Microsoft exec blasts Google's product strategy

Software giant Microsoft's Office 365 director Tom Rizzo has accused Google of "spooking customers" by canceling products too quickly and not offering to support them for long after their cancellation. In a recent blog post, Rizzo wrote that "...In attempting to speed products to market, Google has rolled out poorly planned products and racked up a long list of failures. There was Buzz, Google's answer to Facebook, that exposed private Gmail contacts and ended with a privacy lawsuit settlement, and Google Wave, with a long list of issues, which prompted TechCrunch's article calling it "...worst of email and IM together: unproductivity." Blaming Google's product strategy, he added it is clear that Google is not in tune with the maret needs and does not have a product roadmap and clear vision for productivity for their business customers. Calling Google's product management process similar to cooking spaghetti, he wrote, "Google releases experimental products and tracks adoption to determine whether to continue providing them. Its products are like spaghetti, Google throws them up against the wall to see if they stick." According to him, the burials of products may be convenient for Google, but is not good for businesses, "For Google Apps customers, the Google Scheduled Release track gives business a one-week window to prepare and adopt the latest changes to Google Apps after announcement, but businesses need planning and predictability." Rizzo goes on to accuse Google for their cancellations, "It is clear that Google's product management practice is haphazard and non-committal, resulting in its deliveries often falling short of expectations. Before finally re-releasing offline capabilities, Google stopped investing in Gears, its previous offline product, and removed its support in Chrome 11. This confused many users and caused concern. Ultimately, Google failed to deliver what customers need in offline capabilities, provided empty promises over a one-year period, and then released offline solutions that were even worse than the original product."