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Bidding farewell to Google Code

google-opensource.blogspot.com

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Re: Bidding farewell to Google Code

#51

Post by AnkhMorporkian »

shubhamjain wrote: post #38
cdibona wrote: post #2

Hi everyone. I wanted to let you know (and I know this isn't a huge surprise) that we will be shutting down the Google Code project hosting system over the next year. Wired did a nice story about Github that touches on the shutdown: http://www.wired.com/2015/03/github-conquered-google-microso... I'll be hanging around answering questions, but the short form of 'why' is that it just isn't used much anymore, ourselves…

While true that no one uses Google Code. Every now and then, I bump into some obscure but a little useful project being hosted on Google Code. Maybe, makers of those projects have grown out of them and don't wish to put any more effort but still, there is a bit of value, I am able to derive from them. What will happen, if those projects are not migrated because their developers have simply forgotten about them?

Perhaps archive.org will take it upon themselves to archive all the projects.

Re: Bidding farewell to Google Code

#52

Post by hackuser »

gtaylor wrote: post #39
hackuser wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I expect an innovator to move on from failures That's great if you are an investor or employee, but if you are a user it kind of sucks. Google just needs to be up front about it (and maybe they are): We make no commitment to supporting this application or maintaining it as is. We might make radical changes, we might shut it down. If we do shut it down, we'll warn you at least 9 months ahead of time. I'm not going t…

> Google just needs to be up front about it (and maybe they are) Nobody launches a new product and guarantees "If this doesn't work out, we'll keep it around indefinitely on life support". You don't start a new effort expecting failure. If it doesn't end up working out, it'll be closed down. Google's failures are just a lot more public than whatever side business many of us may take a stab at. This isn't unique to Go…

In fact, many vendors, especially in the enterprise market and physical goods, stand behind what they sell through their products' lifetimes. As I mentioned elsewhere, IBM supported OS/2, a marketplace failure, for ~16 years. Buy a washer from Sears; even if that model doesn't sell well, they will support yours.

Consumer and 'free' software is the exception, and it's a recent exception with rapid release schedules. It's just shifting the costs from the vendor (maintaining old products) to the consumer (changing/upgrading).

Re: Bidding farewell to Google Code

#54

Post by btown »

shubhamjain wrote: post #38
cdibona wrote: post #2

Hi everyone. I wanted to let you know (and I know this isn't a huge surprise) that we will be shutting down the Google Code project hosting system over the next year. Wired did a nice story about Github that touches on the shutdown: http://www.wired.com/2015/03/github-conquered-google-microso... I'll be hanging around answering questions, but the short form of 'why' is that it just isn't used much anymore, ourselves…

While true that no one uses Google Code. Every now and then, I bump into some obscure but a little useful project being hosted on Google Code. Maybe, makers of those projects have grown out of them and don't wish to put any more effort but still, there is a bit of value, I am able to derive from them. What will happen, if those projects are not migrated because their developers have simply forgotten about them?

Someone needs to do an Internet Archive style project on all these repositories, put them up on Github, and make sure that they are indexed properly by search engines (i.e. intro pages become README.md, wikis are migrated, etc.).

Re: Bidding farewell to Google Code

#56

Post by sjs382 »

stephen wrote: post #8

Seems like one of the better (best?) shutdowns Google has done IMO. There are several compelling (also free) alternatives (GitHub/etc.), so this isn't like Reader (which had previously killed a lot of viable/non-free competitors in its market). They even have automated migration setup. Looks pretty well done.

Agreed. There are viable alternatives, there are migration tools, and the "sunset" is staged nicely.

  You can't create any new projects on the service.
  
  You have 5 months to continue using the service while you work on finding an alternative.
  
  In 10 months, it's shut down, except that tarballs of project source, issues, and wikis will still be available.
  
  For ~12 more months (until the end of 2016), tar balls will be available for download.
A 2-year shutdown is more than reasonable. Hopefully by then I'll catch all of the orphaned projects that I may want to use, and be able to save them elsewhere myself.

Kudos, Google!

Re: Bidding farewell to Google Code

#57

Post by sytse »

Hi Chris, GitLab CEO here. What do you think about mentioning Gitlab.com as an alternative for people to move to? It has unlimited (private) projects and unlimited collaborators. It is based the open source GitLab project.

Re: Bidding farewell to Google Code

#58

Post by gtaylor »

lnanek2 wrote: post #34
gtaylor wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Edit: The parent comment was flagkilled, but he was ranting about how Google should be expected to keep Google Code (and their other failed services) on life support indefinitely out of the kindness of their heart, because negative public perception. This is pretty ridiculous. It is a free service, sustained only by how long corporate wants to foot the bill. This is why it's so important to keep in mind how sustainab…

Honestly, I think he was right. Google has a really bad image problem right now where lots of people don't want to get involved with their projects because Google will most likely kill the project just like Reader and Glass. See my couple of wasted Google Glass devices that will never see an Android update again. Do you think I'll ever buy a Google Android product after they wasted $3k of mine? Do you think I'll buy…

> Honestly, I think he was right. Google has a really bad image problem right now where lots of people don't want to get involved with their projects because Google will most likely kill the project just like Reader and Glass.

Again, these are two very niche projects. Reader was a niche within a niche. Glass was an experiment that a tiny subset of the population ever even touched first-hand. It never even reached a "1.0".

As early adopters and as technologists, it's easy for us to get upset when our favorite pet project gets killed. But in the end, Reader failed to get any kind of traction beyond its niche. Glass ran into a buzzsaw of negative perception, legislation, and media twisting, in addition to technical challenges. The lessons learned from Glass will be applied to present and future efforts.

Re: Bidding farewell to Google Code

#59

Post by Igglyboo »

gtaylor wrote: post #5

I'm sure some are going to immediately say "Yet another Google casualty", but I feel like this one probably needed to happen. It's been stagnant for years, and they have been on the mindshare decline since the first two years. I dread having to deal with open source software that is still on Google Code. Admit failure, provide plenty of notice (like they're doing), and close up shop so resources can be spent on more…

I agree, a lot of google shutdowns are really awesome products that just have a small userbase. Stuff like Reader didn't even have good alternatives when it shutdown.

Google Code isn't that great of a product, it has a small userbase, and there are many alternatives.

Re: Bidding farewell to Google Code

#60

Post by habitmelon »

shubhamjain wrote: post #38
cdibona wrote: post #2

Hi everyone. I wanted to let you know (and I know this isn't a huge surprise) that we will be shutting down the Google Code project hosting system over the next year. Wired did a nice story about Github that touches on the shutdown: http://www.wired.com/2015/03/github-conquered-google-microso... I'll be hanging around answering questions, but the short form of 'why' is that it just isn't used much anymore, ourselves…

While true that no one uses Google Code. Every now and then, I bump into some obscure but a little useful project being hosted on Google Code. Maybe, makers of those projects have grown out of them and don't wish to put any more effort but still, there is a bit of value, I am able to derive from them. What will happen, if those projects are not migrated because their developers have simply forgotten about them?

Find those useful projects and post them on Bitbucket or GitHub
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