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Google Terminates Six Services
Jonah Bomber writes with this excerpt from Information Week:
"In addition to Google's announcements about the elimination of 100 recruiting positions and the shutdown of offices in Austin, Texas; Trondheim, Norway; and Lulea, Sweden, the company said it would close Dodgeball, Google Catalog Search, Google Mashup Editor, Google Notebook, and Jaiku. It also said it's discontinuing the ability to upload videos to Google Video. ... Jaiku, however, will live on as an open source project. Gundotra said that Google engineers have been porting the microblogging service to Google App Engine and that when the migration is completed, the company plans to make the code available under the Apache license."
I've never heard of the other ones, but Google Notebook have come in handy plenty of times.
Sad that Google feel the need to close down these services, I mean... how much man power could it really cost just to keep them running?
I know about Evernote (from previous postings here), are there others which are worthwhile?
A pity, as I had wanted to aggregate the exposure of personal info to Google....
This just highlights one of the negative aspects of using services out there on the net - if it's not running on your physical hardware it can be closed when the company decides it's not profitable to carry on with it. In the case of these services I doubt there's anyone relying on them to do business, but that definitely isn't the case for things that run in the various compute clouds, or small companies migrating to things like Google Docs, GMail or Google Calendar.
I wouldn't run anything business critical on something I couldn't replace very easily.
http://twitter.com/onion2k
Gee, if they open source Jaiku does that mean they'd actually let people sign up for it? Nobody's been allowed into Jaiku since Google bought it.
At least I can see Google Notebook allows you to export your data to Docs. But will everybody be so lucky with all the other little tit-bits of information lying around?
Need an ISP in South Africa?
It also said it's discontinuing the ability to upload videos to Google Video.
And Google's other video upload service has a 10 minute and 59 second limit. Now where are longer videos without a distinct stopping point, such as a play-through of a video game level, supposed to get uploaded? Vimeo doesn't want gaming videos either.
Hopefully things will get better soon...
Much of the reason why Google became popular was because of its clean front page. Other search engines like Altavista made you load a pile of superfluous stuff when you just wanted to search. But this has come back to bite Google because unless you hunt them out, you'll never know most of Google's services even exist.
I use that! What am i going to use now? pastebin?
And Google does the same as all the other companies do, lay off a bunch of people.
I don't think we are going to see the same google after the recession is over.
Employees knowing their jobs could be at risk may be more fearful of taking risks or speaking out. Plus feeling more like a necessary expense vs an asset that may not have reach full potential will hurt too.
In hind site (tough I have always felt it) google should taken a more pragmatic view of hiring, not trying to make it a huge boom, like they did. Or find a simple way of automating who is a good fit or not, with a stupid online form asking all these crazy questions about you your political beliefs, open source projects etc... They should have stuck to the slower process of Cover letter and Resume, have people read them put them into the correct job bucket and have other people read them. Then call up the person and schedule an interview(s) It is a much slower process, But slow is sometimes a good thing. When google got where it is now they could have just did a hiring freeze and will be doing as well as it is now. Jerky boom and bust behavior is not a good business plan.
I know google has been a great success but like most successes there is a large factor of luck, the right idea at the right time, at the right place with the right people.
Chances are if Google started a year to early or to late it just may not have been successful. Many of the best business men are running companies that no one has heard of. They are making profit and they are making good money, when a recession hits they are sill making profit and good money. They may not be pinging radar, the CEO may not be the ultra charismatic leader, but just a pragmatic office manager of sorts. There are companies that have had triple digit growth have huge number of people working for them and never make it to the news.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
then the bandwidth bill is close to 0. It's not like hard drives are expensive those days.
I have quite a number of bookmarks and notes stored in Google Notebook, I wonder if there are similar web-based services available on the net? Actually Google Notebook is very handy, especially when you are not using your computer and want to jot down some notes.
That simple? Really?
Shouldn't you be mad at your school district for blocking youtube instead of google for shutting down a redundant video service?
