>As much as it comes with the drawback of being scattershot in general, it specifically creates a track record for failure with messaging because successful messaging products, as a rule, have network effect - something you can't build when you're playing with three different approaches simultaneously.
I think what Google needs to do is to seperate the messaging protocol from the messaging software. The protocol needs network effects. The software doesn't. That's why shutting down Google Inbox didn't kill email and it's why any new experiments with email software can benefit from the network effects that email protocols already have.
I think what Google needs to do is to seperate the messaging protocol from the messaging software. The protocol needs network effects. The software doesn't. That's why shutting down Google Inbox didn't kill email and it's why any new experiments with email software can benefit from the network effects that email protocols already have.