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Google+ Photos To Shut Down August 1

Posted by Soulskill on from the google-product-graveyard dept.

An anonymous reader writes: Now that Google Photos exists separately from Google+, the company is shutting down the Google+ version of Photos starting on August 1. The Android version will be the first to go, followed shortly thereafter by the iOS and web versions. Fortune calls the old Photos app "a relic of the times when the search giant thought its social network Google Plus could become a huge hit."

12 of 153 comments (clear)

  1. Am I the only guy here that likes G+? by wardrich86 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Seriously - I feel like Google+'s only fan. The layout is far better than the alternatives. It doesn't give a false sense of security. It's much more in tune with my phone. It's easier to navigate. It's not flooded with fucking idiots. There are no ads. It supports animated gifs... the list just goes on and on and on. Why the hell did it not catch on like FB?

    People argue that they "already have a social network" but that didn't stop them from leaving MySpace in favour of FB.

    1. Re:Am I the only guy here that likes G+? by xmousex · · Score: 5, Insightful

      thinking the current bulk of users of facebook never heard of a myspace. they are the slow adopters forced into it through the social thing when they got their first ipod to keep up with their kids. parents and grandparents and teachers, they are not technology people, they just followed along and now they are stuck.

      the people who are real movers have already left facebook in concept and are on to other social systems entirely.

      google+ is the far better alternative to facebook in every way for the few of us who actually know, care, understand. Those few do not make much for a success story.

    2. Re:Am I the only guy here that likes G+? by gstoddart · · Score: 4, Informative

      Honestly, because we didn't want it, never asked for it, got tired of having it constantly being foisted on us. It was a solution in search of a problem which nobody wanted solved in the first place.

      It mostly took the form of Google's services constantly trying to force people to sign up for it, and pissing everybody off in the process. It wasn't anything anybody gave a damn about, but Google was constantly trying to make it mandatory.

      Every time I encountered it, I found myself wanting to beat someone at Google with a clue stick.

      Because the world isn't about social networks, and we don't give a fuck about the fact that Google wanted to play "me too".

      I want to see a map or chat with one of my contacts. I don't want to sign up for your vision of my entire fucking digital lifestyle.

      Google+ was the digital equivalent of a Jehova's Witness constantly showing up at your door. It did noting but annoy people.

      The reason it failed is nobody wanted it, and people didn't want to be forced into using the damned thing just to make Google believe they'd launched a successful service.

      --
      Lost at C:>. Found at C.
    3. Re:Am I the only guy here that likes G+? by RJFerret · · Score: 4, Interesting

      We use it extensively, it's replaced email, texting, all sorts of other services as you can just contact on G+ and the right people get the message in the manner they prefer without any spam.

      Admittedly most of my social spheres aren't active users of other networks, just keeping them for grandma or that one outlier.

    4. Re:Am I the only guy here that likes G+? by Archangel+Michael · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Or, as I put it, the people who aren't on Google+ are the reason I am on Google+

      There is a reason why they are called "Unwashed masses"

      --
      Agent K: A *person* is smart. People are dumb, stupid, panicky animals, and you know it.
    5. Re:Am I the only guy here that likes G+? by Richy_T · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I might have been tempted to get a Google+ account. But their attempt to ram it down my throat put me right off the idea.

  2. Great, now do one more thing by roc97007 · · Score: 4, Funny

    Now that we've split off Photos from Google+, let's split off the GPS support into a separate product, ok? Or maybe bundle it into Maps where it belongs? We could call it LATITUDE.

    --
    Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
  3. Too bad they tried to rule it with an iron fist. by KDiPietro · · Score: 4, Informative

    I was excited when Google+ rolled out. That enthusiasm quickly dissipated when Google decided that no anonymous accounts would be tolerated. Their inability to understand how important it is for many people to be able to participate anonymously convinced me that this was not a platform that was going anywhere. Apparently, I wasn't the only person to feel this way.

    Awesome job Google! You could have very likely created a real competitor to Facebook but instead orchestrated the internet version of New Coke.

  4. PICASA will NOT be shut down, needed for Hangouts by jbridges · · Score: 3, Informative

    Now that Google+ Photos is discontinued, Google Apps admins received a message which informs them that Google Hangouts will only use Picasa Web Albums for photo sharing.

    http://googlesystem.blogspot.c...

  5. Re:Epic fail ... by gstoddart · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Judging by the constant complaining on Facebook about whatever the most recent change Facebook made, yes, people did want a new social network. But these days it's cool to hate on Google so any little problem gets blown out of proportion as an excuse not to use G+. Reverse psychology and Stockholm syndrome. And of course lots of "Big brother" excuses, which is my favorite one when it comes to sticking with Facebook

    Some of us don't want Facebook either.

    I know this is hard to understand, but for many of us the internet "social network" is just more crap to enable analytics and ads, and hasn't got a damned thing to do with anything we want to do.

    I ranked Google+ right up there with if Microsoft decided I needed a Live (or whatever they call it) account to use Notepad ... it was self serving crap by a company trying to force me to use something I didn't want or need.

    I like some of Google's services, but I sure as hell didn't want them to overstep their bounds and attempt to force everything I do on the intertubes to go through it. But that's exactly what they did.

    It was like digital panhandling. Eventually I blocked plus.google.com at my damned firewall.

    It was a marketing experiment gone wrong, and it mostly came across as a shrill bunch of assholes saying "why haven't you used my awesome product". It really pissed people off.

    --
    Lost at C:>. Found at C.
  6. Prediction by ProzacPatient · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I predict, based on past behavior, that Google Photos will be retired a year from now, maybe two.

    I find that many people have gotten hesitant to trust using products and services from Google or Microsoft because both of them tend to start projects, promote it to death, and then decide to suddenly drop it one day.

    1. Re:Prediction by JackieBrown · · Score: 3, Informative

      I have started using my own server for this (for privacy and space reasons). Unfortunately, a lot of my exif tags (dates in particular) seem to have messed up when I downloaded them from Google photos. I did it using the download archive function - ended up with an 8 GB zip. I assume it was during the download because Google have them correct on their site.

      Trying to go through and correct those has been really frustrating - particular since that is where all the pictures of my deceased wife are, and I really have trouble holding up well checking each photo. I wouldn't even bother but it is very jarring to run into pictures of her when browsing from May of this year.