Another stroll through the Google Graveyard
June 13, 2023 9:54 AM Subscribe
killedbygoogle.com lists 285 projects, services and pieces of software that Google has terminated during its history. Let's look back at some of them.
Here are some notable deaths from the page. Many of the links are to Wikipedia (taken from the killedbygoogle site), but some are to surviving termination notices from some site or other.
YouTube Community Commons was a way to contribute translations for videos that didn't have them.
Google Bookmarks was a private (not shared) bookmark saving service. It lasted surprisingly long; it was started in 2005 and made it to 2021. Why? My guess is, someone important in Google probably made heavy use of it. I hadn't heard of it in forever; I may never have heard of it, in fact. They didn't seem to go out of their way to promote it, probably because it wasn't social. Bah.
The original Google Sites, an easy way to create a web site, also lasted until 2021. Google Sites as a concept continues, with a different system.
Google Hangouts was the most recent version of the Gmail-integrated chat service. You could use Hangouts stand-alone, I am given to understand, but I didn't use it.
Another service called Google Currents was just killed two months ago. It was a replacement for Google Plus. It will be replaced by Google Spaces. No work on what will eventually replace the replacement, or what that will then be replaced by. Hi, we're the replacements!
Did you know Google had, for a while, a system for creating 3D games? A way to communicate with others in your neighborhood? A tool to easily set up WiFi hotspots? Neither did I.
Google Grasshopper, started in 2017, is a fun and easy way to learn the fundamentals of Javascript. But use it while you can; it dies tomorrow.
filthy light thief linked to killedbygoogle.com on the first day of 2020, but it was as an aside, not as the subject of the post. It turns out I made a post a lot like this one (but much shorter) back in 2015. Joe Besse made a Google Graveyard post in 2010.
I wrote this post in a hurry, to try to get it up before Grasshopper goes dark. I've looked over it a couple of times to try to catch obvious errors and broken links and the like, but gosh there's a ton of stuff here. I apologize if any mistakes slipped through my slapdash editing process.
Here are some notable deaths from the page. Many of the links are to Wikipedia (taken from the killedbygoogle site), but some are to surviving termination notices from some site or other.
- Google Deskbar is the earliest killed project in the list. it let people perform Google searches from a small Windows program, without having to open a browser first.
- Writely was killed 16 years ago. It was a web-based word processor that could be seen as a predecessor of Google Docs.
- The original Google Video Player was a stand-alone video player that played its own slightly modified version of the AVI format. It was initially based off of VLC, which prompted the question: why not just use VLC? Because this played Google's "gvi" format. But why use that format when only one program can play it?
- Google Browser Sync was a Firefox add-on that stored passwords and history securely, so you could your log-ins back easily if you changed computers. One of the many ideas on the list that would return later, in a different form: both Chrome and Firefox offer this service without an add-on now.
- Send To Phone was another Firefox extension, to send a link from one's computer to their phone. It's easy to forget how many Firefox extensions Google made in the early days and then let die.
- Google Audio Ads was their very short-lived (7 months) foray into radio advertising.
- Google Toolbar was their entry into the once-overpopular browser toolbar space. It lasted four years. It died 14 years ago, but it actually feels longer to me.
- YouTube Streams was a way to watch videos with friends, synced up between them, with real-time chat among them. Several other websites offer this functionality now. We use one of them three nights a week at MST Club!
- Google SearchWiki allowed users to collaboratively reorder search results. Was it killed because it was abused, or because Google didn't want to give users that kind of power?
- Google Base was a collaborative database for storing any kind of information.
- Google Hotpot was a way of rating services, as a way to compete with Yelp. Google is still in this business today, of course, just by another name.
- Google Labs was a place for Google to put various projects worked on by employees. It was home to several notable services.
- Google Sets (the link at killedbygoogle is just a generic one so I'm not providing it here) was one of the Google Labs projects, and possibly the longest lived, lasting nine years until Labs was shut down. It was always a neat toy in search of a use. You could enter a list of items, and it'd use its data compiled via Google's web spider to add more related items to the set. So, enter some colors and it'd (usually) give you more colors; enter a few characters from Gilligan's Island and it'd (hopefully) give you the rest of them. Sets was far from infallible, which may have contributed to its downfall, since back then faulty AI-powered services weren't nearly as relentlessly fawned over.
- Google Directory lasted eleven years. It was their attempt to match what Yahoo was doing, back when Yahoo was doing it. I'm not sure that I ever used Google Directory, but I actually probably did. I'm amazed now that it existed.
- Google Desktop is one of those ideas that might work well now, it was local search for your PC, a way to find documents and other things on your computer.
- Google Pack was a way to easily download an assortment of useful programs and tools. Google Pack would also keep them updated for you. Basically, Ninite.
- Google Sidewiki was a sidebar that could be used to share notes on any page on the internet with other browsers of that page. Take a moment to think about the ways that could be abused. Take a good long moment.
- Google Notebook was basically the first pass on Google Keep, although it had a focus of saving things you found on the internet, like bookmarks. Like a first pass at del.icio.us.
- Google Gears was created partly as a workaround to Microsoft's shameful long-term neglect of Internet Explorer, and (I seem to remember) partly as a way to get Google-desired features into Firefox. It was an add-on that added extra functions to the browser it was installed on. Particularly, it contained helper features that assisted the first iteration of Google Docs. Browser advancements plus the introduction of Web Storage made Gears unnecessary.
- Google Buzz is one that everyone remembers, a chat/microblogging/social networking service. It made it two years.
- Google Code Search was a way to look through published open source code through a search box.
- Google Related was a way to happen into (one might say "stumble upon") sites that were related to the one you were reading. It only lasted seven months.
- Google Wave is another much-remembered service, a real-time collaboration tool. Started in 2009 and disowned a couple of years after, it was open sourced and made available for outside use. Apache picked it up and started to do something with it, but work languished, and it was finally killed for good in 2018. Google still hosts the archived source of the Wave project. (Previously: birth, again, Ask, death)
- Knol was a system Google came up with to try to pay people for sharing knowledge. In the site's terminology, a "knol" was a unit of knowledge. Wikipedia made it pretty much irrelevant. Previously, again.
- Google Video, infamously, was being operated by Google when they bought Youtube. It lasted a few years, until the left hand realized what the right hand was doing.
- Google Listen was Google's Android podcast client. You know, like Google Podcasts.
- AdSense for Feeds was a way to get Google's ad business into RSS, back when Google cared about RSS. The link is to the service's still-extant Blogspot blog, its last post, made by Emily Wood and "The Google Blog Team," dating to 2012.
- Google Talk... ah, now we're getting into the long and sorry legacy of Google's many Gmail-integrated chat clients. Believe it or not, this one actually had a native system tray widget, so you didn't have to have a browser open to use it! Like those other IM services that people used back then. They did. Honest.
- Building Maker was a way to create 3D models of buildings that could then be contributed to Google Earth.
- Google Reader! The big one. Everyone remembers Google Reader, largely because annoying people like me keep reminding them of it. A popular cloud-based RSS feed reader (before people used "the cloud" to mean things like that), Reader was beloved and respected, and was even considered an early form of social media. People in Google even thought the people involved in Reader were the only ones in the company that understood social. So of course they killed it to make way for Google+. Now, Google+ is also long gone, but Reader never came back. Phooey. On July 1st, it'll have been gone for 10 years. Impending death by Plus, obit post.
- iGoogle was a customizable Google start page. You could decide what went on it and drag its elements around how you wanted them. It lasted eight long years. I remember it pretty fondly.
- Google Currents, in the first incarnation, was a news aggregation app along the lines of Flipboard. Now Flipboard is still around, but Currents isn't. It was replaced by Google Play Newsstand.
- Google Chrome Frame was another attempt to get around the long decay of Internet Explorer, a way to embed a Google Chrome frame in IE. I point out that Microsoft's current browser, Edge, now runs on the same engine as Google Chrome.
- Picasa was a fairly popular desktop image organizer program. It survived for 13 years, until one day, it didn't.
- Google Blog Search API is an example of the esteem in which Google once held blogs.
- Google Code was a site for hosting, uh, code. It offered version control. I'm surprised it lasted 11 years.
- Google Goggles, a way to search using images taken from a phone's camera, seems rather like the current Google Lens.
- Youtube Video Annotations is another of those beloved features that, like Reader, still felt the cruel sting of the headsman's axe, and never saw a replacement.
- Google URL Shortener makes it seem like Google will chase any old fad that strikes its momentary fancy.
- Google+. Ah, this. The site says it ended in 2019. Really?? It seems like so much longer! For a while an old-style lowercase Google "g" logo would be on every blog's share list, alongside the Twitter bird and the Facebook "f." Now, it's just a sad reminder of which sites haven't updated their share systems since that wretched era.
