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Google Flips Back to Groups Beta (Again)
afabbro writes "Google backed off its beta of Google Groups within 24 hours of making it mandatory for all users. You may recall that its lack of features (date searches), unwanted features (e-mail masking), and clunky user interface met with a very chilly reception here. Unfortunately, as of December 5th, Google Groups Beta is back and you can't get to the original (wonderful) Google Groups anymore. Be sure to share your opinion with Google."
I can't believe that you removed a FREE service that I liked and used and replaced it with another FREE service with lesser features... I'm sure you will release the old service as a pay service... how DARE you try and make money...
signed... disgruntled freeloader.
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Programming is like sex... Make one mistake and support it the rest of your life.
Thanks to some drunken post-hockey game USENET posting a couple years back, I was really hoping they'd come up with something a lot worse. Hate to retire the email address, but I guess it's either that or live with those posts forever. (Oh, and of course the worst of what I wrote was replied back to me by someone else so I can't unpost it)
This is Slashdot. They were probably referring to a change to Google Beta made in October 2002.
It would be cool if it didn't suck.
> It's going to have to show the old, archived data still, which it obviously can with both the old and new systems. So why not continue to offer it?
Not sure about the technical reasons, but t the very least, there's also the business reason - any code there is needs to be maintained. Which costs the company money. So any code the company doesn't need won't be maintained and thus will be retired.
This is just a WAG, there could be other reasons too (underlying data / APIs / etc..)
"The right to figure things out for yourself is the only true freedom everyone shares. Go use it"-R.A.Heinlein
shhssss!! Google Central Command might hear you and ruin those Google Groups access-points too!
Google translation inhales the sphere of the donkey.
Doctors are nothing but shills for the pharmaceutical industry! Through UseNET, I'm able to find safe and effective traditional remedies - like the leeches fattening themselves on the backs of my hands, as I type - that keep me happy, healthy and productive.
Also, quite frankly, there are too many drug interactions for any doctor to keep track of. But, through useNET, I learned that chewing cinnabar kills off leeches! So I've switched to an alternative treatment for my social anxiety disorder - electric shocks! They don't bother the leeches any, and after fifteen minutes of 30 volts I'm ready for a leech covered night on the town.
The good and new comes from no quarter where it is looked for, and is always something different from what is expected.
The jury's still out on that.
But surely you and the other guy using Objective-C know each other and your email addresses by now?!
I mod down all the "free iPod"-sig losers.
So? Are you going to just complain about it or do something about it? Hmm? This is what needs to be done:
1. Find lots of disk-space. Lots!
2. Setup a web server that can handle the enormous amount of data and traffic that is required by a usenet archive.
3. Distribute a program to volunteers that will access Google Groups, extract all the articles, and store these in the disk-space from 1.
4. Implement the software to run the usenet archive website.
I'll open-source and donate my version of 3 to you, I'll also implement 4 if you want. All you have to do is come up with 1 and 2.
So? Are you just a whiner or a doer?