> make the product available as a stand-alone application [...] even if it doesn't run on Google's infrastructure
How would they do that? Who would pay the server costs?
Edit: Out of curiosity, is there anyone reading this comment that would be willing to pay for the infrastructure costs to keep Poly alive?
Not to mention that its been built on top of the Google internal development stack and getting it working outside of that environment would require a substantial re-write.
So you're saying they're getting bitten by vendor lock-in?
How is it vendor lock-in if the internal code base that was never built in a way to work in the outside world can't just be taken and dropped on Github?
We are being bitten by vendor lock-in, once again
Re:Google Poly is shutting down
by monsieurbanana on Wednesday December 02, 2020 @11:47AM
(#25278220)
No? We're getting bitten by vendor lock in.
> How would they do that? Who would pay the server costs?
The user would run the server, or another company, or a group of enthousiasts. It doesn't need to be expensive, especially if the user doesn't require many other users on the system.
Re:Google Poly is shutting down
by hn_throwaway_99 on Wednesday December 02, 2020 @11:41AM
(#25278155)
That doesn't really make sense. poly.google.com looks to be essentially a repository/library of 3D renderings people want to share. There is no "standalone app" here, it's just a sharing site.
> The right thing to do by Google would be to make the product available as a stand-alone application, so users can still use it even if it doesn't run on Google's infrastructure.
Did any of your companies ever do that? How did it go?
Did any of my companies ever pull a product while it was still being used? No.
Companies discontinue products all the time due to acquisitions, bankruptcy, restructuring or simply re-orienting investment and I've never seen them held to this standard of having to host it somewhere external. I'm not even really sure how that would work.
A commenter here shared an example of a similar product shut down by Microsoft: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remix_3D
Disclaimer: Googler, but in no way connect to the Poly team.
Edit: Added Remix 3D example.
More work, yes. But certainly much better than what they are doing now.