- Personal Blocklist is another of those ideas that I pray gets revived some day: a way to remove sites you specify from your Google results. Sadly, you had to specify the sites individually, you couldn't just say, "don't include any SEO bullshit thanks."
YouTube Community Commons was a way to contribute translations for videos that didn't have them.
Google Bookmarks was a private (not shared) bookmark saving service. It lasted surprisingly long; it was started in 2005 and made it to 2021. Why? My guess is, someone important in Google probably made heavy use of it. I hadn't heard of it in forever; I may never have heard of it, in fact. They didn't seem to go out of their way to promote it, probably because it wasn't social. Bah.
The original Google Sites, an easy way to create a web site, also lasted until 2021. Google Sites as a concept continues, with a different system.
Google Hangouts was the most recent version of the Gmail-integrated chat service. You could use Hangouts stand-alone, I am given to understand, but I didn't use it.
Another service called Google Currents was just killed two months ago. It was a replacement for Google Plus. It will be replaced by Google Spaces. No work on what will eventually replace the replacement, or what that will then be replaced by. Hi, we're the replacements!
Did you know Google had, for a while, a system for creating 3D games? A way to communicate with others in your neighborhood? A tool to easily set up WiFi hotspots? Neither did I.
Google Grasshopper, started in 2017, is a fun and easy way to learn the fundamentals of Javascript. But use it while you can; it dies tomorrow.
filthy light thief linked to killedbygoogle.com on the first day of 2020, but it was as an aside, not as the subject of the post. It turns out I made a post a lot like this one (but much shorter) back in 2015. Joe Besse made a Google Graveyard post in 2010.
I wrote this post in a hurry, to try to get it up before Grasshopper goes dark. I've looked over it a couple of times to try to catch obvious errors and broken links and the like, but gosh there's a ton of stuff here. I apologize if any mistakes slipped through my slapdash editing process.
Ah, Grasshopper isn't shutting down tomorrow, but on the 15th. Whew. I'm sure you can learn everything you want from the site in two days.
posted by JHarris at 9:58 AM on June 13, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by JHarris at 9:58 AM on June 13, 2023 [1 favorite]
Google Play Music. I still haven't found a music service that matches the ease of use and quality of recommendations it provided. Tidal comes close, which is what I currently use, but it has a much smaller music catalog and doesn't allow me to upload my own music.
Google Talk. Replaced by Google Chat which is less useable.
posted by exolstice at 10:02 AM on June 13, 2023 [11 favorites]
Google Talk. Replaced by Google Chat which is less useable.
posted by exolstice at 10:02 AM on June 13, 2023 [11 favorites]
My new car came with Android Automotive, which is not the same as Android Auto. (Because who would be silly enough to confuse those two names?)
In any case, I'm glad the car is leased because I don't expect it to be supported by Google after three years. I'm sure the automaker has some long-term support agreement in there for bugs and security holes but I already consider it a dead product.
posted by JoeZydeco at 10:12 AM on June 13, 2023
In any case, I'm glad the car is leased because I don't expect it to be supported by Google after three years. I'm sure the automaker has some long-term support agreement in there for bugs and security holes but I already consider it a dead product.
posted by JoeZydeco at 10:12 AM on June 13, 2023
Personal Blocklist is another of those ideas that I pray gets revived some day: a way to remove sites you specify from your Google results.
There is a GreaseMonkey script, Google Hit Hider, that helps with this.
If I ran the world, software and that stopped being offered would be automatically transferred to an open source public trust.
Thanks for posting this, JHarris - it's enlightening to have a comprehensive list, even if their counting method seems a bit inflated.
posted by kristi at 10:13 AM on June 13, 2023 [4 favorites]
There is a GreaseMonkey script, Google Hit Hider, that helps with this.
If I ran the world, software and that stopped being offered would be automatically transferred to an open source public trust.
Thanks for posting this, JHarris - it's enlightening to have a comprehensive list, even if their counting method seems a bit inflated.
posted by kristi at 10:13 AM on June 13, 2023 [4 favorites]
My 2007-2011 job at another company was ruined because of over-investment in this piece of crap. We were working on something really interesting that probably had a decent chance of making it, and then the C-level people went all-in supporting a dumb idea, because it was Google. It killed my division, and severely damaged the company. Moral of the story: never partner with that company, they will eat you, with extreme prejudice.
posted by mcstayinskool at 10:15 AM on June 13, 2023 [17 favorites]
posted by mcstayinskool at 10:15 AM on June 13, 2023 [17 favorites]
Google Cloud Print was super useful to me before becoming not useful at all because it was gone.
posted by mcstayinskool at 10:19 AM on June 13, 2023 [14 favorites]
posted by mcstayinskool at 10:19 AM on June 13, 2023 [14 favorites]
Bring back Gmail Notifier!!
posted by Melismata at 10:22 AM on June 13, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by Melismata at 10:22 AM on June 13, 2023 [2 favorites]
When I started my first in-house legal job, I inherited my predecessor's gigantic trove of forms and contracts and letters and memos and even .pst mailbox archives. Literally tens of thousands of records going back 10+ years, all written by a smart guy who was a subject matter expert. Windows (xp?) and Outlook had dreadful search functions, and Google Desktop was like a magic key that unlocked the treasure chest. I was heartbroken when it died.
posted by AgentRocket at 10:30 AM on June 13, 2023 [3 favorites]
posted by AgentRocket at 10:30 AM on June 13, 2023 [3 favorites]
My first forays into digital photography were supported by Picasa. It was a dead-simple photo editing software that was quite useful.
I am still a Sage TV user. A private company who developed their own simple DVR software. Still works like a charm 17 years later. Google bought the company in 2011 and used Sage TV as the backbone for Google Fiber's DVR setup.
Sage TV has been open source since 2015.
posted by pthomas745 at 10:33 AM on June 13, 2023 [4 favorites]
I am still a Sage TV user. A private company who developed their own simple DVR software. Still works like a charm 17 years later. Google bought the company in 2011 and used Sage TV as the backbone for Google Fiber's DVR setup.
Sage TV has been open source since 2015.
posted by pthomas745 at 10:33 AM on June 13, 2023 [4 favorites]
Orkut, their first social media thing c. 2004
posted by scruss at 10:42 AM on June 13, 2023 [10 favorites]
posted by scruss at 10:42 AM on June 13, 2023 [10 favorites]
I wonder if there's a growing database at Google just listing all the names they've already used for previous products (some unreleased), because it's probably too easy to pick a name that overlaps with multiple other ones. "Grasshopper"? They're running out of the obvious and good ones (Talk, Chat, Now), soon the names will have less and less meaning (Stadia?), no one will know or remember what they are, and the next team will have even less options to pick.
posted by meowzilla at 10:44 AM on June 13, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by meowzilla at 10:44 AM on June 13, 2023 [1 favorite]
One nice thing about this Google archiving project is it takes pull requests. Here's me adding my own Google project to the list. (An evergreen topic as witnessed this year by API shenanigans at Twitter and Reddit).
People knock Google for abandoning products. And correctly in some cases, like Reader, Stadia, or the various failed chat messaging apps. But it's also a mark of a healthy and creative company that risky projects can be tried and then abandoned when they didn't work out. The company has just never been good at working with partners or an overarching product strategy that made all this stuff coherent.
posted by Nelson at 10:46 AM on June 13, 2023 [2 favorites]
People knock Google for abandoning products. And correctly in some cases, like Reader, Stadia, or the various failed chat messaging apps. But it's also a mark of a healthy and creative company that risky projects can be tried and then abandoned when they didn't work out. The company has just never been good at working with partners or an overarching product strategy that made all this stuff coherent.
posted by Nelson at 10:46 AM on June 13, 2023 [2 favorites]
What it teaches you, though, is don't invest your career or company on a Google product, because there is a very good chance it will not be there next year.
posted by Xoc at 10:49 AM on June 13, 2023 [16 favorites]
posted by Xoc at 10:49 AM on June 13, 2023 [16 favorites]
it seems like the authors were going for number inflation.
They are. As I recall, it was started and promoted by people upset about the Google Reader shutdown. Some people on this thread, not to name names, have made it their life's mission to shame the company until it comes back I guess. Taking down a javascript tutorial that nobody's heard about and has like twelve dozen suitable replacements? Shout it from the rooftops!
Which fine, this is compatible with an extremely old theory of shame and moral outrage moderating greed in the marketplace.
Moral of the story: never partner with that company, they will eat you, with extreme prejudice.
This is always a danger. All those startups building around GPT are gonna have their lunches eaten by openAI. Apple cannablizes their partners so often theres a name for it. Microsoft basically did the same thing to WordPerfect and Netscape. Amazon reputedly opens negotiations with how much it would cost them to launch a competing product to bury you.
