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Google AR/VR software lead quits, heavily criticizes company on way out
(www.androidauthority.com)
This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.
If it isn't search or video, Google always has one foot out the door.
I believe that one of the reasons the stadia failed is everybody knew about the Google graveyard and wasn't willing to buy into an ecosystem destined to die.
I wouldn't be surprised to find that this is also something that would affect their ability to attract good talent. People want to feel like they're working on something meaningful that's going to stick around for a while. Putting years of your life into developing something for Google just to have it hit the Google graveyard has got to be deeply dissatisfying.
it's pretty depressing to have watched Google grow from this supposedly amazing company that was willing to develop any amazing idea into something to only caring about how to inject ads into your brain and monetize every shred of data it can harvest from you by any conceivable means.
~~"Don't be evil"~~
If it was a fictional corpo with that tagline we'd think we're watching satire.
When was Google not a data harvesting company? Seriously, their mission statement has always been "collect the world's information". They didn't build Chrome all those years ago for the good of the web. It directly served their primary end-goal of getting you to see more ads.
Feels like we'd have to go back to before 2008 for the Google you're thinking of, if it ever even existed.
originally, google's primary purpose wasn't harvesting your data-- it was search and ads. then there was email. then some other stuff would come and go, and they started hoarding personal data because it made their ads better and their search better. eventually, it became the prevalent underlayer of all of their business, but that's been over the course of over 20 years.
but it didn't start that way.
well, yeah, lol. google and the world existed before 2008, you know...
Not if your 14
Yes, before 2008. Google was a breath of fresh air against all things corporaty. There was a time when people said "anything good for google is good for the internet" (https://broadbandpolitics.com/2008/07/18/whats-good-for-google-is-good-for-the-internet/). They were instrumental in pushing the boundaries of web 2.0. Google maps with its seamless tiling or auto complete for search results or desktop search were all nothing short of magical at that time. Gone are those days though..