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Google Ends Google Video Uploads, Notebook, Catalog Search  (View post)

James [PersonRank 0]

Thursday, January 15, 2009
15 years ago10,268 views

Reports from:
Google Catalog
http://booksearch.blogspot.com/2009/01/farewell-google-catalog-search.html

Google Video
http://googlevideo.blogspot.com/2009/01/turning-down-uploads-at-google-video.html

Google Notebook
http://googlenotebookblog.blogspot.com/2009/01/stopping-development-on-google-notebook.html

Search Engine Land:
http://searchengineland.com/google-ends-google-video-uploads-shutters-notebook-catalog-search-dodgeball-jaiku-16166

James [PersonRank 0]

15 years ago #

After shutting down Lively, 5 Google products are about to closed including Jaiku and Dodgeball.

KMB [PersonRank 7]

15 years ago #

You forgetting some important services:
"Changes for Jaiku and Farewell to Dodgeball and Mashup Editor"
http://google-code-updates.blogspot.com/2009/01/changes-for-jaiku-and-farewell-to.html

Jaiku.com seems to go offline and become open source instead.
"With the open source Jaiku Engine project, organizations, groups and individuals will be able to roll-their-own microblogging services and deploy them on Google App Engine. The new Jaiku Engine will include support for OAuth, and we're excited about developers using this proven code as a starting point in creating a freely available and federated, open source microblogging platform."

James [PersonRank 0]

15 years ago #

My mistake..

Jaiku goes open source....
http://www.jaiku.com/blog/2009/01/15/were-going-open-source/

Mrrix32 [PersonRank 10]

15 years ago #

Admitedly Cataloge and Dogeball where two products I never used and don't mind going.

However I regualy use Notebook (Note: it's not being deleted, development has just stoped and the Firefox extension is not supported). And I was one of the people who prefered GVid to YouTube, Although I'm surprised it lasted this long :P Where are we going to upload our 10+ min videos to now?

Juha-Matti Laurio [PersonRank 10]

15 years ago #

[Moved from "Google Video, Notebook, Catalog Search, Jaiku, and Dodgeball to shut down" – Tony]

"A number of Google services just announced that they are about to shut down. The Google Video team announced that it will shut down uploads in a few months, while the Google Notebook team announced that it is stopping development (the service will continue to function, however). According to Danny Sullivan, Google is also closing Jaiku, a Twitter-like micro-blogging service that was bought by Google before it even launched...."

http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/google_giveth_and_it_taketh_away.php

Reto Meier [PersonRank 10]

15 years ago #

The loss of the Mashup Editor is quite a blow to me personally.

I've got a few sites hosted there, two of which have nearly a thousand daily page views. It's going to be a pain porting them over to the App Engine :(

Roger Browne [PersonRank 10]

15 years ago #

> ... in recent years, Catalog Search hasn't been as popular
> as some of our other products ...

Well duh, most of the catalogues haven't been updated since 2002. I used this service regularly when it worked.

> Notebook ... it's not being deleted, development has just stoped

There's not much difference. Once development has stopped and new users are no longer allowed in, a product is as good as doomed.

James Xuan [PersonRank 10]

15 years ago #

I can say Finally for most of these. But obviously they aren't organising the worlds information seriously anymore, they've gotten rid of Catalogs.

Dodgeball, I used all of once, realising I was the only user in my country (not joking) I never went on it again. Google never seemed to be doing anything with it anyway. Their social attempts are weak. They could have done something cool with dodgeball,instead of letting Facebook and bebo etc. win with their mobile versions of their site.

Notebook was useful, though I haven't used it in a while. I'll be sad to see it go... I wonder when we'll see OneNote for mac?

Jaiku has gone Open Source, does that mean they aren't going to develop it like they had planned when they bought it? Very Disappointing.

Above 9 comments were made in the forum before this was blogged,

MZaza [PersonRank 10]

15 years ago #

I don't understand why stop the development on Google Notebook, it's very useful?
That's the 4th Google product I use the most!!
They should at least have an alternative.

Reto Meier [PersonRank 10]

15 years ago #

"potential employees may be less willing to apply for a job...would you rather start-up your own little company... including the potential to get acquired by a bigger company, like Google, later on?"

One of the side effects of the current global financial crisis is a lack of a) jobs and b) funding. Given the distinct lack of either in the marketplace, I doubt Google will be too worried about discouraging new hires. Assuming they're even looking for new hires. Recent press reports suggest they may even be looking to shed a few bodies (starting in recruiting).

Paul S [PersonRank 1]

15 years ago #

I'm going to be sad to see notebook go myself. Although admittedly I've used it less recently, I use it to clip stuff from websites using the Firefox extension, organise them into notebooks on particular topics, and then import them into each notebook into Google Docs as one document when I was ready to write them up.

David S [PersonRank 1]

15 years ago #

I too am sad Google Notebook is on the list. I have so many notes in there! I guess I will have to spend some time and start moving them go Google Docs or Evernote.