If you build your company on top of an API another company owns that has no value without it, you are not founding a company but borrowing one. Don't be surprised when they ask for it back, or decide to set it on fire -- it was never yours to begin with.
What you need are screening devices. Something the platform provider does that is too costly to do unless they are serious about doing it. Contracts are usually that thing; legally binding contracts with promises of payout for doing/not doing something are great screens. Some people decided the Reader lesson was "never rely on free products," which isn't quite the same; plenty of paid products fail in the marketplace, especially when the carrying cost of one engineer in silicon valley is 500k+.
Barring that, open source can help. If the vendor closes shop your business at least has some survival strategy, expensive and unplanned though it may be. But this is also not a panacea: while Android and Kubernetes are open source and not going anywhere, Wave kinda vanished within a year.
posted by pwnguin at 10:54 AM on June 13, 2023 [5 favorites]
They are. As I recall, it was started and promoted by people upset about the Google Reader shutdown. Some people on this thread, not to name names, have made it their life's mission to shame the company until it comes back I guess. Taking down a javascript tutorial that nobody's heard about and has like twelve dozen suitable replacements? Shout it from the rooftops!
Which fine, this is compatible with an extremely old theory of shame and moral outrage moderating greed in the marketplace.
Moral of the story: never partner with that company, they will eat you, with extreme prejudice.
This is always a danger. All those startups building around GPT are gonna have their lunches eaten by openAI. Apple cannablizes their partners so often theres a name for it. Microsoft basically did the same thing to WordPerfect and Netscape. Amazon reputedly opens negotiations with how much it would cost them to launch a competing product to bury you.
If you build your company on top of an API another company owns that has no value without it, you are not founding a company but borrowing one. Don't be surprised when they ask for it back, or decide to set it on fire -- it was never yours to begin with.
What you need are screening devices. Something the platform provider does that is too costly to do unless they are serious about doing it. Contracts are usually that thing; legally binding contracts with promises of payout for doing/not doing something are great screens. Some people decided the Reader lesson was "never rely on free products," which isn't quite the same; plenty of paid products fail in the marketplace, especially when the carrying cost of one engineer in silicon valley is 500k+.
Barring that, open source can help. If the vendor closes shop your business at least has some survival strategy, expensive and unplanned though it may be. But this is also not a panacea: while Android and Kubernetes are open source and not going anywhere, Wave kinda vanished within a year.
posted by pwnguin at 10:54 AM on June 13, 2023 [5 favorites]
Sorry, but Google isn't really a healthy or creative company. It's one in which engineers are rewarded for shipping something, anything, and maintenance and support are considered low-status jobs. None of these products are built to last. Nothing is documented. It's why you have to spend hours every few months walking your parents through the process of making a call on their phone after the latest Android update. It's why Mail keeps getting worse. It's why I laughed out loud when they officially ended support for the old Chromecasts a couple of months ago, since it had been abandoned from a practical standpoint about a year after it first shipped.
Google doesn't kill projects because they're experiments that didn't pan out. They kill projects because their internal culture guarantees that every new project is abandoned on ship day.
posted by phooky at 11:07 AM on June 13, 2023 [39 favorites]
Google doesn't kill projects because they're experiments that didn't pan out. They kill projects because their internal culture guarantees that every new project is abandoned on ship day.
posted by phooky at 11:07 AM on June 13, 2023 [39 favorites]
Google Play Music. I still haven't found a music service that matches the ease of use and quality of recommendations it provided. Tidal comes close, which is what I currently use, but it has a much smaller music catalog and doesn't allow me to upload my own music.
I mean, ymmv -and presumably it has, so disregard Ii’l me- but YouTube Music has been fine if not better. Sometimes change is just kind of lateral.
Which, I mean, I think is sort of my general issue with this as first glance? It’s a really impressive list, and man, Google has made a habit of turning things on and then turning them off, and aggravating users. But I’d love to see an actual comparison with, say, Apple or Microsoft or IBM. How many tools do these companies spin up and then kill? Is there a precedent for Google’s destruction or are they radically new? I’m kind of inclined to think the latter, but I don’t really know.
posted by Going To Maine at 11:12 AM on June 13, 2023 [1 favorite]
I mean, ymmv -and presumably it has, so disregard Ii’l me- but YouTube Music has been fine if not better. Sometimes change is just kind of lateral.
Which, I mean, I think is sort of my general issue with this as first glance? It’s a really impressive list, and man, Google has made a habit of turning things on and then turning them off, and aggravating users. But I’d love to see an actual comparison with, say, Apple or Microsoft or IBM. How many tools do these companies spin up and then kill? Is there a precedent for Google’s destruction or are they radically new? I’m kind of inclined to think the latter, but I don’t really know.
posted by Going To Maine at 11:12 AM on June 13, 2023 [1 favorite]
I'm not so sure about number inflation. I'm amazed at how many of these I used.
Note that the social media platform Orkut was at one time the most used software in Brazil and India. They are very populated nations, so by # of people, it was one of the most popular software platforms in the world. But it got sacrificed when Google tried to go after Facebook with its ill-fated Google+.
posted by eye of newt at 11:16 AM on June 13, 2023 [1 favorite]
Note that the social media platform Orkut was at one time the most used software in Brazil and India. They are very populated nations, so by # of people, it was one of the most popular software platforms in the world. But it got sacrificed when Google tried to go after Facebook with its ill-fated Google+.
posted by eye of newt at 11:16 AM on June 13, 2023 [1 favorite]
Don’t forget Google Glass! (Which I see is in the tags.) And also “Don’t Be Evil.”
posted by TedW at 11:23 AM on June 13, 2023 [3 favorites]
posted by TedW at 11:23 AM on June 13, 2023 [3 favorites]
Shout out to SketchUp for escaping this fate. Sold off instead of scrapped.
posted by nickggully at 11:30 AM on June 13, 2023 [13 favorites]
posted by nickggully at 11:30 AM on June 13, 2023 [13 favorites]
GOOG-411 was my "Aha!" moment for starting to understand what Google was doing in its evolution away from "Don't be evil." At the time, I thought "GOOG-411 is amazing! Why would they do this for free? . . . Ohhh—speech recognition."
posted by vitia at 11:36 AM on June 13, 2023 [3 favorites]
posted by vitia at 11:36 AM on June 13, 2023 [3 favorites]
Google Cloud Print was super useful to me before becoming not useful at all because it was gone.
And there's no replacement. It worked so well, I could print from any computer or phone and no, there's nothing.
posted by octothorpe at 11:41 AM on June 13, 2023 [4 favorites]
And there's no replacement. It worked so well, I could print from any computer or phone and no, there's nothing.
posted by octothorpe at 11:41 AM on June 13, 2023 [4 favorites]
I mean, ymmv -and presumably it has, so disregard Ii’l me- but YouTube Music has been fine if not better. Sometimes change is just kind of lateral.
Maybe they've changed it since, but when they first switched to Youtube music I was annoyed at having music videos and bootleg versions of songs jammed into my playlists. It's one thing to listen to music while working, quite another to have videos playing on your secondary monitor. I never found a way to turn off the videos, so I switched to Spotify. Spotify annoyed me by changing their desktop UI every other week, filling my home page with nothing but podcasts, and only recommending artists I'd already favorited. Finally settled on Tidal.
No one has mentioned Stadia yet, but Google was sinking millions into that thing right up until the day they killed it.
posted by exolstice at 11:44 AM on June 13, 2023 [2 favorites]
Maybe they've changed it since, but when they first switched to Youtube music I was annoyed at having music videos and bootleg versions of songs jammed into my playlists. It's one thing to listen to music while working, quite another to have videos playing on your secondary monitor. I never found a way to turn off the videos, so I switched to Spotify. Spotify annoyed me by changing their desktop UI every other week, filling my home page with nothing but podcasts, and only recommending artists I'd already favorited. Finally settled on Tidal.
No one has mentioned Stadia yet, but Google was sinking millions into that thing right up until the day they killed it.
posted by exolstice at 11:44 AM on June 13, 2023 [2 favorites]
Google Chat has been dead for me for years now and it used to be my primary chat platform since it integrated and facilitated Google Voice SMS and email-based chat and it was super handy to have the web email app up with chat/voice in the sidebar all in one window, and then they went and did what they did and split voice and chat up.
I'm honestly surprised they haven't killed off Google Voice yet, which I like because it integrates nicely between phone and desktop browser and I can use my G voice number as a buffer for my real phone number. If I get texts on my real phone number it's usually spam.
posted by loquacious at 11:49 AM on June 13, 2023 [7 favorites]
I'm honestly surprised they haven't killed off Google Voice yet, which I like because it integrates nicely between phone and desktop browser and I can use my G voice number as a buffer for my real phone number. If I get texts on my real phone number it's usually spam.
posted by loquacious at 11:49 AM on June 13, 2023 [7 favorites]
I spent a good few hours the other day browsing through the latest version of the Google Drive API, trying to convince myself I was wrong about this, but there's no way to upload files with contents. Empty files, sure! But that's all. This API has been around for at least seven years.
posted by one for the books at 11:50 AM on June 13, 2023
posted by one for the books at 11:50 AM on June 13, 2023
since back then faulty AI-powered services weren't nearly as relentlessly fawned over.
