If you read between the lines, Google's announcement focuses on the team and says "the team", not the product will be a great addition to Google. Similarly, the TalkBin announcement uses words like "While we are proud of what we accomplished ... Google will help us make our bigger goals a reality".
Both sides know the product is dead. I guess Google is acquring the talent and the concepts.
Actually from what I've heard that's not the case.
As I often find myself saying on HN, if you're going to be nasty, you'd better be right. Though honestly, why be nasty at all? These guys are celebrating. Why post comments belittling their achievement?
While I'm sure everyone here is happy for them (and you, their backers), I think it's also natural to be inquisitive as to the nature of the acquisition. alain94040's post might have benefited from a more curious and less categorical tone, but I don't think it was fundamentally 'nasty' either, as it's common knowledge that many products do not really continue to exist once in Google.
Of the YC companies that have gone to Google, what were their products, and those products' fates inside Google? (Not a rhetorical question, the subject got me interested; maybe I'm wrong in my 'common knowledge'). Edit: something else interesting to look at, utilizing your own data, might be the acquisition price vs the product's fate.
In any event, it's good news, and the team deserve congratulations.
I was trying to show how double-speak works. I stand by my analysis of both parties' announcements. Read them again for yourself and tell me they are not phrased carefully:
“We’re thrilled to welcome the TalkBin _team_ to Google. They’ve built a cool way for customers to engage with local businesses, and we think _they_’ll be a great fit for our mobile and local _teams_.”
When we started building TalkBin in 2010, we set out to find a better way for consumers to connect with their local businesses in a more personal way. While we’re proud of what we’ve accomplished, we believe Google’s awesome mobile and local _teams_ combined with their consumer reach will help us make our bigger goals a reality.
To be clear, when I said the product was dead, I meant the code base. Its ideas and concepts will now be incorporated into the larger Google team.
I'd rather be acquired for my personality than for my product, actually.
That's what you do too, right? You always say that you'll fund the team, not the product.
Both sides know the product is dead. I guess Google is acquring the talent and the concepts.