Google killing Jaiku, Dodgeball, Notebook, other projects

In a series of separate posts on various official Google blogs Wednesday evening, the company announced that it is terminating, stopping development on, or restricting access to six products that clearly haven't been adding much to the Google brand or bottom line lately:

The clock started ticking on Google Video when it bought YouTube in 2006. Starting, "in a few months," Google Video will no longer allow user uploads. That makes sense considering YouTube's function. In 2007, Google turned off users' access to paid videos on Google Video. It should be noted that Google recently added video upload capability to Picasa Web Albums, so clearly execs at the company realize that there can be different video services for different needs. See the Google Video Blog.

Google Catalog Search is getting the ax. Launched as a "demonstration" of OCR technology that eventually made it in to Google Book Search, it's being shuffled off with the farewell, "It was a great experiment." And which company doesn't have its product catalogs online already these days? Not needed. See the Inside Google Book Search blog.

Google Notebook is losing its developers. It will stay live for now, for the (few dozen) people who use it, but the blog post announcing its imminent stagnation points everyone else to products that perform some of Notebook's functions: the SearchWiki function, Google Docs, Tasks (in GMail), and Google Bookmarks. Not mentioned: Yahoo's Delicious and AdaptiveBlue. See the Google Notebook blog.

Dodgeball, acquired by Google in 2005, will be shut down "in the next couple of months." Once a popular social/geolocation experiment, it's been largely supplanted by Twitter.

Google's Mashup Editor, which never made it out of private beta, will be terminated, "in favor of the more powerful App Engine."

Jaiku, as it is today, may live on with support from a "volunteer team" of Google employees, but the main product is getting ported to the Google App Engine, and will be release as open source. This is interesting. See also the open-source nanoblog project, Laconica. Google acquired Jaiku in October, 2007. The Google Code Blog covers the fates of Dodgeball, Jaiku, and the Mashup Editor.

Other blogs (TechCrunch and Center Networks) are calling Grand Central and Knol as the next projects to join Google's scrap bin. I can see Knol getting the ax--there's no buzz around it. I'd add Google Base to the list of likely casualities. But I don't think it makes sense to kill Grand Central. Given Google's play in the mobile space with Android, I believe the company needs to invest more in mobile voice services like this one.

Obviously related: Google lays off 100 recruiters.

See also: Search Engine Land: Google Ends Google Video Uploads, Shutters Notebook, Catalog Search, Dodgeball & Jaiku.

[macuenca]

I won't miss any of these applications. The poll should have the option "none"... There are applications listed which I never heard of.

[mnl1121]

I just tried clicking vote without picking an application and it didn't work. None of these applications are worth pursuing and most of them i've never heard of.

[loose_screw]

Dammit, I guess I am one of the "few dozen" users of Google Notebook. Sad news indeed. :(

[Atari05]

I actually used notebook a lot for links that I wanted to check out later in the day and such. So I'm right there with you in the " :( " club.

[pteh]

I have been using it since it was introduced.

[anonymous500r]

I have all my college revision notes in notebook. That feels bad :(

[anonymous500r]

I have all my college revision notes in Google Notebook. That feels bad. :(

[vineet.garg]

Oh man i just started to use Google Notebook and I really liked it! Damn it!!

[Cube Over]

Smaller bubbles bursting better. Never used any of those. A gut feeling, I suppose.

[Hunnter2k3]

Damn! I actually loved Google Notebook!

It is Hello all over again... sad times.

[BK216]

nooooo! I have my Google Notebook on my iGoogle page, ITS SO USEFUL. I write down notes to myself all day at work so that when I finally get home and I'm resting, I'll still remember all those important things that I need to get done. Its really helped me get organized in my life. NOOOOOO

[jeffguevin]

I like Google Notebook, too, but as far as getting organized goes, Remember The Milk is much better (since you can more easily tag and check off items, among other features).

[Mr-Bill-Gates]

Lets all lobbly google not to end GRAND CENTRAL! why axe a program that helps the homeless?

[Mr-Bill-Gates]

I meant lobby...

[mattquinlan]

save GrandCentral (especially since I bought my number on Ebay just two weeks ago!)

[purpleLightning]

Google Notebook is solid, well-designed, purposeful web software that should be the kind of thing Webware champions, not simply shrug it off with a callous remark of the "few dozen" who use it. Would have expected better from you, Rafe. Is there something in particular you don't like about Notebook?

[rafe]

I may have been wrong about Notebook. I don't know anyone who uses it. Correction: I didn't *think* I knew anyone who used it.

[purpleLightning]

Rafe, maybe by "few dozen" you really meant the number of articles and blogs CNET and Webware would try to milk this news for ;-)

[dsstrainer]

What! They can't get rid of GoogleBase? That system actually brought me over 100k of business to my website my first year! I wasted money on adsense but never got as high as GoogleBase got me. I still use it to keep me up on the lists. I notice that when the googlebase items expire each month, my business slows. As soon as I refresh the items... I'm booming again! This Must Stay!

[mark_925]

I use Google notebook all the time! Google docs takes too long to get in to. Notebook is right on my iGoogle page, and I can just dump stuff in there. Thank god they're no deleting it entirely. It's simple, lightweight, and does the job. Order conformation numbers, work notes, anything random.

[Falling-Inferno]

Google Notebook and Google Video I am going to miss. They are usefull.

[TV James]

Do not kill Grand Central. Tell me where to put my credit card number, Google. I'll even agree to abandon Facebook and Twitter in favor of Orkut. I'll stop using Firefox in favor of Chrome. I'll delete Office off my computer at home in favor of Google Docs. I'll *ulp* even consider closing my Remember the Milk and use the tasks in GMail. Just don't kill Grand Central.

[diigo]

Google Notebook is among the strongest apps here (also shown in the poll!)

For those looking for alternatives, here is a brief side-by-side comparison of Google Notebook and Diigo: http://tinyurl.com/776ku2

Tell your GN-using friends why Diigo is a great (better?) alternative :-)

[StevenMB]

Google cut back on the igoogle interface for the iphone too, and nobody, not even google is saying peep. They've stripped it down, taking away functionality and making it less friendly. Is this how they promote Android?

[beelissa]

As long as they don't ax Gmail or Picasa. I suppose I could still run Picasa from my hard drive, but I'd be disappointed to hear it wasn't supported. I've found it really useful and I love the screen saver!

[thethinkingmanAZ]

Not Goog Notebook!

That app is SOOOOO handy and well designed. Haven't found a better data recorder/organizer out there yet!

I have written google already voicing my displeasure on this decision (I would GLADLY pay a small yearly fee to keep it running), and hope that many of you that I have already seen write on here will do the same.

The time/trouble/effectiveness it saves me is easily worth the price.

Hopefully they will feel the same and change their mind!

[FanBoy200]

I'm a notebook user....sad they have to dump it.....