So in how many years is Google going to shut down Firebase? It was an acquisition and they don't tend to keep those running for long.
Also Firebase has a free tier but it does cost money https://firebase.google.com/pricing/
(acquisition still running, top of my head: Google Docs, Android, YouTube, DoubleClick)
The problem is the google isn't forthright about it's plans. They just let some products languish forever without any communication. If you're lucky (like a firebase user) you will get a giant code dump of new features after 18 months of radio silence. If you're unlucky (like a google app engine standard user) then maybe they will announce a shutdown. It could go either way - you will never know what's coming. Yes you will get time to migrate away, but you're not really treated like a partner.
At some point they said google code wasn't getting new features because they couldn't find anyone who wanted to work on it. WTF? That's what employees are for right? I cannot understand this company. Why waste peoples time with projects that are just rounding errors next to adwords.
Im not disputing that Google does this, but ever since Google Reader was stopped this has become a stock comment on basically every HN discussion on Google products (other than search & ads) and has long ceased to have any value at all, and seems to be just accepted as some gospel without any evidence that this is a bigger problem with Google than the other tech giants.
I don't think hk__2 is promoting another big corporation.
Perhaps it's HN apophenia but Google's record of discontinuance does not seem insignificant - it is valid for anyone to be skeptical of their ability to maintain any newer product in the medium term.
That said, I think anyone who's followed Firebase closely since the acquisition should have reasons to have more confidence in their commitment in this one particular case.
I like it so much that I even found a old copy to install on windows 10. 6 years after it is discontinue and still much more useful and much faster than windows 10's search bar.
It fits in well to the overall Google Cloud Computing offering and has few real competitors in AWS/Azure.
I say this as someone using AWS daily but Firebase for side projects.