I miss those days, and wonder when we'll see them again...
posted by SaltySalticid at 11:58 AM on June 13, 2023 [1 favorite]
I miss those days, and wonder when we'll see them again...
posted by SaltySalticid at 11:58 AM on June 13, 2023 [1 favorite]
"Send Link to Phone" is native functionality in both Chrome and Firefox now. It's probably my most-used Firefox feature.
posted by fifthpocket at 12:00 PM on June 13, 2023 [3 favorites]
posted by fifthpocket at 12:00 PM on June 13, 2023 [3 favorites]
Some people on this thread, not to name names, have made it their life's mission to shame the company until it comes back I guess.Well, to that I say:
“We wants it, we needs it. Must have the precious. They stole it from us. Sneaky little hobbitses. Wicked, tricksy, false!”
posted by zenon at 12:17 PM on June 13, 2023 [3 favorites]
I'd be remiss if I didn't bring up the late (?) lamented (??) Google People.
posted by qntm at 12:21 PM on June 13, 2023
posted by qntm at 12:21 PM on June 13, 2023
They kill projects because their internal culture guarantees that every new project is abandoned on ship day
This is also what I have heard from friends of mine who have worked for Google. The pathway to success in the company is tied to developing new products, at which point you get promoted off that project. Maintaining current products is seen as less prestigious and a career dead-end. So you end up with the people who actually care about, and intimately know, a particular piece of software moved to something else, leaving (fair or not) the B Team keep it running.
posted by Panjandrum at 12:22 PM on June 13, 2023 [5 favorites]
This is also what I have heard from friends of mine who have worked for Google. The pathway to success in the company is tied to developing new products, at which point you get promoted off that project. Maintaining current products is seen as less prestigious and a career dead-end. So you end up with the people who actually care about, and intimately know, a particular piece of software moved to something else, leaving (fair or not) the B Team keep it running.
posted by Panjandrum at 12:22 PM on June 13, 2023 [5 favorites]
If Google brought back Google Reader I wouldn't switch back to it.
posted by aubilenon at 12:38 PM on June 13, 2023 [7 favorites]
posted by aubilenon at 12:38 PM on June 13, 2023 [7 favorites]
But I’d love to see an actual comparison with, say, Apple or Microsoft or IBM. How many tools do these companies spin up and then kill?
I think the big difference between Google and these other companies, is that these other companies are actually selling things for money. Apple releases products that cost money, and people vote with their pocketbooks whether it is a good product or not. And Apple knows how much they spend on R&D and how much each product costs to manufacture, and they have a price that the consumer can pay or not. Even Apple's services like iMessage is directly tied to selling iPhones.
At Google, all these numbers are ephemeral. How much money does Google Keep make? How much does it actually cost? How much would people pay for it? How many people should be using it? No one has any idea, since Google's main business (search ads) funds everything else.
posted by meowzilla at 12:54 PM on June 13, 2023 [6 favorites]
I think the big difference between Google and these other companies, is that these other companies are actually selling things for money. Apple releases products that cost money, and people vote with their pocketbooks whether it is a good product or not. And Apple knows how much they spend on R&D and how much each product costs to manufacture, and they have a price that the consumer can pay or not. Even Apple's services like iMessage is directly tied to selling iPhones.
At Google, all these numbers are ephemeral. How much money does Google Keep make? How much does it actually cost? How much would people pay for it? How many people should be using it? No one has any idea, since Google's main business (search ads) funds everything else.
posted by meowzilla at 12:54 PM on June 13, 2023 [6 favorites]
Google Buzz is one that everyone remembers, a chat/microblogging/social networking service. It made it two years
Trying to recall this harshed my buzz.
posted by k3ninho at 12:56 PM on June 13, 2023
Trying to recall this harshed my buzz.
posted by k3ninho at 12:56 PM on June 13, 2023
But I’d love to see an actual comparison with, say, Apple or Microsoft or IBM. How many tools do these companies spin up and then kill?
Here ya go. Of course, it somehow has omitted the Newton, so is open to accusations of editorial slant.
posted by pwnguin at 1:05 PM on June 13, 2023
Here ya go. Of course, it somehow has omitted the Newton, so is open to accusations of editorial slant.
posted by pwnguin at 1:05 PM on June 13, 2023
Google Cloud Print was the only way for kids on school-issued Chromebooks to print at home. It was so slick, and totally supported. Aaaaaaand then suddenly it was gone, and has been replaced by literally Nothing At All.
Google seems willfully ignorant of the needs & wants of many groups, like parents, the disabled, senior citizens, and more.
posted by wenestvedt at 1:20 PM on June 13, 2023 [13 favorites]
Google seems willfully ignorant of the needs & wants of many groups, like parents, the disabled, senior citizens, and more.
posted by wenestvedt at 1:20 PM on June 13, 2023 [13 favorites]
Yeah IDK if there's any real reasonable way to compare hosted services vs physical products. Discontinuing sale of a phone however long after launch because it's been superseded, but you can keep using it, and heck maybe even get updates – that's a lot different than shutting down an online-only service and now nobody can use it ever again.
posted by aubilenon at 1:22 PM on June 13, 2023
posted by aubilenon at 1:22 PM on June 13, 2023
Hey, I don't see Google Cardboard on the list.
Sure, they haven't formally shut down all the online resources, but it's pretty much an ex-parrot. Remember the splashy launches of high-res, 360-degree video that let you, e.g., explore Petra?
I would happily keep walking around Google Maps/Earth (especially with new imagery over time), but the last time I tried it, it didn't work any more. :7(
posted by wenestvedt at 1:26 PM on June 13, 2023 [2 favorites]
Sure, they haven't formally shut down all the online resources, but it's pretty much an ex-parrot. Remember the splashy launches of high-res, 360-degree video that let you, e.g., explore Petra?
I would happily keep walking around Google Maps/Earth (especially with new imagery over time), but the last time I tried it, it didn't work any more. :7(
posted by wenestvedt at 1:26 PM on June 13, 2023 [2 favorites]
Regarding that one: Sigh, he said wistfully, to see saving throws untossed. Woe and alas. Some alack felt, too.
posted by massless at 1:28 PM on June 13, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by massless at 1:28 PM on June 13, 2023 [1 favorite]
Someone please chart the launch dates of all of these against range-barred Silicon Valley home prices.
posted by rhizome at 1:40 PM on June 13, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by rhizome at 1:40 PM on June 13, 2023 [2 favorites]
Google selling hardware is where it gets ugly. The successor to Cardboard was Google Daydream and it didn't even last three years. It also costs money compared to Cardboard, which I got for free by giving a car maker my mailing address.
I have Google Wifi at my house (the mesh routers) which are pushing six years old at this point and are probably nearing the end of support. Because it has no web interface, only the mobile app, it may be completely unusable when that happens. When they did a whole backend migration from Wifi to Home, they broke a lot of the router functionality, and now it all takes a back seat to all their smart home stuff.
posted by meowzilla at 2:03 PM on June 13, 2023 [5 favorites]
I have Google Wifi at my house (the mesh routers) which are pushing six years old at this point and are probably nearing the end of support. Because it has no web interface, only the mobile app, it may be completely unusable when that happens. When they did a whole backend migration from Wifi to Home, they broke a lot of the router functionality, and now it all takes a back seat to all their smart home stuff.
posted by meowzilla at 2:03 PM on June 13, 2023 [5 favorites]
In five thousand years, historians of the exponential age will piece together scraps of knowledge to learn about how we lived our lives. They won't know what Google was, exactly, just that it was important, and killed Reader.
posted by kaibutsu at 3:06 PM on June 13, 2023 [11 favorites]
posted by kaibutsu at 3:06 PM on June 13, 2023 [11 favorites]
The lone and level sands stretch far away.
posted by surlyben at 3:53 PM on June 13, 2023 [5 favorites]
posted by surlyben at 3:53 PM on June 13, 2023 [5 favorites]
The one I'm sad I never heard of before it was cancelled is Google Contributor, which let you bid against advertisers for your attention. I've been using ad blockers since 2001, but would feel better paying to not see any ads.
posted by ver at 4:27 PM on June 13, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by ver at 4:27 PM on June 13, 2023 [1 favorite]
The thing about the shutdown of Google Reader is that it also did a real number on blogging. It was the perfect tool for sharing interesting posts, which often led to interesting blogs. There’s never been anything like it since, partly because nothing could reach the critical mass of users to get a similar network effect.
