Technology

Google Engineer Calls Google+ a ‘Complete Failure’

Did you sign up for Google+ because everyone else was doing it and because it was exclusive, invite-only at first? Do you do anything with it now? If no, then you’re like many, even Google engineer Steve Yegge who doesn’t really see the point, thinking of it maybe more as Google- (minus).

Last night on his blog — Stevey’s Blog Rants — Yegge went on a full blown rant calling Google+ a “pathetic afterthought”. According to Silicon Filter (via Gizmodo) the post has been deleted, but not before it and other sites such as Hacker News had picked it up.

This morning Yegge wrote on Google+ — yes, used Google+ — to say that he had intended his post to be internal to only Google employees.

Google Engineer Steve Yegge Rants That Google+ Needs Work to Become a Successful Platform

In the blog post, Yegge compares his experience working first at Amazon and now at Google. He states that Google is superior in nearly every way, except for maybe three. Google+ is a prime example:

Google+ is a prime example of our complete failure to understand platforms from the very highest levels of executive leadership (hi Larry, Sergey, Eric, Vic, howdy howdy) down to the very lowest leaf workers (hey yo). We all don’t get it. The Golden Rule of platforms is that you Eat Your Own Dogfood. The Google+ platform is a pathetic afterthought. We had no API at all at launch, and last I checked, we had one measly API call. One of the team members marched in and told me about it when they launched, and I asked: “So is it the Stalker API?“ She got all glum and said ”Yeah.” I mean, I was joking, but no… the only API call we offer is to get someone’s stream. So I guess the joke was on me.

Microsoft has known about the Dogfood rule for at least twenty years. It’s been part of their culture for a whole generation now. You don’t eat People Food and give your developers Dog Food. Doing that is simply robbing your long-term platform value for short-term successes. Platforms are all about long-term thinking.

API, which stands for Application Programming Interface, allows access to the site in a controlled way  too give other software developers the ability to design products that are powered by its service. How Stuff Works, ironically considering this post, uses the following as an example of how API works:

For example, Amazon.com released its API so that Web site developers could more easily access Amazon’s product information. Using the Amazon API, a third party Web site can post direct links to Amazon products with updated prices and an option to “buy now.”

Yegge is saying that Google+ did not have a fully developed API allow this interaction to happen and grow the site as a platform. He goes on:

Google+ is a knee-jerk reaction, a study in short-term thinking, predicated on the incorrect notion that Facebook is successful because they built a great product. But that’s not why they are successful. Facebook is successful because they built an entire constellation of products by allowing other people to do the work. So Facebook is different for everyone. Some people spend all their time on Mafia Wars. Some spend all their time on Farmville. There are hundreds or maybe thousands of different high-quality time sinks available, so there’s something there for everyone.

[...]

I apologize to those (many) of you for whom all this stuff I’m saying is incredibly obvious, because yeah. It’s incredibly frigging obvious. Except we’re not doing it. We don’t get Platforms, and we don’t get Accessibility. The two are basically the same thing, because platforms solve accessibility. A platform is accessibility.

Many Google+ users agree, issuing affirmations on his Google+ page or reposting the article themselves.

Google Engineer Steve Yegge Rants That Google+ Needs Work to Become a Successful Platform

Yegge concludes his 4,774 word, 6-year-in-the-making rant stating “we’ve gotta start doing this right.”

Comments (44)

1 2
  • ramz
    Posted on October 13, 2011 at 9:16am

    Google tracks everything…. Beck recommended to read Search & Destroy: Why You Can’t Trust Google Inc. ………… but this website supports google login to post this….. :S go figure…

    Report Post »  
    • 123456beatriz
      Posted on October 13, 2011 at 3:08pm

      Hi! Everybody. Youtube.com is doing the same. They track your name, your opinion when is opposite toward Obama, or Gore etc, your email, and stop your opinion. They are STALIN in America!. People Wake UP!

