...for being able to trust in the success of their popular products enough to commit more time and floorspace to promoting their up-and-coming and obscure products and projects.
Lots of companies fail to understand this, and often those companies grow stagnant trying to push the same or nearly-the-same products on the same few customers until they die off.
Car companies do the same thing though, in that they develop and unveil fairly awesome concept cars but only integrate little bits and pieces into their product lines.
Honestly it was a shock when Chrysler released the Plymouth Prowler almost unchanged from its concept-roots. In that instance I think they wanted to test large-scale manufacturing with what were considered fairly exotic materials (lots and lots of aluminum), and the most practical way to do that is with a product that sells to a customer that accepts some reliability issues. Since performance cars are typically less reliabile than mainstream sedans they become the testbed as their owners are willing to put up with the downtime. And yes, I'm aware that the Prowler wasn't nearly as powerful as a lot of other performance cars, but I gather from those that I'm acquainted with that own one that they handle very, very well.
I don't deny that it's annoying when Google kills off some project or product that others are relying on, but at the same time Google generally isn't charging for the use of the project either, so the third-party entity that's using that project doesn't have a whole lot of room to complain.
Honda doesn't go "Oh by the way, you can't use your Civic anymore, since we can't be bothered to support it, but to show how nice we are, we'll provide a toolkit to help you port goods from your trunk to another company's vehicle".
Yes. Regardless of whether you think it's right or wrong, it's pretty annoying as a user if something you grow dependent on over a few years suddenly disappears.
Honda doesn't go "Oh by the way, you can't use your Civic anymore, since we can't be bothered to support it, but to show how nice we are, we'll provide a toolkit to help you port goods from your trunk to another company's vehicle".
Yes, Honda continued to support my Integra well past it's production life (production ceased in 2007, a recall notice to get the brake booster inspected came in 2013)... But no-one bought an Integra in beta. By the time the first one rolled out of the factory they were production cars.
You also dont pay $40,000 to Google for a beta service.
Even Honda wont go far out of it's way to support a EK/EJ Civic or DC5 Integra as they've been out of production for years... and you'll be expected to pay Honda for
Honda doesn't go "Oh by the way, you can't use your Civic anymore, since we can't be bothered to support it, but to show how nice we are, we'll provide a toolkit to help you port goods from your trunk to another company's vehicle".
Actually Honda has done this with prior electric vehicles and are doing it with the new Honda Fit EVs that is currently available. They are lease only so they don't have to bother with support later.
Car companies do the same thing though, in that they develop and unveil fairly awesome concept cars but only integrate little bits and pieces into their product lines.
After years of watching Top Gear, this.
This is the latest prototype from Volkswagen/General Motors/Toyota, a fantastic car that is light, runs on 2 pounds of petrol a week, has the performance of a Ferrari... and they're not going to make it.
Much like these prototype cars, with prototype software and electronics, I'll believe it when
You see but you do not observe.
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, in "The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes"
Gotta hand it to them... (Score:5, Interesting)
Lots of companies fail to understand this, and often those companies grow stagnant trying to push the same or nearly-the-same products on the same few customers until they die off.
Re: (Score:5, Insightful)
And here at google we're showing a new product that will aid you with everyday tasks... aaaaaaaaaaaaaaand it's shut down in beta.
Re:Gotta hand it to them... (Score:3)
Honestly it was a shock when Chrysler released the Plymouth Prowler almost unchanged from its concept-roots. In that instance I think they wanted to test large-scale manufacturing with what were considered fairly exotic materials (lots and lots of aluminum), and the most practical way to do that is with a product that sells to a customer that accepts some reliability issues. Since performance cars are typically less reliabile than mainstream sedans they become the testbed as their owners are willing to put up with the downtime. And yes, I'm aware that the Prowler wasn't nearly as powerful as a lot of other performance cars, but I gather from those that I'm acquainted with that own one that they handle very, very well.
I don't deny that it's annoying when Google kills off some project or product that others are relying on, but at the same time Google generally isn't charging for the use of the project either, so the third-party entity that's using that project doesn't have a whole lot of room to complain.
Re:Gotta hand it to them... (Score:4, Funny)
Honda doesn't go "Oh by the way, you can't use your Civic anymore, since we can't be bothered to support it, but to show how nice we are, we'll provide a toolkit to help you port goods from your trunk to another company's vehicle".
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"free"
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Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Honda doesn't go "Oh by the way, you can't use your Civic anymore, since we can't be bothered to support it, but to show how nice we are, we'll provide a toolkit to help you port goods from your trunk to another company's vehicle".
Yes, Honda continued to support my Integra well past it's production life (production ceased in 2007, a recall notice to get the brake booster inspected came in 2013)... But no-one bought an Integra in beta. By the time the first one rolled out of the factory they were production cars. You also dont pay $40,000 to Google for a beta service.
Even Honda wont go far out of it's way to support a EK/EJ Civic or DC5 Integra as they've been out of production for years... and you'll be expected to pay Honda for
Re: (Score:1)
Honda doesn't go "Oh by the way, you can't use your Civic anymore, since we can't be bothered to support it, but to show how nice we are, we'll provide a toolkit to help you port goods from your trunk to another company's vehicle".
Actually Honda has done this with prior electric vehicles and are doing it with the new Honda Fit EVs that is currently available. They are lease only so they don't have to bother with support later.
Re: (Score:1)
After years of watching Top Gear, this.
This is the latest prototype from Volkswagen/General Motors/Toyota, a fantastic car that is light, runs on 2 pounds of petrol a week, has the performance of a Ferrari... and they're not going to make it.
Much like these prototype cars, with prototype software and electronics, I'll believe it when