Google Accelerating Closure of Google+ Due to API Bug, Will Now End in April 2019

[chainmailr]

Honest question... If they shut it down today, would it really impact anything? Not aware of anything that actually uses this service.

They've shut down other services much more quickly than they're shutting down G+, and a few were actually things people liked. It's odd.

I'll bet the only reason it exists is some Google services depend on it. Originally, G+ integration was forced upon teams rapidly, according to an ex-Googler. Stuff can be hard to separate after hacks have been made, especially if it involves user login.
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Wrong - none wanted Apple to create that crap it was Apple who thought that idea was a good one

Some people did, just as some people wanted G+ to exist. Here are their very positive comments on Ping: https://www.macrumors.com/2010/09/01/apple-releases-itunes-10-with-ping-social-networking-for-music/

I don't even know what Ping was, but maybe the idea wasn't so bad, only the execution. Spotify added social network features, after all. G+ was just a bad idea. "Let's make Facebook but add more features they've thought of and decided not to include for good reasons."

 

[Mike MA]

Yeah, competition is awful for the end user

I prefer competition who’s business model is not to seek my private data only. Easy as that.

 

[timber]

Name one thing that Google is doing with excellence. (Considering Gmail is ancient history.)

If that ancient history benchmark is applied the only good thing Apple does is probably the wireless phones or perhaps the Watch. All the rest is "ancient history".

Still my daily routine without ancient history like Google Photos, Google Maps, Gmail and yes, Google itself would be a lot worse.

 

[Shiro_Simba]

I prefer competition who’s business model is not to seek my private data only. Easy as that.

I would not recommend connecting to the internet in that case. I never see the logic in that arguement, given how much of our personal data we give away, and that is not even with Google in the equation

 

[RogerWilco]

The quasi-government agency commonly called “Google”, continues its sequence of mutations as the data mining and pattern recognition algos are tweaked and perfected.

 

[corebeliefs]

If that ancient history benchmark is applied the only good thing Apple does is probably the wireless phones or perhaps the Watch. All the rest is "ancient history".

Still my daily routine without ancient history like Google Photos, Google Maps, Gmail and yes, Google itself would be a lot worse.

So we've gone from Google being the smartest, most powerful company on the planet to "they could be a lot worse." Point made, lol.

Google loses more than it wins anymore, and with privacy being tightened, and search dollars going to competitors like Amazon, Google can't stay Google on hobbies that don't pan out. Those services you're patting them on the back for could change or go away themselves once Google gets tired of footing the bill, that's the issue with its track record. No one is going to argue those aren't great services, they're past wins that aren't the future for them. (If I turn off my location services, and Google is forced by the government to stop tracking me, does it see any revenue from me using Google maps? The free ride could change fast.)

 

[Mike MA]

I would not recommend connecting to the internet in that case. I never see the logic in that arguement, given how much of our personal data we give away, and that is not even with Google in the equation

I just avoid using services by Google, Facebook and some others. The more people will follow this path, some reaction will occur. They can't close down all their services, so some thinking progress might start. But I get your idea is way more effective. Thumbs up!

 

[timber]

So we've gone from Google being the smartest, most powerful company on the planet to "they could be a lot worse." Point made, lol.

Google loses more than it wins anymore, and with privacy being tightened, and search dollars going to competitors like Amazon, Google can't stay Google on hobbies that don't pan out. Those services you're patting them on the back for could change or go away themselves once Google gets tired of footing the bill, that's the issue with its track record. No one is going to argue those aren't great services, they're past wins that aren't the future for them. (If I turn off my location services, and Google is forced by the government to stop tracking me, does it see any revenue from me using Google maps? The free ride could change fast.)

No, we haven't gone anywhere. I never said that Google is the smartest, most powerful company and whatever company.

What I said is that Google provides a valuable contribution to my daily routines. Just like Apple. And Amazon. And others.

In those services Google is second to none and in several of them the second is so far behind it is not even worth looking back. Yesterday, today and in the foreseeable future. Google shuts down experimental stuff and stuff that does not take off regularly. Even so I have used stuff from all kinds of providers, I don't mind change.

 

[corebeliefs]

No, we haven't gone anywhere. I never said that Google is the smartest, most powerful company and whatever company.

What I said is that Google provides a valuable contribution to my daily routines. Just like Apple. And Amazon. And others.

