My first thought was "this is going to be a spin on dumping another cool product."
It's better than that, however. There are a lot of these cool apps from Google that are/were obviously 20% projects but which really showcase Android. "Listen" was one of my favorites for a long time. I wish they would open source that. This is a great solution to deal with something that is a nice showcase product but which is not a core competency / business driver and probably should be sidelined in some regard.
Google: please open source the other stagnant, cool apps you have in your product stable. Think of it as releasing the horses back into the wild.
Free range your unhealthy apps, big G. Let the apps run away like wild horses over the hills. /bukowski
Like many of you I'm sure, Skymap was the first app I downloaded when I got my first android (thanks to one of my friends previously showing off his new android using it!) and it really opened my mind to what the future would hold for smart-phones and sort-of-augmented-reality software in general.
Many an hour has been spent sat outside, usually round a camp fire, with friends locating planets and other points of interest, walking round pointing my phone at the sky looking like a loon to the uninitiated!
I find it very VERY encouraging that this product wasn't just left alone to die a graceful death of old age, but that it will be dissected in front of all, enabling the knowledge and skill imbued in its programming to live on in educating the next generation of programmers. .. I hope it inspires them as much as it inspired me!
I'd say 'abandoning' applies more to what they did with Google Health. Here at least they're opening the source and organizing student projects to nurture its continued development. How better would you like them to move on from a project?
It's better than that, however. There are a lot of these cool apps from Google that are/were obviously 20% projects but which really showcase Android. "Listen" was one of my favorites for a long time. I wish they would open source that. This is a great solution to deal with something that is a nice showcase product but which is not a core competency / business driver and probably should be sidelined in some regard.
Google: please open source the other stagnant, cool apps you have in your product stable. Think of it as releasing the horses back into the wild.
Free range your unhealthy apps, big G. Let the apps run away like wild horses over the hills. /bukowski