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Topic: Google

10 projects that Google should kill (images)

Summary: Being an industry leader means that everything you do is under constant scrutiny and criticism. Check these out and tell us if you Google is on the wrong or right track.

Larry Dignan

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We've decided to revisit Larry Dignan's controversial post on Google projects that ought to be killed. We've learned a lot from the talkbacks - most notably what's considered awful in one country may be very popular in other parts of the world.

Changed your mind at all? Any new projects to add? Remember this is an opinion and we welcome your feedback.

Google killed off Wave despite initial buzz that the experiment was going to change communication. The problem: Wave just didn’t garner much of a following.

Props to Google for ditching efforts that fall flat. But since we’re housecleaning at Google, here are a few more projects that should be put out of their misery.

Buzz: Annoying and just not quite right. Like Wave, it had some early juice and then just sort of fell flat.

Screenshots: Google

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Topics: Google, CXO

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Talkback

7 comments
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  • Google should amalgamate not kill.

    Google just has too many fragmented projects that have developed separately that now need to unite under fewer banners. Voice and Talk should be merged. All the different Maps functionality like Nav, Latitude, My Maps, My Tracks, as well as Earth, need to get all wrapped up much more tidily into Maps. Orkut and Buzz and Gmail should be merged. Docs and Picasa and Video could all be merged. Etc etc.
    ArtInvent
    Reply Vote

    • RE: 10 projects that Google should kill (images)

      @ArtInvent

      Totally agree with that. I think that was always the problem with Wave, it was a good technology but not so good that I wanted to check two inboxes, it should have been offered as new functionality within GMail rather than a seperate service.

      As for Orkut, is it not still the most widely used social networking site in Brazil and India? Can't see a lot of benefit in killing off a market leader in two of the BRIC nations.
      Tom-Tech
      Reply Vote

  • Urgent Orkut Redesign

    Not sure anyone that matters at Google will read this but clearly, Google is loosing the Social Networking game and worse still, it is losing momentum and perpetuating its status as socially inept and maladroit.<br><br>Google however has huge following in Brazil and India for Orkut, the least Google can do is give these loyal followers a reason to continue to stay with Orkut and not ditch it for Facebook.<br><br>I will suggest that Google redesign Orkut, if possible shelve its pride and ape FB whilst adding new features that differentiate it from FB. Heck, they have no qualms aping Bing on some features because they have to defend their lead position in search, in the same vein they need to step up to FB. They will only be talked about (negatively) for a while, but so long they can take the game beyond FB's current level then they will be celebrated on the long term.<br><br>If they can compete with the iOS with the Android then they can make Orkurt competitive again. I am a Google fanboy and I use all Google products, sadly though, I have no motivation to use Orkut.<br><br>Please Google step up the game with Orkut for the sake of your own future.
    drfrenzo
    Reply Vote

  • RE: 10 projects that Google should kill (images)

    Picasa...really?! I have 90GB of photos organized with it and would not trade it for anything. It's simple, effective, and free - period. Perhaps it is Apple version that sucks as shown in your gallery.
    bhaydama
    Reply Vote

    • RE: 10 projects that Google should kill (images)

      @bhaydama: Picasa is a wonderful tool especially for editing and storage but Google has to do a lot more to make it useful for sharing purposes. The social layer is now an urgent imperative for this product as with youtube and some other Google products!
      drfrenzo
      Reply Vote

    • RE: 10 projects that Google should kill (images)

      @bhaydama I prefer Windows Live Photo Gallery Beta. Mostly because of its tagging system, which IMO is better. Latest versions hide it by default, but Photo Gallery has a hierarchical tagging system which is really easy to use.
      CobraA1
      Reply Vote

  • Chromium OS

    A browser that's sort of fudged into some sort of OS that looks like a browser.... and just clouds the Android OS strategy.
    Kill.
    guihombre
    Reply Vote
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