Google.
DC is pure evil! :)