[nelaboras]

The sentiments here seem to be generally "Why launch anything at all" or "Stop killing things". I think there's a middle ground that google doesn't seem to see: if there are passionate people involved, why not let these things grow on their own? Spin them out, give the lead developers a paid year off in return for a 10% equity stake or similar. Or if no one wants it, why not sell/gift it? Why throw all this potential away?

[ashtonkem]

The core problem is that Google has absolutely destroyed their good will. Most people seem to assume that new Google services will either be awful, or be awesome and then immediately cancelled.

Google needs to focus on rebuilding trust. Nothing else matters.