back to article Google Plus minus Meebo Bar equals Google minus $100m

Google will axe the website widget Meebo Bar just one year after buying the company that built it. The advertising giant said it scrapped the tool to focus on its Google+ plugins. Google bought Meebo on 4 June reportedly for $100m, before proceeding to strip away much of its functionality. It started as an instant-messaging …

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  1. nuked
    Thumb Down

    Yet another tech start-up being bought, destroyed, and spat out. I'm sure the owners are happy with lining their pockets, but it's a sorry day for competition and those who enjoy making their own choices.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      FAIL

      As an AC has pointed out below, this now seems to be the standard operational procedure for tech startups:

      1. Create 'product'

      2. Get bought out by Google/Facebook/whoever[1]

      3. Profit ... [2]

      [1] - delete as applicable. Or add your own.

      [2] - The 'former' owners, that is - as long as their pockets are lined, the users can go swing.

  2. James 51

    "Before Meebo's demise, Google stripped away all its features until it only consisted of the Meebo bar with added Google+ capabilities."

    Looks like google jumped the extend part and went from embrace to extinguish.

  3. Shakes

    Oh no, where did my beloved Meebo bar go?!

    -- no one, ever

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Hey, this is the actual business model!

    Being bought by Google, Facebook, Apple and others. Surprised, anyone ?!

    1. Blain Hamon
      Meh

      Re: Hey, this is the actual business model!

      Years ago, I actually interviewed with a company where that was their explicit business model. That is, their end goal was to build a product that looked interesting enough to get acquired, founders cash in, bail from large company, lather rinse repeat.

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Good Riddance

    Frankly the Meebo bar was an abomination and the web will be a better place for its passing.

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    What's so wrong with the business model?

    Basically tech startups are like R&D departments that don't need to be paid for up front. They find some cash from a VC gambler and if they make something usable the company gets bought, the ideas and technology (or just the patents) get stripped out and those who took the financial risk get rewarded. The users are basically just alpha testers who normally got a service for free for a while and the code monkeys who actually wrote the thing are just coders for hire, they didn't come up with the idea or the money and were paid a salary so don't really deserve anything.

    1. Captain DaFt

      Re: What's so wrong with the business model?

      Imagine if it was always this way, in the early days of modern tech companies:

      Google Could have been bought out by Yahoo!, or AltaVista

      MS by Commodore, or Atari

      Amazon by Yahoo! or Ask Jeeves

      Or, Hell, LinusTorvalds to IBM or SGI!

      Today we'd be using a web barely enhanced from what we had in the late eighties, good or bad, you decide.

  7. Dan Paul
    Devil

    Can someone do the same thing to the "Ask Toolbar" Please!!!!!?????

    As far as I am concerned, some regulator someplace needs to make all so called "Toolbars" illegal so that the various scum that tie their so called "free" products to some kind of toolbar download can all go to hell and rot collectively, forever.

    Any software vendor that uses these toolbar driveby downloads needs to find a better way to monetize their product. Especially the ones that use confusing language or install the crapware even if you already unchecked the "Please Install" boxes. You may have created a great product but the crapware you allowed will turn me off right away.

    1. Gavin McMenemy

      Re: Can someone do the same thing to the "Ask Toolbar" Please!!!!!?????

      That's how I feel about all bundleware. Yes that includes Chrome and certain AV vendors (you know who you are).

      If you download a program you shouldn't have to pay attention to the install process on the off-chance that you install some 3rd party thing you didn't actually want.

      1. Steven Roper

        Re: Can someone do the same thing to the "Ask Toolbar" Please!!!!!?????

        You think that's bad?

        I came across a download the other day whose installer had checkboxes for "Please install SomeSpywareToolbar" and "Make my default homepage SomeSpamSearchSite" - and the checkboxes were ticked and greyed out so you couldn't untick them. I mean, WTF? Why even bother to put checkboxes there at all?

        Needless to say, the install was aborted at that point, the originating site added to my blacklist, and my search for a tool to do the job I needed continued.

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