Poly will be shutting down forever on 30 June 2021(poly.google.com)
poly.google.com
Poly will be shutting down forever on 30 June 2021
https://poly.google.com/
62 comments
Those comments have become a mechanical reflex, which automatically makes them bad for HN: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26159467
There's a power-law dropoff in how interesting it is. It's like telling the same joke over and over. Or this guy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LzwoV7solk4
There's a power-law dropoff in how interesting it is. It's like telling the same joke over and over. Or this guy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LzwoV7solk4
Indeed. While I appreciate some of that repetitive nature (really hammers a point home) I do wish it was accompanied with more analysis or commentary...otherwise we become like Reddit or any other forum with massive inside jokes/recurrent themed comments
Cue "...and my axe" LotR reference or something or the other
Cue "...and my axe" LotR reference or something or the other
"Another one bites the dust"
At this point, anyone who signs up for a new Google service is a sucker with no sense of pattern recognition.
Reading comments like this makes me realize why people get so angry at Kickstarter products where they fail at delivering stuff.
You know what Google's experimental stuff is like. You can choose not to use it because you like stability.
But there are lots of us who like the novelty and stuff. So you're not made of early adopter material. Don't early adopt.
You know what Google's experimental stuff is like. You can choose not to use it because you like stability.
But there are lots of us who like the novelty and stuff. So you're not made of early adopter material. Don't early adopt.
I think if these projects were branded as Google Beta, or under Google Labs, people would be less disappointed when they get shut down.
I agree wholly here. Google needs to be much more upfront when floating experiments. It's good that they do, but the signaling needs to be better. Or even different branding altogether. It would go a long way to help their image.
Gmail was in "beta" for years and years, I don't think this would actually solve anything.
There's a difference between that and what Google does. Look at how many products on https://killedbygoogle.com/ that were several years old, e.g. AngularJS (11 years). And I'm sure many of us remember Google Reader.
To be fair AngularJS has a successor in Angular and thus is a bad example. I think it is fine to drop it after 14 years of support (which is almost ridiculously long in JS-time)
Omg, it also turns out that the Linux foundation killed Linux 3.0! How dare companies stop supporting old versions of their software!
larinzod(3)
[deleted]
I never knew this existed! Does anyone have alternative suggestions for a library of 3d models?
I really don't get how people can continue to be naive regarding google. It seems like they announce a new product and shut down an old one every month.
Is that terribly different from early stage startups? the alternative for google is inertia where any product needs to prove it can get to a billion dollars of revenue prior to launch.
The way internal politics at companies go - I'd expect that approach to yield a lot of Stadia style flops.
The way internal politics at companies go - I'd expect that approach to yield a lot of Stadia style flops.
And yet other big companies like apple seem to launch products just fine. Google could do with a little more research and planning instead of throwing shit at the wall and seeing what sticks.
Google is not an early stage startup and the expectations of each type of company are necessarily different.
I have (for this reason and many others) quit actively using Google products quite a long time ago. I only use Gmail out of inertia (through imap though) and YouTube in anonymous browsers. I almost never use their search or maps.
Does this behavior of constantly killing products not cause other users to avoid their offerings?
Does this behavior of constantly killing products not cause other users to avoid their offerings?
Honestly, no.
I like having access to these experiments. This site is literally a free 3d-object hosting website. I pay nothing, so why should I expect stability, lifetime access, etc. etc. all of which cost money?
Google couldn't monetize this, but maybe someone else can. Google was the first to do an office suite in the cloud. Now there is Notion, Airtable, etc. all of which exist because Google was willing to put its experiments online.
And yes, they mine and scrape all the data from these experiments to fuel their other paid services and ad engine, I know, but still I prefer access to these experiments. They're often ahead of the curve, and no other company is going to be able to offer all these things.
I'm not a Google fanboy at all, but I don't mind if they shut down free "products" like this if the tradeoff is that we get to see and use new, innovative products earlier. We all benefit from seeing what's possible. Applies to lots of products: Stadia, Drive, Maps, etc,
I like having access to these experiments. This site is literally a free 3d-object hosting website. I pay nothing, so why should I expect stability, lifetime access, etc. etc. all of which cost money?
Google couldn't monetize this, but maybe someone else can. Google was the first to do an office suite in the cloud. Now there is Notion, Airtable, etc. all of which exist because Google was willing to put its experiments online.
And yes, they mine and scrape all the data from these experiments to fuel their other paid services and ad engine, I know, but still I prefer access to these experiments. They're often ahead of the curve, and no other company is going to be able to offer all these things.
I'm not a Google fanboy at all, but I don't mind if they shut down free "products" like this if the tradeoff is that we get to see and use new, innovative products earlier. We all benefit from seeing what's possible. Applies to lots of products: Stadia, Drive, Maps, etc,
> Google was the first to do an office suite in the cloud.
The were the first to get big, maybe, but not the first period. The Google Docs word processor was built from the ashes of Writely, which they acquired back when Ajax was a new buzzword.
The were the first to get big, maybe, but not the first period. The Google Docs word processor was built from the ashes of Writely, which they acquired back when Ajax was a new buzzword.
