Latest Google layoffs hit the Flutter and Python groups
Enlarge (credit: Getty Images | Alexander Koerner)
Another day, another round of Google layoffs. TechCrunch reports the company has axed people across development teams like the Flutter, Dart, and Python groups. Google confirmed the layoffs to TechCrunch, but didn't say how many people were affected.
Flutter is Google's write-once, run-anywhere development kit. Flutter apps can work on Android, iOS, Windows, Linux, and Mac OS, and the Flutter UI and rendering engine, included with every app, translates everything to the OS layer. It's much like programming a game for Unity or Unreal but for app development. Flutter apps are written in the Dart programming language, which is also getting hit with layoffs. Google Smart Displays run a Flutter-native operating system called "Fuchsia," which was hit with layoffs last year. Plans to do anything meaningful with that project seem to have cooled down.
Any hits to the Flutter team ought to terrify a lot of people since many businesses are built on Flutter, and well, you all know Google's reputation for killing products. A product manager for Flutter said that the layoffs affected "a LOT of teams" but that "Flutter and Dart were not affected any more or less than others."