Comment by mystified5016
1 year ago
How can another company compete with a product Google no longer offers? There is no competition because Google quit competing.
If Google spins up a project and then abandons it, how could they possibly be harmed by someone else offering a comparable product? Google has already accepted a total loss on the product, there's really nothing for them to lose here.
What benefit do they see in exchange for the effort in open sourcing things?
It's certainly a win for the rest of us, but how does Google benefit to make it a "win-win", and not just a "win"?
> What benefit do they see in exchange for the effort in open sourcing things?
Goodwill and more people willing to try whatever they release next, rather than the current situation of “Oh, Google is releasing a new thing? Pass. They’ll just stop supporting it and I’ll be left in the cold anyway, so no bother even trying”.
Killing so many projects makes fewer people interested in trying whatever they release next, which means fewer users, which means a higher likelihood it’ll be abandoned. It’s a vicious cycle that could be stopped or even reversed if they open-sourced their abandoned stuff.
To be clear, I’m not necessarily advocating Google should do it or that it’s be a clear win with no downsides. Maybe the upside wouldn’t be worth it, but there is an upside.
I like and agree with your "open source as 'abandonment insurance'" angle here ...
> Goodwill and more people willing to try whatever they release next
When's the last time your (pick your favorite non-technical) relative cared if the product they were trying was open-source?
1 reply →
> What benefit do they see in exchange for the effort in open sourcing things?
Next (good) thing they build will probably have greater adoption, due to less fear of "they'll kill this in two years anyway".
Lol, sibling commented same thing at the same time.