It's hard for anyone to monetize (or even launch) a product when one of the largest companies in the world is providing that product for free, even if they're doing a half-assed job.
I don't think Google mines data from their office suite to fuel ads. Do you have evidence of this?
This is a secondary reason for me. The main reason is that I don’t want an arbitrary Google ban to ruin my life.
We don't have to login to use Search, Maps and YouTube. I don't. I miss the kind of bookmarks each app support but I don't really care. I don't use GMail. I'm logged in into the Play Store. Probably I'm not using anything else.
Some offerings like GMail, Search, and YouTube are viewed as safe. Others I think are likely avoided more. And probably end up a self fulfilling prophecy. No one uses it because it will be killed, so its killed because no one uses it.
It is certainly a hinderance to the adoption of their cloud services. They have not yet shown they are in it for the long haul.
It is certainly a hinderance to the adoption of their cloud services. They have not yet shown they are in it for the long haul.
YouTube is safe in so much as the service will continue to operate. That's no guarantee that your videos will continue to be hosted.
And Gmail is best used with your own domain (@example.com, not @gmail.com). That way when they do kick you off you can use your offline back of messages and repoint some MX records.
And Gmail is best used with your own domain (@example.com, not @gmail.com). That way when they do kick you off you can use your offline back of messages and repoint some MX records.
They are rather unavoidable, many videos are only available on YouTube. And if my email address was on my own domain it wouldn’t be on gmail, of course. It’s not as if my use case is rocket science, just sending, receiving and storing mail. It’s a legacy application from when gmail was special.
Its pretty wild how many things get shut down. I was on a drive this weekend and went to pop on my Google music where I uploaded 10 gigs of music. I was met with a message that said Google music shutdown, but you can move your music to Youtube!
They've been sending out lots of messages about this... do you not actually use Play music that much?
The only thing I would miss is gmail. If maps went away it would only take a moment to switch to another service, the same for youtube, search, etc.
I wouldn’t put a big effort into something that relied on a niche google product, but it’s not like maps dispersing would be anything but a momentary inconvenience. I don’t seek to “punish” by not using its products.
I wouldn’t put a big effort into something that relied on a niche google product, but it’s not like maps dispersing would be anything but a momentary inconvenience. I don’t seek to “punish” by not using its products.
What alternatives are there to Google Maps? I haven't found anything that comes close to it in utility. Plus many third party apps/services rely on Google Maps under the hood too.
I like to use Apple Maps via CarPlay when navigating because the visuals and UX seem nicer, but push comes to shove, if I'm trying to navigate to somewhere new, hard to find, or worried about traffic, I find Google Maps is still the superior product by far.
I like to use Apple Maps via CarPlay when navigating because the visuals and UX seem nicer, but push comes to shove, if I'm trying to navigate to somewhere new, hard to find, or worried about traffic, I find Google Maps is still the superior product by far.
If google maps went away: go to app store, search maps, pick one. There are at least a few. It’s a map, it doesn’t have to be perfect to get the job done.
I've tried a few, and all have come up short. I'd miss Google Maps disappearing a lot.
I guess it depends on your particular usage of these apps. Gmail is my primary email so I'd miss it too if it went away, but I'd be able to transition over to say, hotmail/outlook or some other webmail service without too much disruption. Google Maps going away on the other hand, would be highly disruptive to me.
I guess it depends on your particular usage of these apps. Gmail is my primary email so I'd miss it too if it went away, but I'd be able to transition over to say, hotmail/outlook or some other webmail service without too much disruption. Google Maps going away on the other hand, would be highly disruptive to me.
What viable alternative for YouTube is there?
I’m sure if youtube disappeared one day, the next day most people would be aware of a few alternatives. This is a much harder question for a content producer than a consumer.
How much effort would it really be for one of the large pornography companies to make a general purpose youtube clone? I bet a viable MVP would only take a few days if they were properly motivated.
How much effort would it really be for one of the large pornography companies to make a general purpose youtube clone? I bet a viable MVP would only take a few days if they were properly motivated.
Did you know what poly was before clicking?
Did you know Google has hundreds of branded product offerings, so say 12 closures per year is something like 2%, i.e. a 25 year median horizon (=1/.02/2)? https://developers.google.com/products
What period of support would satisfy you? For a "fast fashion/art" vignette like Poly?
Isn't it fun to have ephemeral experiences? You can choose to embrace that aspect of life rather than chastise it, it's all your choice.
Yes a person has to be pretty savvy to avoid building their business on an unstable a Google product, but all fundamental business choices need to be savvy. Let's experiment, move fast, break things, and try out the unstable Google offerings and see how it goes. Or let's do the sure choice and pick only Google Cloud products 8+ years mature. There's an appetite and big market for both which Google can fill, and the mature senior developer can well care for him- or herself.
I'd rather the megacorp allocate our capital towards experiments than not. I'd rather the megacorp keep some of its founding character than do the soulless bluechip strategy of having 50% of its operating budget be selling & marketing expenses for stale maintenance-mode products (not exaggerating, look at some public company financials like Salesforce, which actually I admire lately for their innovation by acquisition).
