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Google Announces APIs Scheduled for Shutdown

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Re: Google Announces APIs Scheduled for Shutdown

#11

Post by rbanffy »

bane wrote: post #8

There seems to be at least one lesson here for developers relying on Google's good will. Take your pick: a) Don't rely on Google to keep services around forever b) Ain't no such thing as a free lunch c) Google has only one true product, and it's advertising d) Despite extraordinary profits, Google is really starting to tighten the reigns. I'm guessing that speaks to a feeling of market saturation. They may no longer…

Never, ever, under no circumstances, base your only product on the goodwill of another company.

Unless you can buy them, but, in that case, expect to pay more than everyone else, because you are the one who should be desperate for the deal.

Re: Google Announces APIs Scheduled for Shutdown

#12

Post by stock_toaster »

bane wrote: post #8

There seems to be at least one lesson here for developers relying on Google's good will. Take your pick: a) Don't rely on Google to keep services around forever b) Ain't no such thing as a free lunch c) Google has only one true product, and it's advertising d) Despite extraordinary profits, Google is really starting to tighten the reigns. I'm guessing that speaks to a feeling of market saturation. They may no longer…

> c) Google has only one true product, and it's advertising

I would argue that Google's one true product is you (the user, and data about that user). Advertising is simply their primary (currently?) means to sell that product (you) to other companies/businesses.

Re: Google Announces APIs Scheduled for Shutdown

#13

Post by woodall »

The only API's I've used, that are being shut down, are the Translation and Image Search. I had a little app that looked up the original word and translated word then displayed images; that way I had a better reference to what that word meant(Rosetta Stone). It was just a toy, but I'm sad to see it go!

Re: Google Announces APIs Scheduled for Shutdown

#14

Post by shafqat »

thegrossman wrote: post #6

My coworker and I spent the last several months building an iPad app on top of the News Search API. And now all that work is for naught! That is a serious bummer.

You can use the NewsCred API (developer.newscred.com) if you want. We'll make it free forever if you email me.

Re: Google Announces APIs Scheduled for Shutdown

#15

Post by andymurd »

jot wrote: post #3
simonw wrote: post #2

They're shutting down the translate API? I hope they're releasing a replacement - it's incredibly powerful, though I can't see how it commercially benefits them.

That one surprised me the most. Message at http://code.google.com/apis/language/translate/overview.html : "The Google Translate API has been officially deprecated as of May 26, 2011. Due to the substantial economic burden caused by extensive abuse, the number of requests you may make per day will be limited and the API will be shut off completely on December 1, 2011. For website translations, we encourage you to use…

I think the "abuse" they are referring to is the common practise among blackhats of using Google Translate to spin stolen content to make it unique. Translating English -> $LANGUAGE -> English makes for a cheap, low grade article rewriter.

Re: Google Announces APIs Scheduled for Shutdown

#17

Post by pygy_ »

skymt wrote: post #10
jot wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That one surprised me the most. Message at http://code.google.com/apis/language/translate/overview.html : "The Google Translate API has been officially deprecated as of May 26, 2011. Due to the substantial economic burden caused by extensive abuse, the number of requests you may make per day will be limited and the API will be shut off completely on December 1, 2011. For website translations, we encourage you to use…

Perhaps "abuse" means toys like this: http://www.translationparty.com/

That's an anecdotal toy... Do you have other examples?

Re: Google Announces APIs Scheduled for Shutdown

#19

Post by gcb »

stock_toaster wrote: post #12
bane wrote: post #8

There seems to be at least one lesson here for developers relying on Google's good will. Take your pick: a) Don't rely on Google to keep services around forever b) Ain't no such thing as a free lunch c) Google has only one true product, and it's advertising d) Despite extraordinary profits, Google is really starting to tighten the reigns. I'm guessing that speaks to a feeling of market saturation. They may no longer…

> c) Google has only one true product, and it's advertising I would argue that Google's one true product is you (the user, and data about that user). Advertising is simply their primary (currently?) means to sell that product (you) to other companies/businesses.

With adsense they can still sell ads even if they do not have 'you'.

... only guessing of course. have no idea if gmail makes more with ads than the whole of adsense.

Re: Google Announces APIs Scheduled for Shutdown

#20

Post by chalst »

andymurd wrote: post #15
jot wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That one surprised me the most. Message at http://code.google.com/apis/language/translate/overview.html : "The Google Translate API has been officially deprecated as of May 26, 2011. Due to the substantial economic burden caused by extensive abuse, the number of requests you may make per day will be limited and the API will be shut off completely on December 1, 2011. For website translations, we encourage you to use…

I think the "abuse" they are referring to is the common practise among blackhats of using Google Translate to spin stolen content to make it unique. Translating English -> $LANGUAGE -> English makes for a cheap, low grade article rewriter.

Now Google Translate could pass information to their search quality team so that they can recognise this stolen content. Might be computationally/resource expensive, though.
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