With Halloween on the horizon, Google has already added some extra flair to its campus in Fremont, Seattle. In memory of the “deceased” Google applications, a number of tombstones have been placed – including apps that have been around for years.
Google Graveyard
Many companies have “only” one project and one mission. At Google, the main focus is on its Android operating system, its Google apps (including YouTube) and finally it adds the search engine to the list. However, there are so many more applications that are only used by a handful of people. Will it not be a success? Then Google also has no difficulty in stopping its development. In the long run, a Google Graveyard has even been set up to give all ‘deceased’ Google apps their own place: although they are now also on a Google campus.
The search giant has made an interesting choice for the headstones. In total there are six “deceased” apps, including Picasa – the photo application, which never turned out to be very successful. There is also room for Google Reader, an RSS feed – similar to Feedly. Google Reader is an application from Chris Wetherell, who had already set up a similar RSS feed in 2001, then outside of Google. On July 1, 2013, the service period of Reader came to an end, according to Google, the app was put out of play by the falling user numbers.
Google has put a number of old applications on the cemetery. It is striking that almost all of them are older projects that were closed down years ago. The search giant, however, has put its Google + application as a tombstone: the service died on 2 April 2019. Google can hardly put down the entire collection of deceased applications, as they will be busy for a while. Of course, each app has a different meaning for everyone: some people are big fans of the Inbox app, while others were “in love” with Google Project Ara, which already died in 2016.
You can still commemorate all deceased Google apps via the open-source Google Graveyard website. Is there a specific app that you really miss? According to The Google Cementry, 163 apps have died since 2003 – you can also look for your old “love” there. Feel free to let us know in the comments which apps you are missing and which apps you would use as a replacement these days.