Jason M [PersonRank 0]

15 years ago #

Curious about Notebook. Now when I go to edit my google bookmarks, what will google redirect me to? I was unhappy enough when they went from editing in [bookmarks] (whatever it was called then) to editing in Notebook (because it was clunky), and now they're changing from that? hm. Oh well, I'll get used to it I suppose.

But I still wonder what the change will be to.

justinf [PersonRank 10]

15 years ago #

very sad to see the demise of notebook. its a tremendously useful tool/

after gmail, its the app i use the most.

could really care less about google docs or google spreadsheet...

eric_h [PersonRank 0]

15 years ago #

I as well use Notebook. It's extremely handy for people like me with short-term memories. What was I saying again?

Josh Gibbs [PersonRank 0]

15 years ago #

I am really dissapointed that Notebook is going away. I use it ALL the time. Not only that, but it is great for wish lists for birthday's and Christmas. Google docs just doesn't do the same thing that notebook does.

[Signature removed – Tony]

David Mulder [PersonRank 10]

15 years ago #

A huge pity the mashup editor is going to dissapear and I have been hoping that they would soon merge gnotebook into gdocs... somehow I have lately started disliking google more and more... ;-(... They seem to go exactly the same way microsoft went, initially it was known for its innovation and slowly it went as far that people working for microsoft are sometimes ashamed to say so. (Met such a person once :P)

TonyB [PersonRank 10]

15 years ago #

I too am very bummed to see Notebook coming to an end. I use it just about everyday. While they say it won't be shut down, how do we know that won't change? Do I trust them to keep it running, or do I need to look at alternatives like Zoho Notebook, which I did not like the last time I tried it, many months ago?

I wonder if some of the functionality of Notebook will be better integrated into Google Docs? The Google Blog post says they are excited about future features in it. Are they referring to some Notebook specific type features, or just the general growth of Docs?

James Xuan [PersonRank 10]

15 years ago #

<<could really care less>>

In the UK/Ireland we say couldn't care less. That makes sense. You Don't care at all, so it's impossible to care any less. If you could care less then you must care, right?

TonyB [PersonRank 10]

15 years ago #

I'm trying to move some of my Notebooks to Google Docs via the Export to Google Docs tool within Notebook and getting a Google Server Error.

DPic [PersonRank 10]

15 years ago #

Well this addresses a few things from my 2009 wishlist for google: http://pinstack.blogspot.com/2009/01/2009-wishlist-for-google.html

The second part of #9

Also, #17
It seems like such a waste to see them shut down dodgeall and do nothing with jaiku, but will they do anything with zingku?

Art-One [PersonRank 10]

15 years ago #

I'm using Notebook a lot, i liked it very much. They never promoted it enough, it was a hidden jewel, too bad they shut it down...

Philipp Lenssen [PersonRank 10]

15 years ago #

> One of the side effects of the current global financial crisis is a
> lack of a) jobs and b) funding. Given the distinct lack
> of either in the marketplace, I doubt Google will be too
> worried about discouraging new hires. Assuming they're
> even looking for new hires. Recent press reports suggest
> they may even be looking to shed a few bodies (starting in recruiting).

More specifically I meant to refer to potential genius employees – the future top developers about to invent the next big thing, who might now ponder in which environment to work. In the long term, discouraging those people even by just a bit could be a disadvantage. But of course, this is only a theoretical angle I was pondering, a guess of a potential side effect, I don't know for sure.

Mysterius [PersonRank 10]

15 years ago #

[put at-character here]James Xuan: Sayings don't have to make literal sense if the common meaning is understood. Besides, I read it as a bit of sarcasm.
Though I personally prefer "couldn't care less", I don't consider it inappropriate to say "could care less".

OT: It's sad that Google Notebook is being trimmed. I don't really care about the other services, though it's too bad Google Video won't accept more uploads, while it's nice to hear that Jaiku will go on as an open source project.
Google Notebook, though, I've actually used. I hope a new avenue opens up soon. Or at least that Google will be compelled to make a more serious effort to improve Google Docs.

Motti [PersonRank 10]

15 years ago #

It's a sad day to see Notebook go. I've been waiting for the write-enabled to be released but I guess that day will never come.

I've reviewed by Notebook and realised I've now accumalted over 100 notebooks, comprising literally thousands of links.

The blog announcing the demise of Notebooks has over 200 negative comments at present and counting. I suspect this is one product they may have been mistaken is stopping as there is no real Google alternative.

Motti [PersonRank 10]

15 years ago #

typos – gah!

s/the write-enabled to be released/the write-enabled API to be released/

s/accumulated/accumalted/

Bob [PersonRank 0]

15 years ago #

I can't believe this, I use Google Notebook ALOT. Now if I get a new computer I can't get the add-on anymore? I really hope they bring it back, it's too useful

Mrrix32 [PersonRank 10]

15 years ago #

Is there anybody here who DOSN'T use Notebook? :P

[put at-character here]Jason M
I still use the old site http://www.google.com/bookmarks

[put at-character here]Bob
Download the extension to your harddrive or better External/Online Storage so you can access it in future (That's what I've done)

Right click ans save as: http://dl.google.com/firefox/google-notebook.xpi

Philipp Lenssen [PersonRank 10]

15 years ago #

> Is there anybody here who DOSN'T use Notebook? :P

I don't...

