January 14th, 2009
Google rips off the band-aid, bad news all around
Google dropped a whole bunch of “bad news” on us today — it reminds me of when you have to make that hard decision to either rip out one hair out at a time, or go for the gusto when ripping off a band-aid.
Today, Google told us about a bunch of interesting things that are most likely in direct alignment with the economic situation:
- Several service changes/closures
No more video uploads at Google Video
Google Notebook is no longer being maintained, and no more new accounts can be created
Dodgeball is gone
Google Catalog Search is gone
Google Mashup Editor is gone
Jaiku will be discontinued, but it’s interesting that “The Jaiku code will be made available to anyone”, according to Search Engine Land - The dismissal of at least 100 full-time staffing employees
- Relocation of 70 employees in offices found in Texas, Norway, and Sweden
Employees in these offices must relocate to another location, or they will lose their job. This is a very hard thing for most families to do, and will be a difficult decision for everyone involved.
I am wondering if these announcements are just the tip of the iceberg, or if this was an attempt to concentrate all the bad news into a single day to reduce the amount of negative press — I guess we’ll find out soon.
Garett Rogers is employed as a programmer for iQmetrix, which specializes in retail management software for the wireless industry.
See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
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