I just don't see the logic in your rant.
I enjoy this product and yeah I can still use it but why bother when it'll never improve and may disappear for me in the near future too?
Google's biggest problem is they have something like Notebook that has real potential but they put zero effort into it and then it's no surprise it's not very popular.
They should focus on search but they should start trying to build up more of a foothold in other areas because there's no guarantee they'll be the top dog forever.
Surely you mean "asshats @ school", who've done a piss-poor and inconsistent job of blocking video sites. Blaming Google for someone else's sloppiness is silly.
How can we trust the "cloud" if it won't be there?
It just happened... Why the stock price is at a all time low. Wow low stock price = less cash. Time to close doors to alot of sh_it! Oh well! Do not close the doors to search!
Google doesn't care, they've already evaluated the costs, the benefits, done some analysis and then they probably took an afternoon siesta (it is the Google office, after all.) After juggling the proposals and attaching velcro to them and throwing them at walls to see which one sticks the best, they've determined Google Video is of greater cost than it is benefit. Or that envelope had better velcro. Who knows in this crazy messed up world anymore? However, Google still 3 you, and that's why Google Video will still be accessible. They're going to ween you off it by preventing future uploads, but you'll still be able to watch all those timeless classics.
Enjoy.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dodgeball_(service)
Dodgeball: Social networking site built specifically for use on mobile phones. Users text their location to the service, which then notifies them of crushes, friends, friends' friends and interesting venues nearby.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Catalog_Search
Search engine for over 6,600 print catalogs, which are acquired through Optical character recognition.
http://code.google.com/intl/de-DE/gme/
Google Mashup Editor is an AJAX development framework and a set of tools that enable developers to quickly and easily create simple web applications and mashups with Google services like Google Maps and Google Base. Google Mashup Editor is a great tool for grabbing information from feeds and letting users see and manipulate it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Mashup_Editor
Google Mashup Editor is an online mashup creation service created by Google.
Currently it is a limited test service and access is restricted to a small number of developers.
It is a direct competition for Yahoo! Pipes and Microsoft Popfly.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Notebook
Google Notebook is a free online application offered by Google that provides a simple way to save and organize clips of information when conducting research online. This personal browser tool permits a user to write notes, and to clip text, images, and links from pages during browsing. These are saved to an online "notebook" with sharing and collaboration features.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaiku
Jaiku is a social networking, micro-blogging and lifestreaming service comparable to Twitter.[1] Jaiku was founded in February 2006 by Jyri Engeström[2] and Petteri Koponen from Finland[3] and launched in July of that year. It was purchased by Google on October 9, 2007.[4] Getting an account on the site requires an invite from an existing user. All users, including new ones, have an infinite number of invites.
note that you can still signup for google notebook apparently, only developement has stopped
Run real Linux apps...
Install it at home, too...
Use Ulteo. Check it out for yourself.
I teach at a school district where YouTube is blocked. If I want to look up something to show on the fly, Google video is an option; YouTube is not. Discontinuing uploads to Google Video means I use your services less, not more.
The probable reason Google Video isn't blocked when YouTube is that few people use it. And also- as others have mentioned- that your school either forget to block or couldn't care about Google Video.
BTW, you're a typical example of the Slashdotter tendency to say "I need this..." or "I'd buy something if (yadda yadda) therefore (whoever) should offer that service". You do realise that even if you mean what you say, this translates to a potential market of *one* person. Or on a good day a handful of students at Random High School, Buttfuck, Illinois?
A similar but equally blinkered mistake Slashdotters make is assuming that their personal circumstances, obsessions and/or needs should hold more sway than they do in the market because they represent those of the population in general. Either because it hadn't occurred otherwise to them or because they think they *are* average when they're far from it.
"Slashdot - News and Chat Sites Deviant". (Click "homepage" link above for details).
that will teach them to not code for Opera.