Philipp Lenssen [PersonRank 10]

15 years ago #

Via Waxy, the Dodgeball co-founder Dennis Crowley (and since a while ex-employee) reacts to Google's closing of the service:

<<Is anyone really surprised? Google clearly didn't care about dodgball while we were there and there hasn't been a full-time engineer working on dodgeball since we left (back in May 2007!). (...)

So what's next? Well I don't know how many days dball has left (30 days? 90 days?), but I've always said that it Google ever kills dodgeball, I'll build you guys a new one, so stayed tuned.>>

http://flickr.com/photos/dpstyles/3198562045/

J. McNair [PersonRank 10]

15 years ago #

Notebook should just be honestly killed with a data export option. It's tremendously useful, but when the plugin/extension stops working with the newer browsers in 2009 and 2010, it's dead. Notebook's delayed death is an insult. Also, no Google service offers EASY ways to grab and save pieces of web pages in their original state. None.

Maybe Google can port the whole thing to Google Docs and build the extension into Chrome. I wouldn't terribly mind a "Google Docs Notebook" folder in Docs where these all go until I'm ready for them, even if I have to cut and paste URLs. But, would it be worth the time and money for them?

Google's social efforts seem unfocused and random, as if they are still looking for a problem to solve. They buy and invent many interesting tools. Then, by some byzantine internal logic, Google vastly improves some (Youtube, Blogger) or does lots of nothing with others (Jaiku, Dodgeball, Grandcentral?). I bet this porting effort is the most work Jaiku has had since the acquisition. Sadly, Dodgeball could have beaten Loopt to the iPhone had Google put a little more love into it.

For historical reasons, it'd be great if the old catalogs were preserved in Google Books. And I hope their offline data efforts continue forever.

Hosted Google Video could just become a channel on Youtube. I wonder if there are legal obligations preventing that?

Finally, it's nice that Google isn't laying off thousands of people like everyone else is or is threatening to do. I've never liked blunt, temporary cost-cutting measures.

Philipp Lenssen [PersonRank 10]

15 years ago #

"Dodgeball, Overhyped and Underused, Deserved to Die", says Owen Thomas:
http://gawker.com/5132294/dodgeball-overhyped-and-underused-deserved-to-die

Andy Wong [PersonRank 10]

15 years ago #

Has Google lost her mind?

I had thought that Google will indentify contents saved in the Notebook are important for page ranking of the source, and this is good for collective intelligence.

While Notebook did help users to preserve Web pages that might be gone overtime and Google provided such excellent service for free, I thought that Google could find better collective intelligence in return.

I don't think Docs, Tasks, SearchWiki could replace Notebook, when I need multiple notebooks and multiple sections with such excellent UI.

Please, Google, don't give up Notebook.

Andy Wong [PersonRank 10]

15 years ago #

While both Notebook and Docs support writing and CAP (Copy and Paste), Docs is mostly for managing documents you wrote, and Notebook is mostly for managing documents by others. This requires different UI designs and data structure.

Using Docs for Notebook is just a work around, and using Notebook for Docs is a work around. You may use MS Powerpoint to write articles, or use MS Word to do presentation occassionally, however, they can't replace/kill each other.

Luke [PersonRank 0]

15 years ago #

So in this killing spree Google Base survived. Google seems to have greater ideas with Base.. any ideas?

scjm [PersonRank 10]

15 years ago #

Funny, I was just thinking today that I'm sure Google could compete with Twitter by doing something about Dodgeball.

Ben Allen [PersonRank 10]

15 years ago #

I'm another fool upset about Notebook. I use it as my primary bookmarking system for computer to computer use. It's unfortunate that it's never going to excel beyond it's current state.

justinf [PersonRank 10]

15 years ago #

my post was a typo.. i should have said "couldn't care less..."

James Xuan [PersonRank 10]

15 years ago #

Oh, it's just, I know lots of people who do say "could care less" and it annoys me :D

deepikaur [PersonRank 1]

15 years ago #

The whole no-more-support-for-the-Notebook-extension is a pretty harsh hit for me. I use that quite a bit to take snippets across the web and have accumulated quite a few links and notes in several notebooks. Admitted, Evernote probably does a better job, but I liked the entire simplicity of the gNotebook and how it (sort of) integrated with my gBookmarks. And personally, I'm not a fan of Docs (I use Zoho instead).

Brewed Java [PersonRank 0]

15 years ago #

I use the Notebook almost everyday! I'm so upset about this. Specially since Google Bookmarks are all now on Notebook!

Ionut Alex. Chitu [PersonRank 10]

15 years ago #

It's ironic that one of the major new features from the latest version of Google Toolbar for IE and Firefox is the integration with Notebook.

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