In those services Google is second to none and in several of them the second is so far behind it is not even worth looking back. Yesterday, today and in the foreseeable future. Google shuts down experimental stuff and stuff that does not take off regularly. Even so I have used stuff from all kinds of providers, I don't mind change.

To call a massive social media network like G+ an experiment shows how important your take on this topic is. Have a good one.

 

[Madmic23]

Name one thing that Google is doing with excellence. (Considering Gmail is ancient history.)

Google Photos is really, really good. I'm using both iCloud Photos and Google Photos, and Google is just better at finding the picture that I'm looking for.

 

[timber]

To call a massive social media network like G+ an experiment shows how important your take on this topic is. Have a good one.

Once again I never said that. What I said is that Google shuts down stuff that is experimental and stuff that is unsuccessful. Google + was unsuccessful. Not ping unsuccessful but a large failure nevertheless.

Perhaps I should have been clearer (using or instead of and, but it seemed understandable) but English is not my mother language. Please excuse me.

 

[corebeliefs]

Once again I never said that. What I said is that Google shuts down stuff that is experimental and stuff that is unsuccessful. Google + was unsuccessful. Not ping unsuccessful but a large failure nevertheless.

Perhaps I should have been clearer (using or instead of and, but it seemed understandable) but English is not my mother language. Please excuse me.

I understand there's a way to see Google as a glass-half-full situation. I have been affected by Google's hobby mentality and have divested myself of its products and services to a large degree. The services you mention are staples for most people, myself included. And I think your English is excellent.

 

[az431]

What's Google+ ?

Oh they have social media, it is called iMessage and they have everything you send in data centers.

You're correct, and here is what it looks like:

NR67FTqwRn2yL/s9FpiqM.SrYZAABKGMeej6bzaNZzunjN7yQ9Ta

 

[timber]

I understand there's a way to see Google as a glass-half-full situation. I have been affected by Google's hobby mentality and have divested myself of its products and services to a large degree. The services you mention are staples for most people, myself included. And I think your English is excellent.

If I had some stake on some of Google's failed experiments (and there are lot of those) I would also be quite annoyed. I can certainly understand and relate to that.
They are a multi billions dollar corporation they should stop pretending to be some kind of engineering college boyscout club. A bit like when Apple pretends to be a sort of counter culture start-up when they are also a gigantic corporation. Google is worse than Apple because "do no evil" is really quite pompous and all encompassing.

 

[WatchFromAfar]

I mean, yeah, but end-to-end encrypted messages are pretty useless

No, those messages are forever tied to you; who says they can't be decryted in the future?

 

[Shiro_Simba]

I just avoid using services by Google, Facebook and some others. The more people will follow this path, some reaction will occur. They can't close down all their services, so some thinking progress might start. But I get your idea is way more effective. Thumbs up!

It’s how I feel about social media , Facebook, Twitter, YouTube . All as bad as each other. I get you .

 

[Sill]

52.5 million users were impacted by a software update in November that contained a bug affecting Google+ API.

"We have confirmed that the bug impacted approximately 52.5 million users in connection with a Google+ API."

This article makes it sound like a Google bug caused constipation in a large portion of the population.

Of course, maybe situations like this are the real reason Google Fiber was created...

 

[fairuz]

No, those messages are forever tied to you; who says they can't be decryted in the future?

Apple can probably decrypt them with a spare key now if they want to.

 

[Solomani]

And yet Google is still somehow the golden boy of the tech industry who can do no wrong—never mind their complete disregard for consumer privacy and security, the many services they shutter all the time, the many problems they've had with companies they have acquired such as Nest and Motorola, and their role in helping to spread misinformation—somewhat in searches, but mainly in advertisements.

This is a start:

Google's Sundar Pichai was grilled on privacy, data collection, and China during congressional hearing
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What's Google+ ?

It's Gmail's red-headed stepcousin.

 

[calstanford]

Should close right effing now if Google is incapable of guaranteeing the safety of my data. WTF

 

[jonblatho]

No, those messages are forever tied to you; who says they can't be decryted in the future?

Nice way to demonstrate that you have no clue what you’re talking about.

iMessages aren’t stored on Apple’s servers eternally; they’re deleted after delivery to all iMessage-enabled devices or after a 30-day waiting period. Even while messages are on the server, they’re encrypted using a per-device encryption key pair. I suppose it’s technically not impossible that someone could brute force the key pair, but it’s not feasible.