Google's Biggest Mistake | Hacker News Reader

Google's Biggest Mistake

zdnet.com

25 pointsmgkimsal29 comments

Google has a software development platform. It's called HTML5+Javascript.

Sun was a hardware company with a line of unprofitable server software, as well as a popular software platform. Speaking as a Java developer, yeah, it would have been nice if Google controlled Java, but I don't think it really made sense from Google point of view.

As for Open Office - I think the author misunderstands Google's platform strategy. Google wants cloud-based software, not old thick client software. No amount of reto-fitting of server connection can fix that.

If it doesn't make sense for Google to secure rights to Java, then why are they making Android, with so much Java influence, their main OS? Why aren't we running Mobile Chrome OS?

Perhaps you're saying Android is a fad this year or two, and then Chrome or other browsers take over.

One thing you can never accuse Google of is having a single view inside the company!

I think that Java-as-it-is-in-Android is a great technology, but some view it as transitional while HTML adds the capabilities needed to build a wide range of application.

Dalvik (the Android "JVM") is a layer on top of the Android operating system. The fact that it exists doesn't preclude other environments running as a layer as well. Android is here to stay, but I think it's a given that the capabilities of the operating system will expand. For example, Android 3.0 adds RenderScript [1], which doesn't have a Java dependency at all.

[1] http://developer.android.com/guide/topics/renderscript/index...

    KIN, a device that was a distraction at a time when Microsoft should have had a laser focus on Windows Phone 7.

    would ... have provided a strong office productivity suite that could be augmented to complement their online word processing tools in unique ways.

Some authors don't seem to read their own articles.

Yeah, the author basically started with the argument that Google should have Sun then so that Android would have been protected. Then he realized, the price was too much for what is just a license, and then started piling on unconvincing arguments, one after the another. Google already has a platform. They call it the web. And Google tends to use whatever language seems convenient to them then.

So Google's biggest mistake was not taking on a giant merger, though mergers sometimes go horribly wrong, but sometimes they work out? Seems like the message in this article is a little mixed. Maybe someone other than the article writer wrote the headline.

I submitted this, and wrote the HN headline, as that was the phrase that was stuck in my head reading it, although the actual article was something more like "Google's Worst Decision" - not sure there's a huge difference between those two concepts, but I can't change it now. :/

In fairness your HN headline exactly reflects the article headline, but the article headline does not reflect the article content, so I in no way meant it to be a criticism of the post :-)

That's why they are journalists instead of good financial analysts.

You mean, like this guy?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Blodget

I said good.

Would be great if Google bought Oracle.

I'd like to see LE's face if that happened :)

Given the market caps and the fun of board of directors, it is much more likely that LE would be the head of the new company.

They would have to destroy it immediately after the purchase. Swallowing an Oracle would stress Google's immune system well beyond its limit.

This metaphor intrigues me. What are the "pathogens" that Google's "immune system" is trying to prevent?

I believe the Oracleness of Oracle would trigger a violent immune response.

I believe it to be a metaphor on that corporate culture clash between "do no evil" and "cthulhu was a hippie".

Do they have to buy Oracle?

Can't Google just launch an America's Cup Yacht?

Off-topic, but intriguing if Google's space program succeeds: solar sailing yachts.

I don't quite understand... Wind power is the whole point of sailing. Many bluewater yachts today do have solar panels to power the toys though (along with a wind turbine).

Your imagination is too... terrestrial ;)

Perhaps slightly unlikely given that Oracle's market cap is higher than Google's ($165B vs $158B).

One could argue that Google's biggest mistake was not buying Facebook in the same way that Yahoo could have bought Google way back when.

Instead, Google now has to come up with a bunch of half baked social projects that are seen through the lens of search, which makes no sense to anyone outside of Google. Search is not a social endeavor unless you are a librarian and social has very little to do with search.

Google could have bought Sun, but most of what Sun did made no sense for Google while at the same time Google is doing a lot of the things Sun wanted to do, but could never execute. Sun made money on hardware, but that was a dead business. $7 billion just to own Java patents would have been great for Android, but as it stands Google will likely license them for a fraction of that.

In the end, Sun's big prize was Java and all the money in Java right now is in the enterprise software game. Google doesn't care about enabling enterprise software. Google doesn't care about enabling IBM and Oracle to write big software for big companies.

I think Google did the right thing by not buying Sun.

It could however have been the world's largest talent acquisition, and talent Sun did have in droves. And it's not like Google doesn't have a hardware arm with all those data centers. It's still a strech though. And a lot of the talent my have gone to Google of its own volition. Maybe I just really wish Google had given Java the reboot it needs.

Many high-profile Sun employees already left Oracle and joined other companies. There is an influx of Sun employees at Google in the last few months.

His premise is that Sun controlled Java, which show how much he researched the matter.

Can't google replace java with scala in android and get over this issues ?

The patent lawsuit isn't about the language but about the runtime.

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