I like variety. I like fewer restrictions and fewer flavor-of-the-decade norms on self-expression. These are popular values, and I thank Google for materializing them for its employees and consumers.
Did you know Google has hundreds of branded product offerings, so say 12 closures per year is something like 2%, i.e. a 25 year median horizon (=1/.02/2)? https://developers.google.com/products
What period of support would satisfy you? For a "fast fashion/art" vignette like Poly?
Isn't it fun to have ephemeral experiences? You can choose to embrace that aspect of life rather than chastise it, it's all your choice.
Yes a person has to be pretty savvy to avoid building their business on an unstable a Google product, but all fundamental business choices need to be savvy. Let's experiment, move fast, break things, and try out the unstable Google offerings and see how it goes. Or let's do the sure choice and pick only Google Cloud products 8+ years mature. There's an appetite and big market for both which Google can fill, and the mature senior developer can well care for him- or herself.
I'd rather the megacorp allocate our capital towards experiments than not. I'd rather the megacorp keep some of its founding character than do the soulless bluechip strategy of having 50% of its operating budget be selling & marketing expenses for stale maintenance-mode products (not exaggerating, look at some public company financials like Salesforce, which actually I admire lately for their innovation by acquisition).
I like variety. I like fewer restrictions and fewer flavor-of-the-decade norms on self-expression. These are popular values, and I thank Google for materializing them for its employees and consumers.
Not really. The Google products I actively use are among those most stable and lasting in the web/apps industry: search, mail, maps, video streaming. I could also count here productivity tools like docs, drive, calendar, keep and so on. I'm much more worried about account bans that seem to be happening to random people. But still not worried enough, it seems, to migrate my stuff and workflow(s) elsewhere.
It's time to build a web scraper to save all Poly submissions. Anyone with me?
I buy and use 3D models, and I'd never heard of Poly. Free3D, TurboSquid, and CGTrader are better known. Poly isn't even on the first page of Bing search results for "3D model".
It was mainly for sharing Google Tilt Brush models. With Tilt Brush being shut down this makes sense.
It went open source: https://github.com/googlevr/tilt-brush
FYI, this was announced on Dec 2: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25277615
They need to look like they are working on something decent whilst the ad casino keeps churning money for them.
Otherwise investors will inevitably realize that Google hasn't really done much. I'm certain that many investors are riding on the Moon Shot projects they keep marching out.
Otherwise investors will inevitably realize that Google hasn't really done much. I'm certain that many investors are riding on the Moon Shot projects they keep marching out.
> I'm certain that many investors are riding on the Moon Shot projects they keep marching out.
When they realize that Google is shutting down all the Loon Shot projects, I wonder if they'll keep investing or start pulling out their money.
When they realize that Google is shutting down all the Loon Shot projects, I wonder if they'll keep investing or start pulling out their money.
Are you saying that google is overvalued? Or just that it’s not doing anything expect literally printing money which might make its investors lose interest?
Afaik, none of the moonshots appeared to be anywhere nearly as lucrative is search ads.
Afaik, none of the moonshots appeared to be anywhere nearly as lucrative is search ads.
Exactly, it almost feels like Google are just funding these projects to essentially make it look like there's some tech progress going on.
Even the self-driving side of their ambitions which seemed to being doing wonders for making Google look like a pioneer for a while.
Even the self-driving side of their ambitions which seemed to being doing wonders for making Google look like a pioneer for a while.
So just to be explicit about it: investors don’t care about real tech innovation. They like it if it translates to producing lots of money for the company but the only thing they really care about is making money, Google has shown that it’s a very good money printer and thus investors have rewarded it with an insanely high valuation.
For this reason I believe Amazon will be rolled out into two different companies now that Bezos has stepped away from day2day. One will be the money printer: AWS and the other will be the slightly less profitable store business. The MBAs will argue that this will increase shareholder value which investors see as a win.
For this reason I believe Amazon will be rolled out into two different companies now that Bezos has stepped away from day2day. One will be the money printer: AWS and the other will be the slightly less profitable store business. The MBAs will argue that this will increase shareholder value which investors see as a win.
They could also just pay a bigger dividend or buy back stock. Investors would like that more than a continuous stream of projects that will never be monetized.
Android
GCP
Chrome eco system, e.g. chromecast + chromebook + literally the most popular browser
Google home / nest
> Hasn't really done much...
GCP
Chrome eco system, e.g. chromecast + chromebook + literally the most popular browser
Google home / nest
> Hasn't really done much...
All of which has been exploited to hell to gain as much data about individuals as possible. IMO data sourcing isn't really high tech. Finding ways to convince people to use products in order to gain more data is quite interesting but not really major tech advancements.
I read hacker news every day, and this is the first time I'm hearing about this product. Good first impression!
Whelp, here goes another one...
This is a product that was useful in partnership with Google's Tilt Brush (which has now been spun out as open source). If that product is no longer JUST owned by Google, there isn't a reason to keep up Poly (which is just a page to share drawings made with Tilt Brush)...
There is even an option to download and keep your collection (which you would have had anyway)
This seems like a perfectly reasonable thing to shut down