[mibbitirc]

The other worry of course is that google suddenly decide to shut it down like they did with quite a few APIs such as the translation API (After some back and forth they actually kept translation API but charge quite a lot for it).

[latj]

Google didnt shut down translation API. They just started charging for it and people who were used to getting it for free considered it dead.

Personally, I would prefer that Google charge for its services. Its certainly better than advertising or trying to monetize users' data.

[losvedir]

Hmm... if I recall correctly, originally they were going to shut it down completely. (I certainly see some old articles about that, from a brief search.)

I think there was enough pushback from people willing to pay that they decided to keep it open as a paid service instead.

[saurik]

Correct.

> UPDATE June 3: In the days since we announced the deprecation of the Translate API, we’ve seen the passion and interest expressed by so many of you, through comments here (believe me, we read every one of them) and elsewhere. I’m happy to share that we’re working hard to address your concerns, and will be releasing an updated plan to offer a paid version of the Translate API. Please stay tuned; we’ll post a full update as soon as possible.

http://googlecode.blogspot.com/2011/05/spring-cleaning-for-s...

[pearjuice]

There is no reason to believe they don't monetize the data coming in from paid services. In fact, that data is even more valuable than random freebie users.

[sukilot]

The contract/EULA is a reason.

[pearjuice]

Is it in there, then? That they won't use their data? Even if it is, it is proprietary, freedom-restricting software so you wouldn't have a clue whether they are coming up with their part of the aggreement.