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When Google acquisitions go wrong: the disappointing story of Urchin
arstechnica.com — Just because the big G rolls up with a truckload of cash doesn't mean that newly acquired companies are about to get a jolt of productivity. Such is the case with Urchin, whose software and support lies mostly dormant nearly three years later.
cmoore9k- 526 diggs
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- mentol, on 10/10/2007, -2/+8Oh yeah that wasn't the best deal they've done.
What's it with the companies these days. They buy other companies just to get bigger and bigger but not to increase profits. Same goes for Sprint after buying Nextel. Bad business.
http://www.balkansmedia.com/2007/10/09/sprint-next ...- eclipse007, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2Well that worked pretty well for Microsoft, they crushed (or if the couldn't, bought) all of their competitors for almost three decades, they even considered buying Google when it was young but then thought it was a waste of money, we all see how that worked out for them.
So, even if some competing businesses do not look that promising, it still makes sense for huge corporations to buy them out.
(Of course, I'm counting out those acquisitions which are aimed at entering new markets.)- bcasper1, on 10/10/2007, -1/+2do you guys really not see the bigger picture here? sometimes huge companies with tons o cash buy up smaller ideas, concepts and companies in the hope that they can be useful. however other times it can just to keep it out of the hands of the competition.
- WilliamDavis, on 10/10/2007, -1/+5Maybe, but that's not the case here. Google bought Urchin for the same reason they've purchased and developed many things. They want data. They know webmasters won't sell raw logs. However, they will use a free tool without thinking about it. That's the reason why development has stalled on the server software, and development continued with the javascript option. With google analytics, they're collecting massive amounts of data they could never get their hands on otherwise. I'm not sure what it's worth, but google's the king of data collection, and I bet they have a good idea.
- bcasper1, on 10/10/2007, -1/+2do you guys really not see the bigger picture here? sometimes huge companies with tons o cash buy up smaller ideas, concepts and companies in the hope that they can be useful. however other times it can just to keep it out of the hands of the competition.
- brundlefly76, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Its nice to see people digging about Google's failures, because for a long time they were like Apple and no one would say boo about them - as far as everyone was concerned, all they touched turned to gold.
But, the fact is, Google has certainly had its share of missteps like any other company, and their domination of the search and advertising markets has been a really serious problem for years (although well deserved reward for performance in those spaces).
At this point, the stock price really needs some adjustment, and hopefully levels out or declines for a while, just so we can vent constructive criticism of individual moves within google and not be dismissed, like what happened with Yahoo! et al int eh late 90's.
- eclipse007, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2Well that worked pretty well for Microsoft, they crushed (or if the couldn't, bought) all of their competitors for almost three decades, they even considered buying Google when it was young but then thought it was a waste of money, we all see how that worked out for them.
- SuperWinner, on 10/22/2007, -19/+2Reminds of of Everything Microsoft has bought.
- 10001110101, on 10/10/2007, -1/+2Give it up. Ever hear of the Microsoft Business Solutions pillar?
- sockpuppets, on 10/10/2007, -1/+3You mean "the shaft?" Yeah, I've received that a few times as a matter of fact!
- tnoy, on 10/10/2007, -1/+6Yeah, look at how they just drove Bungie into the ground.
- skunkman62, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1bungle was driven into the ground? i heard ms and bungle made a ton of money last month.
- ShadowPt2, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Today Bungie's sitting on one of gaming's most popular franchises.. I somehow don't think MS drove them into the "ground."
- Tenlow, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Yeah hotmail didnt seem to take off very well either. MS DOS was a total loss for them as well. When will they ever learn?
- hmunkey, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Like...? Only thing I can see is Bungie, a massive game powerhouse.
- sunbiz, on 10/10/2007, -9/+4I dont agree with the post. Google wanted to give Urchin's SaaS free to a larger audience and hence they publicised Analytics. And just see today how popular Analytics is!! I think Ars is making noise, since it paid for something that's free today!! Also, Google is indirectly making money using Analyics/Urchin since it's able to monitor users better and target ads better... Also they can monitor publishers of Adsense in a better way by the use of Analytics
- Twindagger, on 10/10/2007, -1/+10I don't usuallly say this, but RTFA. They want upgrades to a non-web-based solution that seems to have been discontinued.