      Report Post »  
    • katenga
      Posted on October 13, 2011 at 4:03pm

      And look what google did to our dear (and dare I say, future cabinet member) Rick Santorum. Just google his name and find out! I cannot believe it.

      Report Post » katenga  
    • Vol Fan
      Posted on October 13, 2011 at 6:26pm

      Google owns Youtube, so that explains the comment below.

      Report Post » Vol Fan  
    • ConservHippy
      Posted on October 15, 2011 at 2:11pm

      If they DO track us, why should I care? What can they do if I write anything anti-Left? Sure they can follow me around like creepy stalkers, but what can they TRULY do to me? Why should I worry?

      Report Post »  
  • Molaki
    Posted on October 13, 2011 at 7:22am

    Like many of you, I have not used Google for well over a year now….I use Bing or Startpage for my searches. I don’t Facebook or Twitter…if I need to reach someone, it is old fashioned E-mail, telephone or texting for me. I clean out my “cookies” or a regular basis and also clean out the hard to find cookies via Adobe Manager (www.macromedia.com) as well. It takes a little time to minimize how much they track us but, I make an effort.

    Report Post »  
    • lukerw
      Posted on October 13, 2011 at 1:07pm

      I do the same… but Bing is MS… another bunch of Leftists… so you do not know what info they are collection nor what they do with it!

      Report Post » lukerw  
  • John the Doe
    Posted on October 13, 2011 at 7:17am

    Face it, Google is owned and operated by the Socialist Democraps of America

    Report Post »  
  • Diane TX
    Posted on October 13, 2011 at 3:35am

    I confess to being a computer programing “geek” from the olden days, when all the computers were mainframes in special “clean” rooms. I still lust for the days when everything was just “0” or “1”. That just means on or off, with binary commands. I miss the days when the human beings controlled the computers, and I’m frazzled by all the layers of “Windows”, “Gooling”, and “Apple Platforming”.

    No one remembers Assembler language, Cobol, or Fortran anymore, but I used to write programs in them. “Things” went much quicker in these simpler languages “way back when”. Computers are simply machines that “do things” according to what switch is on or off.

    Report Post »  
    • Talmid of Yeshua
      Posted on October 13, 2011 at 6:07am

      Those were my programming days as well. Punch cards, main frames the size of a car, etc. Cobol, Fortran, RPG AS/400, etc.

      wow.. that brings back memories. I still have my ancient text books.

      Now I just do websites, HTML, and that sort of stuff.

      Report Post » Talmid of Yeshua  
    • TomFerrari
      Posted on October 13, 2011 at 9:25am

      RPG? Wow! you ARE dating yourself!
      HFELICO!
      LOL

      Report Post » TomFerrari  
  • darski
    Posted on October 13, 2011 at 2:53am

    Just curious – does anyone know of a free replacement for Picassa? I need the ease of use but I don’t want Google if I can get better.

    Report Post » darski  
    • Marci
      Posted on October 13, 2011 at 3:24am

      I am unfortunately tied to Google as a means to drive business to my company as a marketing director, but I don’t trust them as they are in the pocket of the government.

      Report Post » Marci  
    • JediKnight
      Posted on October 13, 2011 at 3:00pm

      Paint.Net is a free photo editing program. It doesn’t have an easy way of creating collages like Picasa does, but you can do almost anything Photoshop can do with it.

      Report Post »  
  • Californiasodbuster
    Posted on October 13, 2011 at 2:06am

    Hey Blaze, are you going to stick by your loyal readers?
    I hope you do, but i don’t care anymore, i know up from down, and right from wrong, aint much use if everyone has your tab.

    Report Post »  
  • FugMan
    Posted on October 13, 2011 at 1:42am

    Yep I feel the same way. I feel violated in a way. That stupid Google car with a camera posted to everyone in the world where I live and what my house looks like. Great tool for terrorists you idiots at Google. They will have some huge lawsuits if anyone gets killed because of what they have done.