They also are shutting down the Double click offices in Denver- that puts another 200 people out to pasture.
Google needs to get some of their more POTENTIALLY profit making projects out of Beta or Pre-Beta stage. Like Grand Central. Infinitely useful but it has no adds, no pay anything, and has been in closed Beta since they bought it. I love the service, so why is google not turning it PLUS a number of other project that generate 0 revenue... into profit streams.
;)
Please note I am not saying turn it into a RAPE profit center, but like the way Googles Search or Gmail works... it could Generate SOMETHING to support itself rather then sending it to the glue factory
I think that the honeymoon is finally over. Google too, will now slowly leave behind the free lunch culture to the inevitable areas of concern --> bottom line and market valuation. The question remains as to whether it will be able to continue with the innovative and creative work culture despite financial concerns.
This is why Software as a Service is never a good idea. You can have a ton of data stored on that service and it can be discontinued at any time. This is why when I do use Google Docs, I have the data backed up on our own site, and this is also why I won't use Microsoft Live! alternatives to Office.
It is designed to create vendor lock-in. I do not trust the likes of Microsoft to provide a data export option should they decide the service is not working. Thankfully Google has at least up to now been honorable in providing the means to retrieve data even when products have ceased, and provided PLENTY of notice (we knew what, two years ago that Google Video was going to die?) when discontinuation of hosted services were planned.
In light of this. F/OSS and "shared source" solutions you host yourself (or at least have FULL access to not only the data but also the code) is the best solution, and even proprietary/closed-source shrinkwrap software where you have both the software and the data in-house are the best solutions. Even closed-source software with craptivation, er, activation and per-use license verification schemes are vastly superior because should the vendor die, cracking the checks to continue your right of first sale to use the product can still be exercised in the very worst cases.
In this case users are fortunate it's Google services because as stated above Google provides plenty of notice and the means to retrieve data - and in the case of some tools have even have open source so you can continue use of the service in your own hosted environment. Don't expect that to be the case with other SaaS solutions when they are terminated.
The Christian Right is Neither (Christian nor right). See: Matthew 23, Matthew 25, Ezekiel 16:48-50
Hosted Exchange costs $10 per month per mailbox or so and you get all the features of an Exchange server plus the virus loading.....err features of Outlook. It is pretty cheap and I was wondering why I do not hear about more people using this type of service?
It's too bad that GNotebook is stopping development. I've seen the usual recommendations of Evernote as a replacement, but I don't want that. I want something complete web-based, and I'm on an Ubuntu desktop so as far as I know the Evernote desktop client won't work. I've heard that the web-based Evernote doesn't have as many features or something.
What I think I really want is something that I can host myself. If I'm depending on a 3rd party to continue it's support, but they fall through, I'm stuck. I don't really want to sign up for *another* online service; it was nice having everything underneath the Google umbrella. Is there anything like Google Notebook out there that supports "web clipping" either by bookmarklet or Firefox extension, that I can install and run on my own php/mysql host? I've looked at some of the personal wikis, something like that might work, too. MediaWiki seems like overkill, though, and securing it so that only I can use it seems like a pain, too.
Any ideas?
This just highlights one of the negative aspects of using free services out there on the net...
If you're paying for a service, it's not going to get summarily canceled without adequate notice, a refund, etc. But of course, as with most things, you get what you pay for.
I really don't think this lessens the problem that much though. Just because you are paying doesn't mean the service will last. What you really have to depend on is whether a lot of OTHERS are paying as well. They don't care if they have a paying customer or two if the service overall isn't profitable. They'll still shut it down.
And even if it is a profitable service, is the company as a whole profitable? Because you aren't protected from companies going belly up (which they might, if other services they offer are unprofitable enough). Sure, Google is probably not in danger at the moment, but even long companies with storied histories may go bankrupt and take even the services people pay for down with them. The current downturn ought to be evidence enough of that, as quite a few 100+ year old companies have suddenly died.