- ncc74656m, on 10/10/2007, -2/+3Thank you Twindagger! Such an excellent response.
With Google's self aggrandizement as the "do no evil" company, they really need to be careful about pissing off customers, even if they are "acquired" customers. You can't just drop someone like that, or you'll quickly find yourself in a position of lack of trust. Soon you'll be the evil empire that Microsoft only wishes they could be.
What they should have done was pull the dev teams long enough to get Analytics up and running and improved to where they wanted it, then start hiring additional developers to take that over, and then return the original guys to the Urchin product.- geometry, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1I disagree with you. Sometimes you have to give some customers the shaft in order to better serve a larger percent of customers. You can see how Microsoft got into such huge problems by trying to please everybody all the time. Just as Microsoft should have done a complete redesign of their OS years ago, but they didn't want to piss off a percentage of customers who wanted to continue to use old Applications and hardware on the newer OS. Now look, everybody can use old crappy software on Vista but at the cost of making Vista that much crappier.
Google gets it. If there is such a good market for the Urchin software another company will fill the void, it hasn't happened yet so maybe there simply isn't much of a market for it. I myself use to use Urchin for my company, and yes it was great. But after making the transition to Analytics I found that it was much better for my needs even though some of the features were missing. The features that are there are much stronger and easier to use.
I love it that you know what Google should have done better than they do. They didn't get where they are now by coaching from the sidelines. By all means if you think there is a market for Urchin go out and get investors and startup your own company to squash Google.
- geometry, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1I disagree with you. Sometimes you have to give some customers the shaft in order to better serve a larger percent of customers. You can see how Microsoft got into such huge problems by trying to please everybody all the time. Just as Microsoft should have done a complete redesign of their OS years ago, but they didn't want to piss off a percentage of customers who wanted to continue to use old Applications and hardware on the newer OS. Now look, everybody can use old crappy software on Vista but at the cost of making Vista that much crappier.
- mrjit, on 10/10/2007, -10/+5Urchin was a pile of ***** to begin with, I was shocked when they bought it.
- jjesusfreak01, on 10/10/2007, -2/+2What did you think was going to happen to a company called "Urchin..."
- spurton, on 10/10/2007, -17/+18Uh it is called Google Analytics and it is free.
- RobM, on 10/10/2007, -1/+11Uh, read the fricken article... It's called "Urchin" and runs on a server (not at Google).
- Cl1mh4224rd, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Urchin software had/has two versions: JavaScript tracking and access log analysis. Google's simply poured money into the JavaScript portion and let the server-side portion stagnate.
Google Analytics = Urchin 6, essentially.
- Cl1mh4224rd, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Urchin software had/has two versions: JavaScript tracking and access log analysis. Google's simply poured money into the JavaScript portion and let the server-side portion stagnate.
- RobM, on 10/10/2007, -1/+11Uh, read the fricken article... It's called "Urchin" and runs on a server (not at Google).
- SpykerSpeed, on 10/22/2007, -0/+17Google probably casts a wide net knowing not everything they catch will be golden. Venture capitalists do this all the time.
- trevorjez, on 10/10/2007, -7/+2am i missing something? do digg users have google analytics?
- badtiki, on 10/10/2007, -2/+4Google Analytics is great but I get better reporting from awstats, and like any stat app, the ones that read from your actual log files will always give the best results ! The only downside is your host has to install it or build your own server.
- mrjit, on 10/10/2007, -0/+4It's pretty rare to have a host that doesn't have awstats
- bevans, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3That is the thing that was nice about Urchin, it would read the logs and had an optional java script you could add to your pages to get more detailed results.
- rianjs, on 10/10/2007, -2/+1awstats won't do things like "server-side application errors, custom user tracking, and more"
Which you retards would know if you'd actually read the article instead of just the Digg synopsis.
- rmxz, on 10/10/2007, -3/+2Google Acquisitions are often mostly a recruiting tool.