    Report Post » FugMan  
    • jcannon98188
      Posted on October 13, 2011 at 3:52am

      Google Maps is no different than a standard GPS, or other online map service. Terrorists don’t use it for attacks, because generally they know a little bit more about their target. If any terrorist relied on google maps for their info, well then god have mercy on their soul, because they are a failure as terrorists. Also, it does not provide any more information than somebody saying “Oh you live at 111 Main St, why don’t I take a drive to see what that looks like?” They cannot simply google your username and suddenly see where you are at. Quit being such a fearmonger, and start learning a little something about technology. You are nothing but a confused person ranting from their basement.

      Report Post »  
    • Talmid of Yeshua
      Posted on October 13, 2011 at 6:13am

      @JCannon,

      You are 100% incorrect. Google Earth is military-grade tech that never should have been released to the public.

      A recent news article stated that the PLO terrorists were using Google Earth to target schools in Israel.

      Not only against Israel, but also against British military bases.

      Also, local governments are using it to spy on us citizens, to see what we have in our back yards, such as swimming pools, etc, then they are sending tickets out for not having permits, etc.

      Here are a couple of examples, and the articles:

      http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/1539401/Terrorists-use-Google-maps-to-hit-UK-troops.html

      http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/145551#.Tpa4_etCeKQ

      Report Post » Talmid of Yeshua  
  • FugMan
    Posted on October 13, 2011 at 1:37am

    Thats why I use Bing. (but Im scared that they are owned by MSNBC.)

    Report Post » FugMan  
    • jcannon98188
      Posted on October 13, 2011 at 3:49am

      Microsoft owns Bing, and Microsoft used to be involved with MSNBC, but Microsoft is no longer involved with MSNBC, they are of no relation

      Report Post »  
    • sta
      Posted on October 13, 2011 at 10:05am

      I use Bing for random searches, Hello Kitty stuff for the kids, crochet patterns and other innocent things. If I find nothing there, I use Scroogle. However, if I want to find something political, I use IXquick because they don’t keep you IP address.

      Report Post »  
  • richk28
    Posted on October 13, 2011 at 1:28am

    ya google scares the hell out of me, i live in a gated community and some ass let them through the neighborhood to take those pictures for google earth. i called to let them know that it was bs that they had no authority to do that and their response was “oh we thought it would be cool to let them do it” way to have privacy anymore!

    Report Post »  
  • lacabeza
    Posted on October 13, 2011 at 1:13am

    I stopped using Google as much as I can when the Google Commies started collaborating with the U.S. Government Commies.

    Report Post » lacabeza  
  • Chr1st14n
    Posted on October 13, 2011 at 1:09am

    sooo totally gonna get fired

    Report Post » Chr1st14n  
  • jawknee
    Posted on October 13, 2011 at 1:03am

    Hey everyone if my post that I’ve entered (bout 20min ago) has been removed, then its probably bcuz ”The Blaze LLC” are a bunch of *******.? However if not, then disregard. LOL

    Report Post » jawknee  
  • Gorp
    Posted on October 13, 2011 at 12:24am

    I didn’t think of signing up. Once I saw the idiot on the right with his tongue sticking out when I logged off gmail I didn’t want to be associated with such idiot looking losers! I’m just saying….

    Report Post » Gorp  
  • Anonymous T. Irrelevant
    Posted on October 13, 2011 at 12:22am

    That’s ok, I wasn’t going to use it anyway. Nothing Google or Facebook goes on my OS.

    Report Post » Anonymous T. Irrelevant  
  • abbygirl1994
    Posted on October 12, 2011 at 11:50pm

    Nope, I took google off my computer completely after I heard they were spying on us!! Thats why your google is a flop!!

    Report Post » abbygirl1994  
  • BubbaT
    Posted on October 12, 2011 at 11:23pm

    Stick to one thing and do it right.