I don’t think I’ll ever forgive google for killing reader.
posted by Kattullus at 4:39 PM on June 13, 2023 [13 favorites]
I don’t think I’ll ever forgive google for killing reader.
posted by Kattullus at 4:39 PM on June 13, 2023 [13 favorites]
I don't get it. If these services and tools were so good, how come people haven't cloned them? Especially open source. A printer tool? Another messenger with just the right settings? An RSS feed reader?
I'm not talking about the more complex stuff, like pre-installed car apps. But other stuff sounds like low hanging fruit.
posted by rebent at 4:48 PM on June 13, 2023 [2 favorites]
I'm not talking about the more complex stuff, like pre-installed car apps. But other stuff sounds like low hanging fruit.
posted by rebent at 4:48 PM on June 13, 2023 [2 favorites]
Hey, what about the "AIY" kits, with "DIY AI" software running on sophisticated daughter boards that plugged into Raspberry Pi single-board computers?
I bought several of the kits, and they speed with which Google stopped GAF about them was kind of shocking. :7(
posted by wenestvedt at 5:29 PM on June 13, 2023 [1 favorite]
I bought several of the kits, and they speed with which Google stopped GAF about them was kind of shocking. :7(
posted by wenestvedt at 5:29 PM on June 13, 2023 [1 favorite]
The problem with cloud services is that they actually cost money to run. Google can just throw spare resources at whatever for shits and giggles since they've basically got unlimited dough. Most people and organizations do not. Many of these services have been cloned, but they don't have the brand visibility of Google and users are often allergic to funding products they use. Do you miss Google Reader? There's an excellent clone that's been around since 2013 that I've been using for almost a decade. It's free for up to 100 feeds, and $25/yr for more than that. Complaining about how much you miss Google Reader makes no sense, because you can literally have that experience again, today, at a very reasonable or even no cost.
When people complain about missing Google Reader, they really mean that they miss when this corporate behemoth that makes its money by harvesting everyone else's content felt like it was trying to give back.
posted by phooky at 5:33 PM on June 13, 2023 [5 favorites]
When people complain about missing Google Reader, they really mean that they miss when this corporate behemoth that makes its money by harvesting everyone else's content felt like it was trying to give back.
posted by phooky at 5:33 PM on June 13, 2023 [5 favorites]
I miss iGoogle.
posted by freethefeet at 5:37 PM on June 13, 2023 [3 favorites]
posted by freethefeet at 5:37 PM on June 13, 2023 [3 favorites]
If these services and tools were so good, how come people haven't cloned them?
I only used it briefly, as a backing store for AntennaPod IIRC. The UI was similar to gmail or news, very dense and seemingly ad-free. But that can be copied. What made Reader unique was that it had an index of every article that had ever appeared on a feed, not just the "ten most recent articles" you get from grabbing most feeds at this exact instant. Competitors have sprung up but they don't have a spare web index just lying around to piggyback off of. And even if they did, google had a long head start.
I never got around to migrating off liferea so I kind of dodged the shutdown bullet. Perhaps I'd be more aggrieved if I had. Instead, I'm way angrier that Microsoft sent their shitty VP to run Nokia and their Linux phones into the ground, buy the company for the patent portfolio and then leave the entire mobile market three years later having essentially set ten billion USD on fire in the process. Seems like a big one to leave off the "killedby" list.
posted by pwnguin at 5:38 PM on June 13, 2023 [3 favorites]
I only used it briefly, as a backing store for AntennaPod IIRC. The UI was similar to gmail or news, very dense and seemingly ad-free. But that can be copied. What made Reader unique was that it had an index of every article that had ever appeared on a feed, not just the "ten most recent articles" you get from grabbing most feeds at this exact instant. Competitors have sprung up but they don't have a spare web index just lying around to piggyback off of. And even if they did, google had a long head start.
I never got around to migrating off liferea so I kind of dodged the shutdown bullet. Perhaps I'd be more aggrieved if I had. Instead, I'm way angrier that Microsoft sent their shitty VP to run Nokia and their Linux phones into the ground, buy the company for the patent portfolio and then leave the entire mobile market three years later having essentially set ten billion USD on fire in the process. Seems like a big one to leave off the "killedby" list.
posted by pwnguin at 5:38 PM on June 13, 2023 [3 favorites]
When I complain about missing Google Reader, what I mean is that i miss the network of people I had there who were curating neat things for me and commenting on things I shared. In the years since it went away, I've found other RSS readers to replace it, but I never managed to get very many other people to use the same tool in a way that would make the social features work for me like they did before.
posted by lem at 5:41 PM on June 13, 2023 [7 favorites]
posted by lem at 5:41 PM on June 13, 2023 [7 favorites]
I don't get it. If these services and tools were so good, how come people haven't cloned them? Especially open source. A printer tool? Another messenger with just the right settings? An RSS feed reader?
When people complain about missing Google Reader, they really mean that they miss when this corporate behemoth that makes its money by harvesting everyone else's content felt like it was trying to give back.
Yeah, I've been reluctant to get on the google bash bandwagon. The reason is that it appears these products and services simply aren't viable unless massively subsidized, massively monetized by making you the product, or costing the user enough that nobody is willing to pay to sustain the effort.
Basically, "I want stuff for free, or at least without a cost that I can see."
posted by 2N2222 at 5:43 PM on June 13, 2023 [2 favorites]
When people complain about missing Google Reader, they really mean that they miss when this corporate behemoth that makes its money by harvesting everyone else's content felt like it was trying to give back.
Yeah, I've been reluctant to get on the google bash bandwagon. The reason is that it appears these products and services simply aren't viable unless massively subsidized, massively monetized by making you the product, or costing the user enough that nobody is willing to pay to sustain the effort.
Basically, "I want stuff for free, or at least without a cost that I can see."
posted by 2N2222 at 5:43 PM on June 13, 2023 [2 favorites]
If these services and tools were so good, how come people haven't cloned them?
I think this is a fair question and separates the bad product ideas vs. the bad execution or poor fit for Google.
For the late lamented Google Reader, there was an explicit decision internally to shut it down in visible fashion. Specifically to signal to the world that Google wasn't going to offer a free RSS reader anymore and thereby make room for commercial competition. That actually worked; Feedly is my Google Reader replacement, I pay something like $6 a month for it, and I suspect they make a tidy living out of selling the service.
RSS was an also-ran product category before Google killed Reader. I'm still mad / sad about it, but walled gardens like Facebook feeds and Twitter replaced most of what was being done with it.
I'd love to see a tag on the Google graveyard list for products that were shut down to enable Vic Gundotra's disastrous Google+ strategy.
(As for "killed by" lists; Apple is particularly notorious for capture-and-kill. Dark Sky has a posse.)
posted by Nelson at 5:44 PM on June 13, 2023 [5 favorites]
I think this is a fair question and separates the bad product ideas vs. the bad execution or poor fit for Google.
For the late lamented Google Reader, there was an explicit decision internally to shut it down in visible fashion. Specifically to signal to the world that Google wasn't going to offer a free RSS reader anymore and thereby make room for commercial competition. That actually worked; Feedly is my Google Reader replacement, I pay something like $6 a month for it, and I suspect they make a tidy living out of selling the service.
RSS was an also-ran product category before Google killed Reader. I'm still mad / sad about it, but walled gardens like Facebook feeds and Twitter replaced most of what was being done with it.
I'd love to see a tag on the Google graveyard list for products that were shut down to enable Vic Gundotra's disastrous Google+ strategy.
(As for "killed by" lists; Apple is particularly notorious for capture-and-kill. Dark Sky has a posse.)
posted by Nelson at 5:44 PM on June 13, 2023 [5 favorites]
Good news though:
Google Labs was a place for Google to put various projects worked on by employees. It was home to several notable services.
Labs got a relaunch at this year's I/O keynote. But its mostly just waitlists for AI toys.
posted by pwnguin at 5:56 PM on June 13, 2023
Google Labs was a place for Google to put various projects worked on by employees. It was home to several notable services.
Labs got a relaunch at this year's I/O keynote. But its mostly just waitlists for AI toys.
posted by pwnguin at 5:56 PM on June 13, 2023
Basically, "I want stuff for free, or at least without a cost that I can see."
For some of us, a recurring fee for a service is a big deal. I predict that it'll become a bigger deal for more people, as more services charge those fees. A single service is okay; having to pay for a dozen to make the web decently usable is a different matter.
Google Reader was nice, it had a good UI, it was visible, it was popular, it had good sharing and enough users that there were a lot of people to share with, as mentioned above it remembered old posts instead of just the newest ones in the feed, and, as mentioned, it was free. It also bought Google a lot of good will, and was a signal that they cared about the health of the web.
