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Google's Crazy Lack of Focus: Is It Really Serious About Enterprise?

Posted by Soulskill on from the looking-for-ways-to-put-ads-in-your-brain dept.

curtwoodward writes "Driverless cars. Balloon-based wireless networks. Face-mounted computers. Gigabit broadband networks. In recent months, Google has been unveiling a series of transformative side projects that paint a picture of the search pioneer expanding far beyond an online advertising company. At the same time, Google has been trying to convince enterprise software buyers that it's finally, really, truly serious about competing with Microsoft for their business. Which version of Google's future should you believe?"

7 of 226 comments (clear)

  1. Re:All of them. by Cenan · · Score: 5, Insightful

    There is no real reason why Google can't do all of these things

    Except closing down projects that don't meet arbitrary internal goals without warning. Nobody is going to trust Google with enterprisey stuff, since they can't seem to hold focus long enough for people to actually build an infrastructure around their offerings. When the next new thing comes along, guess which balloon side project gets canned, for no reason, with no warning, leaving countless gimps clamoring for an alternative that is nowhere to be found.

    They might be all about processing information, but they can't seem to actually monetize this beyond shoving ads in their users faces.

    --
    ... whatever ...
  2. payouts come later by flowerp · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Look at what they did with Android. Seemed like a crazy project at first, but now they're essentially owning the market for mobile operating systems.

    So let them do their unfocused things, because some of them will pay out big later.

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    --- Eat my sig.
    1. Re:payouts come later by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      The cloud computing business is purely a side business. The only reason they are in it at all is to monetize their infrastructure needs. Ever wonder why in the early years of EC2 is always slowed down at Christmas time? The infrastructure they were renting out was the excess capacity they need to add every Christmas season to meet demand. They started renting it out and then Christmas time came and they needed it all back, leaving EC2 customers in the lurch. They eventually grew it to the point where it is able to survive without affecting customers, but it is still simply renting excess capacity they don't need. I doubt it could survive without the retail sales business.

  3. Discontinue Unsuccessful Products by tuppe666 · · Score: 5, Informative

    Except closing down projects

    I have a bookshelf behind me with a whole host of dead languages, and products from Adobe and Microsoft that have been discontinued. Unsuccessful (and sometimes successful for strategic reasons) software will be discontinues, companies are trying to make money.

    FYI Googles Enterprise Apps doesn't get Ads...maybe you are thinking of Windows 8.

  4. Good someone's spending money on innovation by monzie · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Disclaimer: Not an MBA, never attended even a Biz 101. Just your average geek

    I think we are talking about two distinct things here:

    1. A company which makes a lot of money selling ads on the 'standard' web and the mobile web

    2. A company that is trying to carve a space in the 'enterprise' space ( Google apps, docs etc )

    3. A company that is spending a lot of money on innovation - most of which looks to help the general public ( Specifically mean their attempts at networking ) and some which look like sci-fi projects ( Google glass)

    #1 - It's how they earn their $$ and I ( like most of you ) use their search engine and email offerings. A lot of us use their mobile operating system as well - and we take for granted that it keeps our contacts and calendars and other stuff in sync. ( side note: not many , especially the Apple fanbois - appreciate how good google email/calendar/contacts sync is )

    #2 My previous and current employer use Google Apps. My previous company migrated from Domino/Notes (gasp!) to Google Apps and my current company moved from Exchange/Sharepoint/Outlook to Google Apps. As an end user it made my life much better. However, I am sure the CIO who took the decision for the move had evaluated other factors as well ( Cost of migration, cost of maintaing , integration with exisiting directory services etc )

    #3 - Now let's assume they make a ton of money with #1 and #2 ( in reality they're making money primarily with #1, but bear with me) and they spend their money on Gigabit Ethernet and self driving cars. What's so wrong with that? How does spending money on Gigabit ethernet make their Google Apps or Google Search team any smarter/dumber? Answer: It doesn't.

    I do not work for Google and Google doesn't need my defence.

    I just think this article and post is pointless. This is a question a shareholder may ask. As an end user I"m happy with their offerings for personal and professional work and even they work on a new variant of the NCC-1701* - It wouldn't matter to me or to my CIO as long as what they offer us is better than the competition. As of now, they are.

    * = If you do not know what NCC-1701 (and it's variants are) Google it (pun intended) before you reply

  5. Re:All of them. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    They have a pretty good migration schedule

    Yeah - for your PERSONAL stuff that takes you 20 minutes to migrate or backup.

    You've clearly never managed an enterprise software product. The entire point of enterprise software is that it affords deep integration into your workflows and internal processes and systems throughout the company.

    "We're closing this down in 6 months" is barely enough time to plan a migration, much less actually PERFORM the migration. And that's the point: if Google wants BUSINESSES to trust that Google isn't going to pull the rug out from under them, then Google needs to start taking migrations and end-of-life's seriously.

    It's fine if they want to be a consumer advertising company, and don't want the enterprise business. But the entire article is based on the premise that Google wants this "Enterprise" business.

    they have quite a few other products that either manage to substantially offset their costs or give profits.

    No, they really don't. 95+% of their revenues are generated by advertising. They make virtually NO money from any source that is not advertising. Go look at their financial statements.

  6. imagine this article from a few decades ago... by Lluc · · Score: 5, Insightful

    This article summary from a few decades ago:

    Bell Labs' Crazy Lack of Focus -- Is it Serous about Telephones?
    From semiconductors, to photovoltaics, to computer operatings systems, Bell Labs has wanders aimlessly from topic to topic. How will these ever apply to the copper lines strung across the world to carry our telephone conversations?? Doesn't Bell Labs know that it should only invest in ideas and technology that can pay off within 3 years?