And as another example of this, consider the big three automakers. I bought a car from Chrysler in January 2008, and a big part of our choice of car was that they were offering a lifetime powertrain warranty. That's a service they provide that obviously I (and a lot of others) pay for, and it's probably profitable (if they have the reliability they claim) since it sells more of their cars, but might that service get shut down on me? Might it get shut down on me even before a 3 year/36,000 mile warranty would have? It might if they go belly up.
So that's at least one reason I would never put anything business critical in the cloud... no matter what you pay, and no matter how great your company is at business, if the other company isn't managing itself as well as your company is then you are just one economic downturn from losing all your data. And that should be pretty sobering to anyone.
Beware of bugs in the above code; I have only proved it correct, not tried it.
Anticipate the videos you might need and download them the night before. There are extensions to Firefox that will do this for you.
That's what my wife does.
Twitter killer?
I teach at a school district where YouTube is blocked.
If you need YouTube to do your job, and your administrators decline to provide YouTube to instructors, are the private schools hiring? That's the beauty of America: you can choose to work for a different organization that provides the appropriate tools.
Well, they were beta anyway so...
Google Video still works for commercial hosted google accounts, i.e. video.google.com/a/www.YOURDOMAINHERE.com/#/Home
I wish they merged youtube accounts with video.google accounts somehow or perhaps made that an option. I have too many videos in both and wish they were all in one place o_0
o_O
A similar but equally blinkered mistake Slashdotters make is assuming that their personal circumstances, obsessions and/or needs should hold more sway than they do in the market because they represent those of the population in general. Either because it hadn't occurred otherwise to them or because they think they *are* average when they're far from it.
You'll be trying to tell us next that there are people no longer living in their parent's basement by the time they are 40.
I don't buy it.
As a GC user, let me take a stab at it.
Calls to my GC number get forwarded to whatever combination of work, home, and cell numbers I want, based on the calling number (or group I've placed it in). You can designate up to 6 numbers to ring, but each has to have one of those 3 labels, or Gizmo. You can have specific calling numbers ring directly to voicemail or get a "not in service" message.
I can also temporarily add another number to have calls forwarded to. There's no charge for long-distance forwarding.
Voicemail can be listened to on the GC website, downloaded, or forwarded via email (as an MP3).
I can place a call to any number in my GC contacts by clicking its Call button, which rings it as well as the designated phone at my end.
Invites are apparently still turned off. Sorry.
All right, who keeps tagging random Slashdot stories that have nothing to do with politics "democrats" or "republicans"?
The average person does not exist. No matter which person you look at, that person will be far from the average in several aspects. (What those several aspects are will of course depend on which person you are looking at).
Do you care about the security of your wireless mouse?
This will be good for competitors. Take Google Catalog Search, for instance. When it first came out I thought it was a great idea. Then I went to look at it again last year, and some catalogs were more than 4 years old, when I had current ones sitting on my shelf.
But who's going to launch a competing service when Google could easily get back to doing a good job? By closing down the projects, competitors will stand a chance of flourishing/getting funded, etc.
So, good for Google for letting some of their weak projects go.
My God, it's Full of Source!
OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
The only one of these I will miss is Jaiku - the world desperately needs a microblogging alternative run by someone more competent than the folks who run Twitter to become popular.
The average person does not exist. No matter which person you look at, that person will be far from the average in several aspects.
Thank you, Captain Obvious. Perhaps it would be too much like commonsense to assume that I knew that and meant "broadly average in the area of [whatever specific thing was under discussion]" but didn't want to waste time spelling it out?
"Slashdot - News and Chat Sites Deviant". (Click "homepage" link above for details).
I pity the folk who've moved their core business services onto Google Apps.
How long will it be before Google determines Google Apps as "unprofitable", and closes them down? Google has it's fist wrapped tightly around your gonads.
You do know that you post this to a discussion of how the service is not longer open for new users to
> Try it
so it will be hard for him to
> quickly see.
??????