When it went, so did that good will and web health. In a sense, that day in 2013 was a turning point in the history of the World Wide Web, a sign that Google was going all-in on the social media vision of the internet instead of the independent blogs and sites vision. We see where that led us.
What's more, it was a significant, popular service that Google just killed despite how many people used and loved it. Another service like that is Gmail. If Gmail went it'd wreck a lot of people's lives, and there's really no reason to think that Google wouldn't do it, if they came up with a good enough corporate-think justification. It's not like the free version of Gmail makes the company a lot of money either.
posted by JHarris at 6:25 PM on June 13, 2023 [9 favorites]
For some of us, a recurring fee for a service is a big deal. I predict that it'll become a bigger deal for more people, as more services charge those fees. A single service is okay; having to pay for a dozen to make the web decently usable is a different matter.
Google Reader was nice, it had a good UI, it was visible, it was popular, it had good sharing and enough users that there were a lot of people to share with, as mentioned above it remembered old posts instead of just the newest ones in the feed, and, as mentioned, it was free. It also bought Google a lot of good will, and was a signal that they cared about the health of the web.
When it went, so did that good will and web health. In a sense, that day in 2013 was a turning point in the history of the World Wide Web, a sign that Google was going all-in on the social media vision of the internet instead of the independent blogs and sites vision. We see where that led us.
What's more, it was a significant, popular service that Google just killed despite how many people used and loved it. Another service like that is Gmail. If Gmail went it'd wreck a lot of people's lives, and there's really no reason to think that Google wouldn't do it, if they came up with a good enough corporate-think justification. It's not like the free version of Gmail makes the company a lot of money either.
posted by JHarris at 6:25 PM on June 13, 2023 [9 favorites]
My line for Google is 2008: that’s when they bought DoubleClick but ad culture made that a reverse acquisition. It’s hard to think of anything they built after that point which was like the products which made them huge – something the product team wanted to use personally rather than something they wanted us to view ads in.
Reader is interesting both because they were so ham handed in how they tried to force people into Google+ but also for how they didn’t realize the long-term consequences. The people who used Reader included a lot of journalists, IT people, librarians, bloggers or what we’d call tech influencers now, and that really seemed to set the negative tone for coverage of Google+ and also the long-term trend of no longer giving Google the benefit of the doubt. It also marked the end of the golden age of blogging as the tech companies declared war on the commons. I’m hoping that the current resurgence of interest in open technologies is a trend because while there’s a certain level of schadenfreude watching Zuckerberg and Musk torch their companies it’s hard to enjoy knowing just how much control was focused in a few tech companies. Feeds turned out to be an indicator species for journalism.
posted by adamsc at 6:27 PM on June 13, 2023 [6 favorites]
Reader is interesting both because they were so ham handed in how they tried to force people into Google+ but also for how they didn’t realize the long-term consequences. The people who used Reader included a lot of journalists, IT people, librarians, bloggers or what we’d call tech influencers now, and that really seemed to set the negative tone for coverage of Google+ and also the long-term trend of no longer giving Google the benefit of the doubt. It also marked the end of the golden age of blogging as the tech companies declared war on the commons. I’m hoping that the current resurgence of interest in open technologies is a trend because while there’s a certain level of schadenfreude watching Zuckerberg and Musk torch their companies it’s hard to enjoy knowing just how much control was focused in a few tech companies. Feeds turned out to be an indicator species for journalism.
posted by adamsc at 6:27 PM on June 13, 2023 [6 favorites]
Another service like that is Gmail. If Gmail went it'd wreck a lot of people's lives, and there's really no reason to think that Google wouldn't do it, if they came up with a good enough corporate-think justification.
Not too long ago they forced everyone who had been grandfathered in with a free G Suite account to pay - and we also had to pay for each email address. I had to consolidate all my dummy email addresses on my domain into aliases so that I only had to pay for two (my usual email plus an account for a failed business which I guess I could turn into an alias). That move was definitely a blow to a lot of people that used G Suite for personal reasons (family accounts, for example).
posted by creatrixtiara at 6:56 PM on June 13, 2023 [4 favorites]
Not too long ago they forced everyone who had been grandfathered in with a free G Suite account to pay - and we also had to pay for each email address. I had to consolidate all my dummy email addresses on my domain into aliases so that I only had to pay for two (my usual email plus an account for a failed business which I guess I could turn into an alias). That move was definitely a blow to a lot of people that used G Suite for personal reasons (family accounts, for example).
posted by creatrixtiara at 6:56 PM on June 13, 2023 [4 favorites]
Remember when they announced explicit support in Google Reader for the web browser they made for the Nintendo Wii?
posted by JHarris at 7:17 PM on June 13, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by JHarris at 7:17 PM on June 13, 2023 [1 favorite]
A discussion just went up on Slashdot about a new Google Home product. About half the initial comments are about how Google will probably kill it soon. They've certainly established a reputation for themselves.
posted by clawsoon at 7:35 PM on June 13, 2023 [8 favorites]
posted by clawsoon at 7:35 PM on June 13, 2023 [8 favorites]
I was a regular, happy user of SMS Search - the day it went dead was a melancholy one, and the point where I started rolling down the hill into smartphone ownership.
posted by ryanshepard at 7:50 PM on June 13, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by ryanshepard at 7:50 PM on June 13, 2023 [1 favorite]
This list really double-dips or ignore clear replacements - complaining that Chromebook Pixel was killed in 2017 when Google released the ChromeOS Pixelbook Go in 2019 as a replacement is padding the list IMO.
I'll admit a moderate pro-Google stance, but I think that Google is held to a standard that no one else is - on the https://killedby.tech/microsoft/ site, they don't list Windows Photo Gallery, for example - it's rolled into Essentials. The 7 or so apps in Windows Essentials aren't listed separately, while Google has two entries for Google Glass, because killing GlassOS is a second item.
A lot of the Microsoft changes are ignored, such as significant features that were removed from Windows Search, or try to make a local user account in Windows 11.
posted by coberh at 8:14 PM on June 13, 2023 [1 favorite]
I'll admit a moderate pro-Google stance, but I think that Google is held to a standard that no one else is - on the https://killedby.tech/microsoft/ site, they don't list Windows Photo Gallery, for example - it's rolled into Essentials. The 7 or so apps in Windows Essentials aren't listed separately, while Google has two entries for Google Glass, because killing GlassOS is a second item.
A lot of the Microsoft changes are ignored, such as significant features that were removed from Windows Search, or try to make a local user account in Windows 11.
posted by coberh at 8:14 PM on June 13, 2023 [1 favorite]
A lot of the Microsoft changes are ignored, such as significant features that were removed from Windows Search
To this day I fondly remember the simple voice recorder program that came with old versions of Microsoft, which let you have a few very basic editing tools like speeding up, slowing, or reversing the sound. Also the windows media player classic could be considered a tool that MS killed off.
posted by Mayhembob at 10:11 PM on June 13, 2023 [3 favorites]
To this day I fondly remember the simple voice recorder program that came with old versions of Microsoft, which let you have a few very basic editing tools like speeding up, slowing, or reversing the sound. Also the windows media player classic could be considered a tool that MS killed off.
posted by Mayhembob at 10:11 PM on June 13, 2023 [3 favorites]
So many thing I used to think were impossible to mange without!
All the IE add-ons remind me that I must be almost due to find another way to allow a friend of my wife to access her work's online management system that ONLY runs on IE 10 and absolutely nothing else. Each weird workaround and cobbled-together process I come up with eventually gets broken by updates to every browser I've tried.
posted by dg at 11:30 PM on June 13, 2023 [2 favorites]
All the IE add-ons remind me that I must be almost due to find another way to allow a friend of my wife to access her work's online management system that ONLY runs on IE 10 and absolutely nothing else. Each weird workaround and cobbled-together process I come up with eventually gets broken by updates to every browser I've tried.
posted by dg at 11:30 PM on June 13, 2023 [2 favorites]
Just proves the age-old adage: ain’t no filter like MetaFilter™.
posted by slogger at 11:31 PM on June 13, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by slogger at 11:31 PM on June 13, 2023 [1 favorite]
Alphabet needs to spin off a new company that just inherits and maintains the things Google gets bored of.
posted by qxntpqbbbqxl at 12:16 AM on June 14, 2023
posted by qxntpqbbbqxl at 12:16 AM on June 14, 2023
Alphabet needs to spin off a new company that just inherits and maintains the things Google gets bored of.So…
A cash goat?
posted by Cogito at 1:05 AM on June 14, 2023 [2 favorites]
Google has pretty much killed off Google Search via disinterest. It's now about as good as Netflix's recommendation engine.
posted by srboisvert at 3:30 AM on June 14, 2023 [10 favorites]
posted by srboisvert at 3:30 AM on June 14, 2023 [10 favorites]
dg: All the IE add-ons remind me that I must be almost due to find another way to allow a friend of my wife to access her work's online management system that ONLY runs on IE 10 and absolutely nothing else. Each weird workaround and cobbled-together process I come up with eventually gets broken by updates to every browser I've tried.