    Report Post » BubbaT  
  • Atrocities
    Posted on October 12, 2011 at 11:22pm

    Google what?

    Report Post » Atrocities  
  • PossumRoadkill
    Posted on October 12, 2011 at 11:00pm

    The guy has a point. Google+ just seems to be what Facebook was a couple of years ago. Funny thing is that the reaction that Facebook had in the run up to the public release of G+ was to make ill planned changes to their platform that angered users. I don‘t think Google is alone in it’s misunderstanding of what users expect in a social medial platform. Facebook destroyed the local community forums. Remember the (phpBB platform) forums or message boards run for local communities as a place for people in small communities to exchange ideas and discuss local issues? They have all gone by the wayside and have been replaced by Farmville junkies.

    Report Post » PossumRoadkill  
  • paul1149
    Posted on October 12, 2011 at 10:56pm

    G+ is an absolute disaster. What is incomprehensible is that they made the same mistake as with Buzz. There are only peer relationships. There is no way to congregate around genres or thought-leaders to meet likeminded people. Aside from those who are content to interact with those they already know and a few others they bump into, this is a formula for stagnancy. Massive fail.

    Report Post » paul1149  
    • bestartist
      Posted on October 13, 2011 at 1:55am

      I never got around to setting anything up and then I heard from other artist friends that there were problems with “Creative Commons” licenses and that when they signed up and started using Google+ all the photos, images from their blogs started disappearing….that was enough for me…..
      Plus….I could never understand the point…it’s hard enough managing friends, colleagues and clients between FaceBook, Twitter and LinkedIn!
      no mas!

      Report Post » bestartist  
  • squeegeeman
    Posted on October 12, 2011 at 10:54pm

    Google Wave, Google Plus….. Google Mush

    Report Post » squeegeeman  
  • heavyduty
    Posted on October 12, 2011 at 10:47pm

    The truth hurts doesn’t it Google?

    Report Post »  
  • shackero
    Posted on October 12, 2011 at 10:42pm

    I don’t trust Google—-or Facebook!!!!
    They both have such a left leaning stance it is just ridiculous!!!!
    Try doing a Google search on Obama—and all the “bad” stuff is Waaaaaay down past the first page—–Google the “occupy Wall Street Protest” and you will not find the CRAP they are doing—-it’s mostly pro-protest propaganda.

    Report Post » shackero  
    • tharpdevenport
      Posted on October 13, 2011 at 1:01am

      It’s been that way for over two years now. TRy finding actual quotes, video or audio of, say, Obama and his “laser” focus on jobs; can’t find it, can you? You can find references to it, but none of the actual stuff. I know, you’re like me — you heard him say it, watched him say it, but it jsut sort of vanishes when doing a Google search. In fact, try a Yahoo! search — SAME RESULTS.

      Report Post » tharpdevenport  
    • sta
      Posted on October 13, 2011 at 10:08am

      Use IXquick. When it was released that Google was working with “The Won”, the conservatives went to IXquick because they don’t track your IP address. Now, the hits are conservative.

      Report Post »  
  • tbl10
    Posted on October 12, 2011 at 10:37pm

    Who gives a google! I stopped using them after they started working with the Obama administration. Oh and that executive that stirred up the Egyptian protestors, hows that working out now.

    Report Post »  
  • UBETHECHANGE
    Posted on October 12, 2011 at 10:34pm

    I can barely keep up with twitter. I cancelled FB months ago, due to privacy concerns and it was getting old. Keep it simple I say.

    Report Post »  
  • Marnin
    Posted on October 12, 2011 at 10:31pm

    Wanna bet that Yegge is back working at Amazon (or somewhere else) within the next few days?

    Report Post »  
1 2

Sign In To Post Comments! Sign In

Sign Up For Our Newsletter!

Glenn Beck Radio

Listen to Glenn Beck 24/7 Listen Now
Restoring Love