[makeitshine]

The HN community seems split between people who want simple products that do one thing well, and others that want continual feature churn and additions. What was Google Docs need exactly to be better? It seems to work perfectly for the targeted users.

[clown_strike]

They don't want features added to it, they want to see new revolutionary products similar to it. I remember the magic of early Google, delivering products and features that actually solved problems. Gmail offered 1GB storage while Yahoo acted like giving you 15MB was generous.

Ironically I think the dearth of innovation is related to consumers having been rendered too passive since 2010.

Nobody has "needs" for Google to address anymore; now we are told what we should want (clear indication that advertising execs now run the show), usually under protest as they forcibly reshape industry standards and kill beloved products.

The infantilization of AI and the subsequent hilarity of Gemini blackwashing white historical figures says all it needs to about the culture shift.

Search is also censored to an embarrassing degree. Queer theory is treated as irrefutable fact and you'll find infinite dubious content promoting it, while conspiracy theory and anything critical of Israel is downranked or delisted altogether.

Early Google gave us lightsabers [for "free"]. Now they sell lefthanded safety scissors and insist nothing has changed. All stars burn out eventually.