Google Code Shutting Down

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in google on (#4TQX)
Google's project hosting service, Google Code, is the latest Google product to get the axe. Launched in 2006, the site hosted many FLOSS-type software projects and provided free downloads, source code management, an issue tracker, and wiki pages. Although new project creation is already disabled, the site will stay functional until August 2015 in order to give projects time to migrate to alternatives, such as GitHub and GitLab.

With so many high-profile Google services inexplicably closing, one has to wonder if relying on the continued availability of any Google services is a good idea. Of course, closures are not always exclusive to Google. Gitorious and Freecode are recent examples of other project development sites that have recently shut their doors.
Reply 9 comments

Explicable (Score: 3, Insightful)

by mth@pipedot.org on 2015-03-12 22:37 (#4TX6)

I think "inexplicably" is not the right word here: Google Code is not making money (search), is not a strategic investment (Android) and is not breaking new ground (self-driving cars). The only reason to keep it around would be loyalty to its users, but that doesn't seem to be high on their list of priorities.

Relying on the continued availability of a third party service is a risk, no matter whether the service provider is a startup (see Our Incredible Journey) or a large established company like Google. At least in the case of project hosting, it is relatively easy to migrate to a different service, which is not always the case when other services or APIs get shut down.

Re: Explicable (Score: 1)

by bryan@pipedot.org on 2015-03-12 23:08 (#4TZ7)

Wow, I had never heard of the "Our Incredible Journey" tumblr page until now. Reading some of those entries makes me sad. I've personally used some of those sites and was surprised to see some of the recent ones (like the Zite app) in the list.

Google Yanks Another One (Score: 0)

by Anonymous Coward on 2015-03-15 01:42 (#4YW2)

When will people stop relying on these guys?

So many projects fled SourceForge (for valid reasons) and ended up on Google Code. Now what will they do? And LESS than 6 months to hope everybody gets the word and moves their stuff? This sounds TERRIBLE.

For a company of Google's breadth and scope, a 5 month warning seems very stingy, more the kind of act of a company bleeding cash.

I never used Google Reader, but I sympathize with those who got burned by it (and the other various Google orphan dead).

And yet... people still look at me funny when I explain how I set up my own mail server so I don't have to rely on a free service like GMail. Sheesh.

Re: Google Yanks Another One (Score: 0)

by Anonymous Coward on 2015-03-15 03:55 (#4YZP)

This is why I pay runbox for email. Safe. Secure. Cheap. Reliable.

Re: Google Yanks Another One (Score: 1)

by axsdenied@pipedot.org on 2015-03-16 02:43 (#50FA)

You paying for it does not mean anything in terms of the business shutting down.

And, not trying to defend google but gmail, for example is also safe, secure, cheap (free) and reliable.

Re: Google Yanks Another One (Score: 1)

by bryan@pipedot.org on 2015-03-16 06:45 (#50PV)

But Google could shut down it down tomorrow because: GMail is not making money (search), is not a strategic investment (Android) and is not breaking new ground (self-driving cars).

Re: Google Yanks Another One (Score: 2, Insightful)

by axsdenied@pipedot.org on 2015-03-16 11:32 (#5143)

They could. So could runbox or anybody else. Business run only as long as they make profit or have potential to make profit.

Us paying for a service does not guarantee that it won't shut down. The only way to be sure that a service won't shut down is to run it yourself.

Re: Google Yanks Another One (Score: 0)

by Anonymous Coward on 2015-03-16 15:35 (#51N8)

While I do agree with you in theory, I'm fairly confident that GMail is just about the last service they would shut down (after search and adsense). Everyone, and I mean _everyone_ in their 20's in the US uses it.

Imagine the public backlash* that would be directed at Google if they took everyone's favorite toy away. That aspect alone is enough to keep it going ad infinitum.

Until it becomes glaringly obvious that Google is hemorrhaging money by shutting down maps, drive or books, I will consider my gmail account long-lived.

*spread by the most social media-savvy generation no less

Re: Google Yanks Another One (Score: 2, Insightful)

by seriously@pipedot.org on 2015-03-20 10:22 (#5AAH)

not only that, but I'm pretty sure that GMail actually generates tons of money (directly or indirectly) through targeted ads and user's profiling (aka Big Data).

People also tend to forget that there is a paying version of gmail for companies (I'm not putting the link but you can easily google it). I know some companies that use it. I don't know whether there ever was a paying version of google code though.