In brief: Do you remember Google Reader? What about Project Ara, or Google Nexus? These are just three of the 150 services, apps, and pieces of hardware to come from Google over the last 20 years that were eventually killed off. Now, all those shuttered (and soon-to-be-killed) products have been documented in one place.
The aptly-named Killed By Google is the work of developer Cody Ogden. It lists the name of the service/app/hardware, the date of launch, when it was or will be killed off, and a brief description.
"We grow accustomed to the apps, services, and devices we use as a part of our routine,' said Ogden. 'We come to know their characteristics, their quirks, and like a relationship, it deeply affects us, even for years after they are no longer with us."
Some may recall when Google killed off the Nexus phone branding in 2016, or when its Project Tango mobile AR initiative was closed down to make way for ARCore two years ago. The website also includes more recent closures, including that of Google Allo, while Google+'s shuttering, scheduled for next month, is also listed.
Ogden shared some of the comments from the Reddit post discussing his site, illustrating the connection we often have with technology. Speaking about the 13-year-old Picasa image organizer and viewer that was killed off three years ago, one person wrote: "Oh I miss Picasa, never found something I liked as much." There are also plenty of people still upset at the demise of the Google Reader RSS/Atom feed aggregator, which came to an end five years ago.
Ogden said it was the killing off of a Google service---Inbox by Gmail---that prompted him to start the site. "Like a graveyard, Killed by Google is a place to show respect for what used to exist, and to provide an opportunity for introspection about what one's digital future holds," he said.