They find someone they want - and A-players will typically answer "nah, I like my own company better" even with the half-million-dollar starting bonus. Closing my startup's just not an option for me -- but selling to Google for that starting bonus - sure. The end result's the same, but the latter's better for the ego and for the resume.
If google cares about the product - or if the recruit wants to spend his free X% time on it -- the product survives.
Otherwise, Google gets a good employee and the project stalls if the employee finds more fun stuff elsewhere in Google.- bingobongony, on 10/10/2007, -1/+2I love how you think that you are right about this.
- GTPilot, on 10/10/2007, -0/+11i used urchin before google analytics. i have both running now. it's surprising how conflicting the reports are when using both versions.
- mathew_bug, on 10/11/2007, -8/+17Google Analytics is one of their best products in my humble opinion.
Don't see how this 'went wrong'...- bingobongony, on 10/10/2007, -7/+2perhaps becuase your humble opinion is not facts?
- rianjs, on 10/10/2007, -1/+3Because Urchin was a server-side software suite that does far more than Google Analytics does.
- augustojr, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1i had high hopes for hello.com too
- bingobongony, on 10/10/2007, -1/+3Despite what the Diggers burying their heads in the sand want to believe, Google has had far more misses than hits, in both their own ideas and their acquisitions. It is just their main two ideas (search and ads) were such big hits that they can now bankroll all their failures.
- sicclife, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2some people forget google buys companies for patents and technology probably more so than to get bigger.
- MQuart, on 10/10/2007, -2/+3As a casual user, I personally like Analytics for my Web sites. Mind you, I'm not going to slap down $900 or even $10,000 for tracking software like Urchin, but IMHO, I'm getting a good deal because of Google's acquisition.
- Webrep, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2I remember Urchin when Quantified was a new company. We brought them to EarthLink to do the free and business sites for statistics. The company was great to work with and I know if Paul, Jack or any of the other founders had a choice there would not be any loss of customer service. Those guys are top notch people to work with. Now on the other hand can we really be surprised at Google's response....not like they care about this impact its just a tiny blip on there radar ... Sad but true.... wtfyme.com
- wybiral, on 10/10/2007, -4/+2It's not as if Google stole Urchin, they sold themselves to Google. If Urchin users are upset that the product they payed for isn't going in the right direction (or going anywhere) they should blame the individuals who sold them out.
- luisalonso, on 10/10/2007, -1/+0ohhh come on...
- nonconformist, on 10/10/2007, -4/+4Am I missing something? How did this go to waste? Google analytics still has Urchin code residue so I am guessing they tool Urchin and made it into what it is today.
- zeppo, on 10/11/2007, -3/+2I like urchin and analytics because they are so easy to block :)
- rianjs, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2You can't block a server-side software package which analyzes logs. We aren't talking about a Google Analytics javascript applet.
- greaterweb, on 10/10/2007, -0/+4I think most of these comments are conclusive evidence that diggers don't read the articles, they just digg headlines.
The article is not focused on whether or not Google Analytics is a good product. Most would agree it is a great product, I really don't think there is any argument there. The problem the author is hitting on is the lack of support and development for the other Urchin statistical tracking solutions. Big dollar solutions that have not seen an update since 2004. - Georgy, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2its funny how the story just above this is "Google Aquires Jaiku"
- stlth, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2We're in the same boat. Our country's daylight saving date has changed and now all the statistics are one hour out. Silence from Google Support on this issue. Must also be in the too hard basket. That infoworld article quotes Google Spokesman "A Google spokeswoman said that, since the acquisition, Google itself has never given Urchin customers even a "ballpark" shipping date for the 6.0 upgrade." This is just bullsh*t, we emailed over and over and were told 'Quarter this year, second halft that year' then we gave up asking after it was obvious they had dropped support for it. Shame, was great product for web hosts, Google ruined it.
- peterinjapan, on 10/11/2007, -4/+1Meanwhile, I, a company who never shelled out for Urchin, think their current offerings are great. So I guess it's a matter of point of view, like Obi Wan said.
- bryanwebster, on 10/16/2007, -0/+0Coincidentally Urchin version 6 is rumored to launch today
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