Google Hardware makes cuts to laptop and tablet development, cancels products

Please build me a Linux laptop for software engineering, Google.<p>For engineers only. No software support beyond ensuring the BIOS and the drivers work and are updated.<p>I <i>hate</i> Dell, but I got a Dell XPS 15 because it was the only laptop I knew would: boot Linux reliably; last two Ubuntu LTS upgrades (4 years); have a high spec (i9 etc); and was reasonably priced (Apple tax was 50% higher for worse hardware).<p>Is it impossible to make a laptop better than Dell or Apple? Google: how much goodwill would you receive through developer love? Why do I have to pay for Windows when the OS division seems to be actively working against making my work easier? Google, you have the skills and size to make a secure laptop.<p>Google, maybe it is because most of your engineers internally just need a good terminal, instead of a fast laptop?

<i>The move comes after the group received pressure to turn Google Hardware into &quot;a real business&quot; from higher-ups at Google&#x2F;Alphabet</i> -- the squeeze continues unabated :-)<p>Its too bad, since the Pixelbook is pretty nice and with actual investment it could have been something much more than it is, but alas it would not have the margins search advertising does. Back in the 90&#x27;s I met the head of Xerox&#x27;s PARC after he had given a talk on innovation. One of the challenges he saw was that gardening innovation was like gardening crops, which was to say it was very hard to know when sprouts had one leaf out of the ground which were weeds and which were crops. Ideas were the same way, you need to nurture them to at least adolescence before you can reasonably decide if they are going to go on to be great or not so great.<p>From the outside, Google appears to be at that stage where they have not learned how to nurture an idea to see if it will be great or not before killing it.

I&#x27;m looking forward to the upcoming announcement of a Google game console in 2019 [0], and the subsequent announcement that it has been discontinued in 2022.<p>[0] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;arstechnica.com&#x2F;gadgets&#x2F;2019&#x2F;03&#x2F;all-signs-point-to-a-google-game-console-announcement-at-gdc&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;arstechnica.com&#x2F;gadgets&#x2F;2019&#x2F;03&#x2F;all-signs-point-to-a...</a>

It seems that the company is entirely unable to have a vision about anything.<p>Too big to dare might also be a good way to describe them. They are not going to dare making e.g. one great messaging product (or even 2 .. there are after all some niches like office communication). Instead they do 7 and see which one works.<p>Apparently launching a new product is also the only sure way to get a promotion at Google, not improving an existing one.

In the grand scheme of things, I think it is a good thing that Google, or any other big tech company, isn&#x27;t dominating every product category.<p>Think about it: Google is dominating search and online advertising, they have the most popular web browser in the world, the most used mobile OS in the world, they have Youtube, Maps, Gmail, Chromebooks.<p>Now imagine if they also ruled messaging, social media, had the most used laptops and tablet in the world, were dominating on cloud, etc...<p>I cannot see that as being a good thing for consumer.

Well damn... I have my dev environment running very nicely in a Pixelbook via Crostini and love it.

Building hardware is difficult. Like really difficult. More difficult that anyone expects it to be.

The biggest issue that I have with google is product sustainability -- if something doesn&#x27;t seem to have &quot;Hockey stick&quot; levels of growth and use, google kills it.<p>Do I want to spend $500 on yet another google branded brick?

&quot;Dozens&quot; of employees may indicate a fairly small course correction rather than a change in direction.

The way I see it the only <i>good</i> pieces of Google Hardware are the Chromecasts (which are absolutely amazing devices, might be near perfection in terms of simplicity and price) and the Google Home (though that&#x27;s still 2nd in the smart speaker market). Everything else is either niche (Google WiFi, which I forgot existed even as a techie) or a hanger on (Nest).

I used a Samsung Chromebook 2 (Exynos processor, 4GB RAM, 13 in. screen) as my primary laptop for a couple years. It was fast and quiet, but getting GNU&#x2F;Linux running via Crouton meant jumping through hoops every time it powered off and back on.<p>I now use a Macbook, and really wonder why any developer would buy a Pixelbook vs. a Macbook. If you want to run GNU&#x2F;Linux, you can install a VM, and otherwise you still have a functional OS.<p>Edit: I see the value proposition in $200-300 Chromebooks. I&#x27;m specifically puzzled by the Pixelbook, which starts at $999 (not much less expensive than a new Macbook Air).

Who do I have to kill to get a Nexus 7 (2020) model?

Well, Google wanted to promote ChromeOS, and now it&#x27;s killing it and slaughter all the engineers involved in the project.<p>Doesn&#x27;t that sound hypocritical to say the least? Why axe those engineers? Why not get them to fix Android, Fuchsia or whatever needs fixing?

What&#x27;s wrong with Google nowadays? They seem completely unable or unwilling to invest in anything besides search for longer than 3-4 years. Completely untrustworthy at this point. I would never buy another Google product ever again.

I really loved the design of the pixelbook, but I just didnt see who would be interested in it. When I buy a 1,000$ machine i dont go for that kind of OS and it just didnt stand out very much. I wish the best to those who worked on these.

I may be soon in the market for a new Android tablet. Does anybody have suggestions?

Any impact on Fuchsia, I wonder? Or a much more short-term change?

It’s not really worth investing in google hardware in my opinion- you get invested and they just can it. They have no staying power.

I&#x27;ll take this as the sign that entirety of Chromebook is at high risk of being canceled.

Google can&#x27;t seem to do anything right anymore.<p>They&#x27;re last place in cloud. They don&#x27;t have a good search API product to compete with Algolia&#x2F;Elasticsearch. They can&#x27;t release new products. Can&#x27;t build new hardware.<p>The only things they have going for them are Youtube, Google (the search engine), Android, Chrome,...<p>Basically everything they did 10 years ago. Even Android + Youtube were acquisitions.<p>Another good example of too big to fail.

Not very surprising.

Sounds like a good reason not to buy new hardware from Google. They discontinue products too fast.