As I read your comment, my brain immediately placed you into the same category as self-flagellating monks.
posted by clawsoon at 4:18 AM on June 14, 2023 [2 favorites]
As I read your comment, my brain immediately placed you into the same category as self-flagellating monks.
posted by clawsoon at 4:18 AM on June 14, 2023 [2 favorites]
If you depend on anything other than search* , GMail, and YouTube you're just asking for trouble.
* Which has been getting less and less useful even before the Reddit blackout.
posted by tommasz at 5:00 AM on June 14, 2023 [3 favorites]
posted by tommasz at 5:00 AM on June 14, 2023 [3 favorites]
We use Chromecast for multi-room audio and to watch content together with a projector, but the interface and usability has been diminishing at a worrying rate the last couple of years. And of course the cool little Chromecast audio pucks are long discontinued and a couple of jbl stand-alone speakers with Chromecast built-in have mysteriously bricked recently. I guess they want you to get one of those smart speakers with microphones? No thanks.
posted by St. Oops at 5:33 AM on June 14, 2023 [3 favorites]
posted by St. Oops at 5:33 AM on June 14, 2023 [3 favorites]
YouTube Community Commons
This was a sad one to lose. I know a lot of people found lots of videos much more accessible this way.
posted by Ms. Moonlight at 7:38 AM on June 14, 2023 [1 favorite]
This was a sad one to lose. I know a lot of people found lots of videos much more accessible this way.
posted by Ms. Moonlight at 7:38 AM on June 14, 2023 [1 favorite]
We use Chromecast for multi-room audio and to watch content together with a projector, but the interface and usability has been diminishing at a worrying rate the last couple of years. And of course the cool little Chromecast audio pucks are long discontinued and a couple of jbl stand-alone speakers with Chromecast built-in have mysteriously bricked recently. I guess they want you to get one of those smart speakers with microphones? No thanks.
My Chromecast with Google TV has bricked on me once (replaced) and now almost every time I start it up it have to try twice or more before it works. I pay for YouTube Premium because I want ad free Youtube and YouTube Music but YouTube is getting very unusable on my Chromecast because the video keeps stalling while the audio continues to play and I have to reboot both the Chromecast and my router to get it back to working for a couple of days.
I can't even figure out where to get help from Google without paying for a Google One subscription LOL.
posted by srboisvert at 8:03 AM on June 14, 2023 [1 favorite]
My Chromecast with Google TV has bricked on me once (replaced) and now almost every time I start it up it have to try twice or more before it works. I pay for YouTube Premium because I want ad free Youtube and YouTube Music but YouTube is getting very unusable on my Chromecast because the video keeps stalling while the audio continues to play and I have to reboot both the Chromecast and my router to get it back to working for a couple of days.
I can't even figure out where to get help from Google without paying for a Google One subscription LOL.
posted by srboisvert at 8:03 AM on June 14, 2023 [1 favorite]
I typed up a rant about Chromecast earlier, but I deleted it since it wasn't dead yet or anything. But since people have brought it up...
I've been using a Chromecast ever since they came out. They work reasonably well - I'm not annoyed at all using my phone as a remote control. It beats typing via a tiny gamepad on yet another remote that will be lost, or the back and forth of voice recognition. I got one of the new "Chromecast with Google TV" ones because it enabled some other apps that weren't available on the old.
All that additional processing speed and memory allows the new Chromecast to - play more and longer ads for Youtube videos, up to a minute long. The old ones couldn't do this because it was assumed you didn't have access to the "skip ads" button, and the ads were short. Now since they gave you a remote, they no longer have that restriction. So for my primary use case, it's a worse experience. Also, since long ads are the norm, eventually those short ads are going to be deprecated or broken, so the older Chromecasts might just suddenly stop playing any videos. I'm already getting some soft crashes / freezing.
posted by meowzilla at 10:20 AM on June 14, 2023 [1 favorite]
I've been using a Chromecast ever since they came out. They work reasonably well - I'm not annoyed at all using my phone as a remote control. It beats typing via a tiny gamepad on yet another remote that will be lost, or the back and forth of voice recognition. I got one of the new "Chromecast with Google TV" ones because it enabled some other apps that weren't available on the old.
All that additional processing speed and memory allows the new Chromecast to - play more and longer ads for Youtube videos, up to a minute long. The old ones couldn't do this because it was assumed you didn't have access to the "skip ads" button, and the ads were short. Now since they gave you a remote, they no longer have that restriction. So for my primary use case, it's a worse experience. Also, since long ads are the norm, eventually those short ads are going to be deprecated or broken, so the older Chromecasts might just suddenly stop playing any videos. I'm already getting some soft crashes / freezing.
posted by meowzilla at 10:20 AM on June 14, 2023 [1 favorite]
I have a little Lenovo Smart Clock that it seems has been put on the EOL list (no updates), but it still works fine. Hoping that it keeps working, because I like it a lot. Others I'm worried are endangered: Google Scholar, voicemails in Google Voice, GMail IMAP
posted by dantheclamman at 11:33 AM on June 14, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by dantheclamman at 11:33 AM on June 14, 2023 [2 favorites]
Buying gadgets from the thrift store in the future is gonna suck. Right now you can go to the thrift store and buy clock radios from the '80s that still work. In the future, any equivalent item will require a connection to a long-gone API.
posted by clawsoon at 1:05 PM on June 14, 2023 [3 favorites]
posted by clawsoon at 1:05 PM on June 14, 2023 [3 favorites]
Yeah, any device advertised as Smart Anything should just have those words replaced on the package with "Planned Obsolete," or maybe even "Already E-Waste."
posted by JHarris at 1:49 PM on June 14, 2023 [5 favorites]
posted by JHarris at 1:49 PM on June 14, 2023 [5 favorites]
~But I’d love to see an actual comparison with, say, Apple or Microsoft or IBM. How many tools do these companies spin up and then kill?
~Here ya go.
That’s a very weird definition of “kill” they’re using there. I mean, is it really accurate to say earlier versions of iPhones were “killed off”? Sure, they stopped making the 6s, but they continued making iPhones. Ditto with all the earlier versions of the Apple Watch they list as killed-off.
posted by Thorzdad at 1:50 PM on June 14, 2023
~Here ya go.
That’s a very weird definition of “kill” they’re using there. I mean, is it really accurate to say earlier versions of iPhones were “killed off”? Sure, they stopped making the 6s, but they continued making iPhones. Ditto with all the earlier versions of the Apple Watch they list as killed-off.
posted by Thorzdad at 1:50 PM on June 14, 2023
As I read your comment, my brain immediately placed you into the same category as self-flagellating monks.
Well, I do have the haircut ;-) Yeah, it feels like that sometimes and I wish she'd just go and get another job so my scars can heal!
posted by dg at 3:32 PM on June 14, 2023 [1 favorite]
Well, I do have the haircut ;-) Yeah, it feels like that sometimes and I wish she'd just go and get another job so my scars can heal!
posted by dg at 3:32 PM on June 14, 2023 [1 favorite]
When I started my first in-house legal job, I inherited my predecessor's gigantic trove of forms and contracts and letters and memos and even .pst mailbox archives. Literally tens of thousands of records going back 10+ years, all written by a smart guy who was a subject matter expert. Windows (xp?) and Outlook had dreadful search functions, and Google Desktop was like a magic key that unlocked the treasure chest. I was heartbroken when it died.
