Good walkthrough of Opal. Let me suggest one other shortcoming of Opal - it’s from Google. Given Google’s history of killing products with little or no notice I wouldn’t view anything built with Opal as more than a throwaway. Yes, I still have the scars from Google Reader, sigh.
You and me both. I still remember when Google Reader got axed.
You're right, of course: There's absolutely no guarantee, especially with experimental apps like Opal, that Google won't phase them out at some point.
On the other hand, NotebookLM also started out as a Google Labs experiment, but has now become so many people's favorite AI tool, and Google keeps adding new features and making it more useful every day.
Opal is a pretty cool experimental tool for dabblers, but the jury is still out on whether it survives. I hope that some of its most promising functionality at least gets rolled into another, more robust product.
But to your point: I would definitely not recommend relying on Opal for any core, critical functionality. It's really for feature-limited, throwaway apps you can afford to see gone.
Totally agree on NotebookLM. Such a useful and valuable tool. Glad to see the ongoing enhancements. Fingers crossed that it gets to the point that the number of users makes it a survivor of the Google product grim reaper.
Opal hits the sweet spot for beginners! AI-powered, transparent, and tweakable. Love how it balances simplicity with real learning opportunities for workflow automation.
If you’re curious about vibe coding and workflow automation, check out my Substack for insights you’ll find practical and relatable.
Good walkthrough of Opal. Let me suggest one other shortcoming of Opal - it’s from Google. Given Google’s history of killing products with little or no notice I wouldn’t view anything built with Opal as more than a throwaway. Yes, I still have the scars from Google Reader, sigh.
You and me both. I still remember when Google Reader got axed.
You're right, of course: There's absolutely no guarantee, especially with experimental apps like Opal, that Google won't phase them out at some point.
On the other hand, NotebookLM also started out as a Google Labs experiment, but has now become so many people's favorite AI tool, and Google keeps adding new features and making it more useful every day.
Opal is a pretty cool experimental tool for dabblers, but the jury is still out on whether it survives. I hope that some of its most promising functionality at least gets rolled into another, more robust product.
But to your point: I would definitely not recommend relying on Opal for any core, critical functionality. It's really for feature-limited, throwaway apps you can afford to see gone.
Totally agree on NotebookLM. Such a useful and valuable tool. Glad to see the ongoing enhancements. Fingers crossed that it gets to the point that the number of users makes it a survivor of the Google product grim reaper.
Thanks for the great walkthrough for the good 😊
Welcome, glad you found it useful!
Opal hits the sweet spot for beginners! AI-powered, transparent, and tweakable. Love how it balances simplicity with real learning opportunities for workflow automation.
If you’re curious about vibe coding and workflow automation, check out my Substack for insights you’ll find practical and relatable.