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Google Nixes Some Calendar Features and Other Software Offerings
An anonymous reader writes "Google on Friday announced it is shutting down a slew of features and services as part of its winter cleaning. Google Calendar will be losing a few features, Google Sync will be axed (on the consumer side), as will Google Calendar Sync, SyncML, the Issue Tracker Data API, and the Punchd app."
So, does this mean that the only valuable feature of Google I've found so far is going to stop today? That's the ability to sync all my Android device calendars through my gmail account. Gone? I won't be able to enter an appointment on my tablet and have it show up on my phone?
On other news sites, I read that Google today announces 18 new features. http://googleblog.blogspot.ca/2012/12/google-communities-and-photos.html etc.
And here: http://techcrunch.com/2012/12/14/google-gives-google-end-of-year-update-adds-low-bandwidth-hangouts-full-size-mobile-photo-backups-better-event-planning-animated-gifs-and-more/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Techcrunch+(TechCrunch)&source=email_rt_mc_body&ifp=0
Just Google it...
But on Slashdot, I read that drivel coming right out of Burston-Marsteller, or some other PR drone.
This is supposed to be a technology forum but somehow, some Slashdot editors perhaps seem to think that this is 'provoking' material, in the good sense of being humorous and driving up the number of comments?
But at what price? At what price, just in terms of credibility, for a beginning?
Could someone answer that?
Say what you want about Microsoft's shoddy products, at least they're consistent.
*cough* Plays4Sure *cough*
At least Google doesn't demand you pay for the services they discontinue.
Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean there isn't an invisible demon about to eat your face
Yes because IMAP doesn't have push. Firing up the radios on a phone to poll some server every 15 minutes is a giant waste of battery. Exchange ActiveSync does have push support, so killing EAS is a major step backwards for anyone using gmail on a non-google device. I'll be switching my email to outlook.com because of this.
You can critique it, you just can't demand it be changed.
Also "I hate it" is not a critique.
Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean there isn't an invisible demon about to eat your face
It's not really free though. You are paying by allowing google to take your data and spy on you. It's not like google is a charity and giving things away because they're nice. If they want to continue spying on people with their "free" apps then they should listen to what the user's want.
Seems like every time I sign up for a Google service and get used to it, within a couple years they pull the rug out from under me.
Apple is the same way - which is why I'm not relying on any of their services too heavily.
iTools became .Mac, which became MobileMe, which spawned iWork.com which shut down when MobileMe went away with the launch of iCloud.
Say what you want about Microsoft's shoddy products, at least they're consistent.
"Here is this new initative called Plays For Sure! "
*introduces the Zune*
"Plays for Sure is not supported on the Microsoft Zune®"
No more push email for iOS (currently done via exchange)? That's the last reason I actually use any Google services.
I've been moving away from Google for about a year now because I feel that they have turned form only partially evil to complete evil. Eliminating push email is the final trigger to get me to completely eliminate Google services from my life.
Goodbye Google, and thanks for the years of services. Good luck with that G+ thing that you're pushing so hard. I'm sure someone likes it, since you've managed to alienate so many by forcing it upon us (and yes - I would say "forced" is adequate - the last gmail account I signed up for automatically had a G+ profile created...).
Turning off support for syncing Symbian/S60 devices will also cripple the non-Symbian devices that support Mail For Exchange; the N9, N900 and N950.
Which is why I tell my customers to avoid free services, especially by Google and MSFT, until they become massively popular because both companies tend to throw shit at the wall and if it doesn't become a massive hit it gets dumped, users be damned.
Killing services that have hundreds of thousands, possibly even a million or more users because they don't fit some metric of popular is a good way to keep people from trying your new offerings. And since Google makes its money showing users of those offerings ads it is really not good business.
ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
If you're not paying for it, you're the product.
or
If you're not the customer, you're the product.
Welcome to the sweet world of Cloud. Where everything is cheap and available. Until it is not..
Lesson learned: If your business depends on specific tools or functionality, set up your own infrastructure.
To Terminate, or not to Terminate, that's the question - SCSIROB
You guys really need a dictionary.
spy /sp/
Noun: A person who secretly collects and reports information about an enemy or competitor.
Verb: Work for an organization by secretly collecting information about enemies or competitors.
Note the word 'secretly'. I dont think this counts as secret: https://www.google.com/dashboard/