Everything, by voidtools, is a brilliant and indispensable search engine for everything on your computer. it's so goddam good.
posted by Sebmojo at 4:30 PM on June 14, 2023 [3 favorites]
Everything, by voidtools, is a brilliant and indispensable search engine for everything on your computer. it's so goddam good.
posted by Sebmojo at 4:30 PM on June 14, 2023 [3 favorites]
So the circuitboard design software I use (Eagle) used to be free, then it got bought by AutoDesk, and they just announced they'll be discontinuing it... on June 7, 2026. Which yes, it is totally the sort of software where there's people whose whole jobs are using it day in and day out, and enough advance warning to make migration plans is important, but still can you imagine Google giving three years advance notice before discontinuing anything?
posted by aubilenon at 10:27 PM on June 14, 2023 [3 favorites]
posted by aubilenon at 10:27 PM on June 14, 2023 [3 favorites]
> I’d love to see an actual comparison with, say, Apple or Microsoft or IBM
Will you settle for Ben & Jerry's? RIP Sugar Plum, gone but not forgotten.
posted by The corpse in the library at 7:41 AM on June 15, 2023 [1 favorite]
Will you settle for Ben & Jerry's? RIP Sugar Plum, gone but not forgotten.
posted by The corpse in the library at 7:41 AM on June 15, 2023 [1 favorite]
And just now: Google Domains is joining the list
posted by Cogito at 2:03 PM on June 16, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by Cogito at 2:03 PM on June 16, 2023 [2 favorites]
The main thing I remember about Google Gears is that it had a subtitle: "There are the gears that power the tubes," referring to the meme that arose from that senator, Ted Stevens, that "The internet isn't a big truck, it's a series of tubes!" Which seems like both an eternity, and not that long, ago.
posted by JHarris at 9:26 PM on June 16, 2023
posted by JHarris at 9:26 PM on June 16, 2023
And just now: Google Domains is joining the list
So much for my "safe" decision after Dyn got swallowed up by Oracle.
posted by mikelieman at 1:55 AM on June 17, 2023 [1 favorite]
So much for my "safe" decision after Dyn got swallowed up by Oracle.
posted by mikelieman at 1:55 AM on June 17, 2023 [1 favorite]
If, like me, you’ve gotten a weird email from Google about “Album Archive” being deleted soon, it’s apparently some random Google website that aggregates pictures from across Google services, in my case Hangout and Blogger. I have no idea if the actual photos will be deleted, but probably not.
posted by Kattullus at 7:35 AM on June 17, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by Kattullus at 7:35 AM on June 17, 2023 [1 favorite]
This thread has given me some new anxiety about the Google services I rely on, especially Google Voice, which I've used for well over a decade. Early on, it was so nice to be able to have a landline phone ring when I was in my work building which lacked cellular reception and have a web-based interface for texting and searchability, but now it mostly feels like a minor annoyance to have to use an app which is mediocre and gradually losing features.
posted by Cogito at 8:11 AM on June 17, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by Cogito at 8:11 AM on June 17, 2023 [2 favorites]
A while ago I was looking for a photo manager software recommendation (wanted a one time local install and lifetime license vs any sort of SAAS voodoo bullshit) and was frankly surprised at how many people went "shrug, just use google photos, dude". As if I want any dependency on that for either fees or privacy control or longevity, nevermind that the tagging and sorting features are essentially nonexistent. But imagine a day where Google (having bought up all the other cloud services for photos) decides they don't want to be in the business of photo hosting anymore. Criiiipes.
[I bought ACDSEE by the way. It's not too bad once one is over the initial learning curve. Feature rich, not too spendy, no annual renewal.]
posted by hearthpig at 2:19 PM on June 17, 2023
[I bought ACDSEE by the way. It's not too bad once one is over the initial learning curve. Feature rich, not too spendy, no annual renewal.]
posted by hearthpig at 2:19 PM on June 17, 2023
And just now: Google Domains is joining the list
Well poop. Guess they read my earlier comment:
posted by pwnguin at 7:26 PM on June 17, 2023
Well poop. Guess they read my earlier comment:
Some people decided the Reader lesson was "never rely on free products," which isn't quite the same; plenty of paid products fail in the marketplace, especially when the carrying cost of one engineer in silicon valley is 500k+.I guess it would be nice to know what the cost structure of a registrar is -- if it costs $12 bucks to register a domain name for a year, how much do they pay whoever runs .com, etc. It's also curious that gandi and namecheap charge more for renewals than Google did last month. I guess selling the business line is one way to avoid the brand damage of raising prices.
posted by pwnguin at 7:26 PM on June 17, 2023
I guess selling the business line is one way to avoid the brand damage of raising pricesDo you think that's the motivation for Google, though? Per this thread, I really think their internal culture with regards to prestige of doing new things but not of maintaining them is behind a lot of the discontinued products. At the end of the day, I think the ones that stick around are the ones which provide a stream of information which can be valuable to their core business: ads. I guess this may be why Voice sticks around. Just like Gmail, it's a wealth of human language to mine for a variety of purposes.
posted by Cogito at 3:11 AM on June 18, 2023
Really funny that since I wondered about relative rates of product deaths at other companies, google has axed Domains and Google AlbumArchive a service I barely new existed (tho it seems like it should have gotten the ax, since it mainly hosts photos from other services that have already been axed?). They just keep cuttin’.
posted by Going To Maine at 4:43 PM on June 18, 2023
posted by Going To Maine at 4:43 PM on June 18, 2023
I think that's an uncharitable view.
Google Domains was sold / transferred to SquareSpace. Anyone using Google Domains has a clear transfer plan.
Google Album Archive was a bit ??? from everyone this week. Turns out it was some weird little piece of Google Hangouts, a service whose shutdown was announced a year ago and was clearly on deathwatch for much longer. I suspect that shutdown email is more publicity than the product ever had until this moment.
I really don't know what Google can do better with these two products, or indeed many like them. The company tries things. Some of them don't work and have to be shut down. They give months or years worth of notice on those shutdowns. Some of those are relatively popular products or involve partnerships and it's embarrassing when they are shut down (I'd put Stadia in this category). Some are who-gives-a-fuck.
posted by Nelson at 8:09 PM on June 18, 2023
Google Domains was sold / transferred to SquareSpace. Anyone using Google Domains has a clear transfer plan.
Google Album Archive was a bit ??? from everyone this week. Turns out it was some weird little piece of Google Hangouts, a service whose shutdown was announced a year ago and was clearly on deathwatch for much longer. I suspect that shutdown email is more publicity than the product ever had until this moment.
I really don't know what Google can do better with these two products, or indeed many like them. The company tries things. Some of them don't work and have to be shut down. They give months or years worth of notice on those shutdowns. Some of those are relatively popular products or involve partnerships and it's embarrassing when they are shut down (I'd put Stadia in this category). Some are who-gives-a-fuck.
posted by Nelson at 8:09 PM on June 18, 2023
I think that's an uncharitable view. […] The company tries things. Some of them don't work and have to be shut downHonestly, that kind of makes it sound like Alphabet is a Mom 'n Pop just trying to get by. It's a corporate behemoth that has a monopoly on just about the most important technology for the last 20 years (which they've allowed to become progressively worse in their relentless pursuit of profit*). Their net income in 2022 was US$59.97 billion. If they wanted to devote just 1% of that to keep around popular services and generate good will toward the brand, they could do that to the tune of nearly $6 billion net loss! But they don't because they don't give a shit about good will. What're users gonna do? Use Bing? 🤣
I'm not mad at you, Nelson. I just don't think Google, or any other hugely profitable company that causes enormous harm (redundant?) deserves to have their choices viewed in any sort of charitable light. At that scale, they're not really choices anyway, just the inevitable consequences of the incentives of late stage capitalism.
* Not that they're any different from any other big company in this way
posted by Cogito at 2:57 PM on June 19, 2023 [1 favorite]
I don't think selling Google Domains to another business or shutting down some photo album collection service no one even remembers counts as "enormous harm".
posted by Nelson at 3:36 PM on June 19, 2023
posted by Nelson at 3:36 PM on June 19, 2023
That’s not what I was saying. Your comment was about Google’s policies more broadly, as was my response.
posted by Cogito at 3:58 PM on June 19, 2023
posted by Cogito at 3:58 PM on June 19, 2023
HN thread from almost a decade ago discussing the process of Domain's demise: ICANN requires a plan for orderly shutdown of business, and the top option mentioned was sale of business to another provider.
What's baffling is that Domains was a business line that seemed profitable on the face of it, and Google has an entire cloud platform that specializes in this kind of business. Even Google employees on Blind say they only found out via the same press release channels. From my perspective, the most reasonable interpretation is a price hike -- Domains charges 10 bucks minimum while Squarespace charges 20 minimum. Selling the business line is compatible with google's broken promotion system, if you are a product manager.
posted by pwnguin at 4:09 PM on June 19, 2023 [2 favorites]
What's baffling is that Domains was a business line that seemed profitable on the face of it, and Google has an entire cloud platform that specializes in this kind of business. Even Google employees on Blind say they only found out via the same press release channels. From my perspective, the most reasonable interpretation is a price hike -- Domains charges 10 bucks minimum while Squarespace charges 20 minimum. Selling the business line is compatible with google's broken promotion system, if you are a product manager.
posted by pwnguin at 4:09 PM on June 19, 2023 [2 favorites]
Stumbled on this looking for an rss reader suggestion to potentially replace reddit (with replaced google reader). I’m also remembering Songza, a curated music service that I loved. Google bought it and trashed it (I mean integrated it into google music). Songza.com now redirects to YouTube music….
posted by the christopher hundreds at 12:14 PM on June 26, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by the christopher hundreds at 12:14 PM on June 26, 2023 [1 favorite]
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posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 9:58 AM on June 13, 2023