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Lively, Google’s virtual world, has been a flop

economist.com — IT SOUNDED like a brilliant idea. Google, the internet giant, would bring 3-D virtual worlds to the masses by making them accessible through a web browser. Millions of people log into virtual worlds such as World of Warcraft and Second Life every day, but they require special software and their complexity can be daunting to newcomers.

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  • Chickenlip, on 08/22/2008, -4/+21GIven that it only runs in IE, it is BOUND to fail.
  • dinkydarko, on 08/22/2008, -0/+15i'd love to have tried it but the ignored linux... oh well.
  • louiebaur, on 08/23/2008, -0/+14looks like Google strayed away too far from its area of expertise: web search
  • B00Radley, on 08/22/2008, -0/+12Google is a bit too full of themselves - they think they can build anything in their "20%" time. Truth? They built a great search engine and keep way to high a % of adsense revenue. They're getting more and more like Microsoft everyday - a big, stodgy corporation.
  • poprocksandsoda, on 08/23/2008, -3/+13Google has displayed zero innovation since their original search engine and adwords. They continue to drop software projects that have all the polish of a frat boy's weekend coding effort. That place is about stock options and lattes. They should stick to buying up good companies and taking their ideas ... then half-baking a "beta" that no one beyond press release-driven day traders care about.

    It offends me that they have so much and do nothing but kick out commoditized technology that is almost always done better elsewhere.
  • JerichoSam, on 08/23/2008, -0/+8Disney's Club Penguin and VMK (which is now history)--both primarily for kids--seem to offer more than Lively offers. Google just didn't set the bar high enough.
  • alexdemers, on 08/23/2008, -0/+8Gmail is not innovative? Google Maps (+ Street View) is not innovative?
  • inactive, on 08/23/2008, -0/+5Of course it's gonna fail...all the lonely people are already on the other sites. When would they have time to see a new one? :-D
  • sirhomer, on 08/23/2008, -0/+3They should have targeted Linux and Mac OS X from the beginning.
  • EatingPie, on 08/23/2008, -0/+3And the Mac!

    Welcome to the ignored OS club!

    /me cracks a beer for Linux.

    -Pie
  • jboitnott, on 08/23/2008, -0/+3Yeah it just goes to show that Google fails in many of its attempts to venture outside of what it does best. I do appreciate the company's efforts to help develop alternative fuels and forms of energy. That could really help our society (potentially).
  • inactive, on 08/23/2008, -0/+3Just looked at the site and it runs on IE or Firefox. (Requires Windows Vista/XP with Internet Explorer or Firefox
    By using Lively you agree to these Terms) http://www.lively.com/html/landing.html
  • netneutrality, on 08/23/2008, -1/+3"[...] they require special software and their complexity can be daunting to newcomers."

    Good. You don't want every idiot who can turn on a computer turning up in WoW.
  • alexkball, on 08/24/2008, -0/+1never even heard of it...i guess that's kind of the point of the article though, no?
  • AmyVernon, on 08/24/2008, -0/+1precisely. if it continues to spread itself too thin, it faces the danger that it could be overtaken in its primary area; then they're totally screwed.
  • tsitneics, on 08/24/2008, -1/+2Google's Virtual World = Epic Fail
  • poprocksandsoda, on 08/23/2008, -3/+2Web-based email has been around over a decade. Street view has what practical value?

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