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This pisses me off. It's irresponsible to the current customers. I hope other startups don't follow. Its OK to sell, but they should have pushed Google to main

This pisses me off. It's irresponsible to the current customers. I hope other startups don't follow. Its OK to sell, but they should have pushed Google to maintain an support Sparrow for at least 2 more years.

gurkendoktor 14y ago
Alternatively, open-source Sparrow. I don't think it's the source code that Google bought them for.
- bsg75 14y ago
  Would be wonderful if it happened, but Google seems to be a place where good acquisitions go to die.
  - nickpresta 14y ago
    Really? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_acquisitions_by_Google http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_acquisitions_by_Google http://techcrunch.com/2012/05/23/googles-david-lawee-one-third-of-googles-acquisitions-are-failures-and-slide-is-definitely-one-of-them/ http://techcrunch.com/2012/05/23/googles-david-lawee-one-thi... So really, Google seems to be the place where 1/3 of acquisitions (in which not 100% are "good", per se) go to die.
    - bsg75 14y ago
      These are not the success stories of Sparrow, but 3 that I recall that when purchased went dark in some form, to (possibly) re-emerge less than their former selves. http://etherpad.com/ http://etherpad.com/ http://arstechnica.com/business/2008/01/jaiku-users-flee-to-twitter-as-a-result-of-googles-neglect/ http://arstechnica.com/business/2008/01/jaiku-users-flee-to-... http://techcrunch.com/2008/02/27/it-took-16-months-but-google-relaunches-jotspot/ http://techcrunch.com/2008/02/27/it-took-16-months-but-googl... Its not to say that this acquisition is not a great thing for the Sparrow team, or that Gmail may someday improve (UI wise), but it is an unfortunate trend for users when a great small / niche product is absorbed and obliterated.
      - bsg75 14y ago
        Another viewpoint: http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2012/07/you-shall-know-google-by-its-trail-of-dead-a-sparrow-users-lament/ http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2012/07/you-sh...

gurkendoktor 14y ago

Alternatively, open-source Sparrow. I don't think it's the source code that Google bought them for.

bsg75 14y ago
Would be wonderful if it happened, but Google seems to be a place where good acquisitions go to die.
- nickpresta 14y ago
  Really? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_acquisitions_by_Google http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_acquisitions_by_Google http://techcrunch.com/2012/05/23/googles-david-lawee-one-third-of-googles-acquisitions-are-failures-and-slide-is-definitely-one-of-them/ http://techcrunch.com/2012/05/23/googles-david-lawee-one-thi... So really, Google seems to be the place where 1/3 of acquisitions (in which not 100% are "good", per se) go to die.
  - bsg75 14y ago
    These are not the success stories of Sparrow, but 3 that I recall that when purchased went dark in some form, to (possibly) re-emerge less than their former selves. http://etherpad.com/ http://etherpad.com/ http://arstechnica.com/business/2008/01/jaiku-users-flee-to-twitter-as-a-result-of-googles-neglect/ http://arstechnica.com/business/2008/01/jaiku-users-flee-to-... http://techcrunch.com/2008/02/27/it-took-16-months-but-google-relaunches-jotspot/ http://techcrunch.com/2008/02/27/it-took-16-months-but-googl... Its not to say that this acquisition is not a great thing for the Sparrow team, or that Gmail may someday improve (UI wise), but it is an unfortunate trend for users when a great small / niche product is absorbed and obliterated.
    - bsg75 14y ago
      Another viewpoint: http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2012/07/you-shall-know-google-by-its-trail-of-dead-a-sparrow-users-lament/ http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2012/07/you-sh...