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Out of all the products Google killed this year, Stadia stings the most
Stadia will shut its doors for good on January 18th as the latest to join the Google graveyard
I'll be honest; I never held out much hope Stadia would make it. I was one of the people from the very start extremely skeptical Google could actually commit to something as challenging as gaming. Perhaps my view was skewed by Google's poor handling of the Play Store's discovery problems over the last decade, or the company's complete disregard for our purchased property when it silently removed many of our purchases during the great GDPR removal wave in 2018. To me, it was clear Google didn't have the manpower or experience to take on the likes of Sony and Microsoft, and while it had developed worthwhile streaming technology, seeing that Stadia was/is one of the best-looking game streaming services out there, loose claims during Stadia's launch about 4K and even 8K games seemingly followed the service around until it's announced demise three years later.
Google has a reputation for not being shy about killing its darlings. Many people are still disgruntled about a plethora of wonderful services the company discontinued over the years, be it the future of emailing in the form of Inbox, the social network Google+, or the excellent RSS feed aggregator Google Reader.
Google just killed a product that's been around for over 20 years
Google Toolbar for Internet Explorer is no more
One of the longest living Google products has just been sent to the company's infamous graveyard. You may not actively remember it, but the Google Toolbar for Internet Explorer is no longer available for download. 21 years ago, it was conceived as a little add-on for the then most popular browser on the web that enhanced the experience with many neat and thoughtful features that have since long made their way into browsers themselves.
Shed a tear, folks: there's another tombstone in the Google Graveyard. Today's dearly departed is Google Poly. What's that? You've never heard of Google Poly? Join the club. Despite covering Google products for over a decade, this one passed through the Android Police radar with nary a blip.
Killing off beloved products can be difficult to do, but Google has gotten pretty good at it over the years. The company even put up a cemetery filled with its own products for Halloween last year. Now it looks like another tombstone needs to be installed, because Google has announced that it's sending Expeditions, its educational VR tour app, on one last outing — and it isn't coming back.
Google kills another app — say goodbye to Trusted Contacts
Google can always be trusted to add to its graveyard
Google introduced the Trusted Contacts app back in 2016 as a way to share location info with people who are close to you. The app gained a few more features over the years, but now it looks like Google has decided to cut off access to Trusted Contacts. If the app is already installed on your device, you'll be able to keep using it — but not for long.
Google is shutting down its Neighbourly app on May 12
The India-only project hasn't grown as the company had hoped
Google's approach to software can be described as "Just throw it at customers and see what sticks." That shows — many beloved but ultimately unsuccessful projects have been killed over the years, and mentioning Inbox, Google+, and Google Reader only scratches the surface. The latest platform to join the Google graveyard is Neighbourly, Google's India-only Q&A app for questions about places and events in your community.