I completely agree. Circles were great. Unfortunately, they're one of the things that killed Google+. I remember reading an article from one of the creators of Google+ years and years ago. They talked about how asymmetric friending (Alice adding Bob to one of her circles didn't add Alice to any of Bob's circles) prevented the viral network effect that Facebook was able to achieve.

It's a damn shame. I feel like Google giving up on Google+ and Microsoft giving up on Windows phones were both mistakes.

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giancarlostoro 7 hours ago | parent | next [-]

> and Microsoft giving up on Windows phones were both mistakes.

You hit me right in the gut, are we long lost siblings? Lol

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Aloha 5 hours ago | parent [-]

Windows Phone was so so good - it was THE phone I recommended to users who were on feature phones/non-smart phones because the UX was so simple and clean (and obvious) - with a side effect that if you HAD a smart phone before (Palm, Apple, Android, BlackBerry, the UX was contrary to what you were used to).

Windows Phone died because MS didnt do enough to build the app ecosystem, and bailed out too soon. I also feel webOS was a lost opportunity too - in some ways it was just too ambitious for the hardware of its time.

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caseysoftware 4 hours ago | parent | next [-]

I loved the Windows Phone too.

I was one of two non-MSFT I knew of that had one.. and I bought it because an MSFT employee was showing it off and I was convinced. The concept of Tiles was great and Cortana was respectable. It felt comparable to Siri and way better than Google.

I used it for a couple years until the apps I needed started disappearing due to lack of updates.

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indolering 5 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

I really wish I had messed with Windows Phone when it was a thing. They were the only ones not to just ship a clone of an existing interface ASAP. But it was closed source and offered no advantages for carriers or device makers compared to Android.

WebOS needed WASM and a lot more to be successful. I think WASM/WASI is to the point that the next major platform build out can use it.

	▲	Aloha 4 hours ago \| parent [-]
		webOS was a bit ahead of its time - it does live on in LG TV's where its done quite well.

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RajT88 5 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

I never tried a Windows phone - but everyone I knew with one loved them. (Most of the owners worked for Microsoft...)

I loved Google+ - it was like Facebook without the dark patterns. So of course, nobody was on it (which I didn't dislike exactly).