Google Spring cleaning. Google axes more services

Status
Not open for further replies.
P

planar1280

Banned
Here is a full list of services that are getting the ax today:

We are making a number of API changes, adopting a one-year deprecation policy for certain APIs and removing the deprecation policy for others. Additionally, we are retiring some old APIs with limited usage. We have also updated the deprecation policy for all APIs to be much clearer and more concise. Please see the Developers Blog for more information.

Google Flu Vaccine Finder was a maps mash-up that showed nearby vaccination places across the United States, built by a small 20 percent team during the 2009 H1N1 pandemic when there was a dire need for fast and accurate data on flu vaccination locations. Google Flu Vaccine Finder is now retired, but we’re pleased to pass the baton to the experienced team at HealthMap as they launch HealthMap Flu Vaccine Finder.

Google Related is an experimental browsing assistant launched to help people find interesting and useful information while they browse the web. The product isn’t experiencing the kind of adoption we’d like, and while we still believe in the value provided to our users, we’ll be retiring the existing product over the next few weeks, so the Related team can focus on creating more magic moments across other Google products.

Beginning June 1, 2012, we’re ending our support for Google Sync for BlackBerry. If you already have the app installed, you’ll still be able to use it; however it will not be available for download after June 1. If you currently use Google Sync for BlackBerry, we encourage you to switch to BlackBerry Internet Service (BIS) or the Google Apps Connector for BlackBerry Enterprise Server going forward. These alternatives offer a better overall experience, as you can sync your email messages, calendar and contacts through a single service.

We’re shutting down the mobile web app for Google Talk. For mobile users who want to continue using Google Talk, we recommend using the native Google Talk app on Android or any XMPP-compliant apps on other mobile platforms.

One Pass, our payment platform for online news publishers, has been shut down. We are working with existing partners to make the transition from One Pass to other platforms, including Google Consumer Surveys. While One Pass is going away, we will continue working with publishers to build new tools.

We’re redirecting the old Patent Search homepage to google.com to make sure everyone is getting the best possible experience for their patent searches. Over the past few months, we’ve been making updates and improvements to the Patent Search functionality on google.com—not only are you able to search the same set of U.S. patents with the same advanced search options, the new experience loads twice as fast as the old Patent Search homepage, contributes to a unified search experience across Google, and sports Google Doodles as well. The team looks forward to including patents from other countries soon, and will be rolling out additional features to Patent Search on google.com in the future.

We launched a WINE-based version of Picasa for Linux in 2006 as a Google Labs project. As we continue to enhance Picasa, it has become difficult to maintain parity on the Linux version. So today, we’re deprecating Picasa for Linux and will not be maintaining it moving forward. Users who have downloaded and installed older versions of Picasa for Linux can continue to use them, though we won’t be making any further updates.

Starting today, the Picasa Web Albums Uploader for Mac and Picasa Web Albums Plugin for iPhoto will no longer be available for download. People can continue to use the uploader and plugin if they are installed. However, we’ll no longer maintain these tools. We strongly encourage people to download Picasa 3.9 for Mac, which includes upload and iPhoto import features.
Click to expand...

http://techcrunch.com/2012/04/20/sp...n-patent-search-one-pass-google-related-more/
 
Google needs to cut ALOT more, or at least consolidate things. There is no reason Google Talk, Google Voice, Google Chat, Gmail, Contacts, Google+ and Google Groups are separate apps. It makes no sense. They should all be integrated.

Just look at this god damn page http://www.google.com/intl/en/about/products/index.html , its ridiculous how many separate things they've created and not consolidated.
 
Pagusas said:
Google needs to cut ALOT more, or at least consolidate things. There is no reason Google Talk, Google Voice, Google Chat, Gmail, Contacts, Google+ and Google Groups are separate apps. It makes no sense. They should all be integrated.

Just look at this god damn page http://www.google.com/intl/en/about/products/index.html , its ridiculous how many separate things they've created and not consolidated.
Click to expand...

Google is about as efficient as the government and Sony =P.
 
I'm most sorry for Picasa for Linux, I was always hoping it'd get a native version. But I stopped using Picasa when I got my Android phone with Google+ instant upload.

God this post reads like an ad. Sorry about that.
 
only one I ever used was google sync for blackberry which I honestly thought was killed years ago. It was pretty pointless anyway
 
Pagusas said:
Google needs to cut ALOT more, or at least consolidate things. There is no reason Google Talk, Google Voice, Google Chat, Gmail, Contacts, Google+ and Google Groups are separate apps. It makes no sense. They should all be integrated.

Just look at this god damn page http://www.google.com/intl/en/about/products/index.html , its ridiculous how many separate things they've created and not consolidated.
Click to expand...

Google is definitely moving down this path, Google+ is becoming the integrated app you're looking for. But as they do it more and more people will complain. *shrug*

Oh and Google Voice should still definitely be its own thing, and actually, I'd say Contacts needs to be more broken out of Gmail if anything. Same for Google Tasks actually.

Google Talk is Google Chat, just by a different name. But it definitely needs absorb or be absorbed by Google+ Messenger.

Google Groups is a newslist mirror. I believe Wave was supposed to take it over, but that didn't happen as you know.

More cutting and consolidating needs to happen, but you provided some poor examples.
 
Also, Google Play was a recent major integration move and nerds still complained. *double shrug*
 
Andrex said:
Also, Google Play was a recent major integration move and nerds still complained. *double shrug*
Click to expand...

I don't think people were complaining about combining multiple different content stores, I think people were complaining about the unnecessary double branding and the poop name :p
 
Never knew any of these existed before.

It's a good thing they are cutting down all these services so they can focus more on their core products.
 
frankie_baby said:
And even more people that use google daily that wouldnt even consider using +
Click to expand...

I think they are trying to make the argument that anyone using a google service is using plus since plus is integrated into all of their services. It's a fairly ridiculous argument taken from Google's PR (literally) since that doesn't require actually using the social network (as opposed to just being logged into it).
 
sangreal said:
I think they are trying to make the argument that anyone using a google service is using plus since plus is integrated into all of their services. It's a fairly ridiculous argument taken from Google's PR (literally) since that doesn't require actually using the social network (as opposed to just being logged into it).
Click to expand...

Googles getting that bloated and ridiculous i'm starting to get tempted to change search providers
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

Google stops producing Chromecast devices, introduces much more expensive "Google TV Streamer"
39
3K
Trogdor1123 replied
Google has removed Ublock from Chome now
Drama 
42
3K
Soodanim replied
TikTok is back on the Apple and Google app stores
8
583
Jinzo Prime replied
DOJ forcing Google to sell CHROME
2
65
4K
Jinzo Prime replied
Google updating "terms of service"
13
2K
xrnzaaas replied
Top Bottom