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But Google has retired quite a few APIs before. Search API, CalDAV, Google Base Data API, Social Graph API, Translate API, and the list goes on. Google Docs lo

by jfoster 14y ago

But Google has retired quite a few APIs before. Search API, CalDAV, Google Base Data API, Social Graph API, Translate API, and the list goes on. Google Docs looks like it has a healthy future, but they very easily could decide they don't want the API out there. Particularly with Google's newfound lack of fear of pissing people off.

yanw 14y ago
Nothing lasts forever and I obviously can't guarantee you anything on Google's behalf, but the difference here being APIs and products launched before Larry Page became CEO and those launching after.
- RyanZAG 14y ago
  That's not really a great difference though. Couple years time and Larry will be doing other things or working on some newer, more interesting problems. I don't see this API surviving more than a couple years considering the speed that Google Docs/Drive continues to change.
  - yanw 14y ago
    Any change to this API in a couple of years will be the introduction of v2. Drive is now a pillar of Google's services, not just Apps but Google Now and search rely on data stored in it, and with many competing storage services around any differentiating feature is worth having.
  - Shooti 14y ago
    The difference is Drive is a flagship "L-team" product, so it's pretty much on equal standing to Google+ in terms of priority. When Larry Page took the helm he created 7 core focus areas + accompanying SVP's (A nice summary: http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2013/01/03/google-larry-page/ http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2013/01/03/google-larry-page/). Last weeks reshuffle which had the Maps and Commerce units absorbed into the Knowledge and Ads units respectively and Pichai taking over Android brings it down to 5 focus areas: SVP of Knowledge/Search — Alan Eustace, SVP of Identity/Social — Vic Gundotra, SVP of Advertising and Commerce — Susan Wojcicki, SVP of YouTube/Video — Salar Kamangar, SVP of Android, Chrome and Google Apps — Sundar Pichai The key distinction between Drive and Reader is that Drive is pretty much the embodiment of Google Apps itself, whereas Reader was an orphaned product which didn't have a home in any of these 5 post-Page areas.
Shooti 14y ago
FWIW CalDAV wasn't "retired" they're just going to start screening its use: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/19gOLSlkTzHi-zub3BkMv7Ot0JMLPj4YSxJUBseGAMSg/viewform https://docs.google.com/forms/d/19gOLSlkTzHi-zub3BkMv7Ot0JML...
- magicalist 14y ago
  And the translate API is still available[1] and the Google Base Data API (sic) looks like it's just subsumed into other APIs[2]. [1] https://developers.google.com/translate/ https://developers.google.com/translate/ [2] http://googlemerchantblog.blogspot.com/2010/12/new-shopping-apis-and-deprecation-of.html http://googlemerchantblog.blogspot.com/2010/12/new-shopping-...
ithkuil 14y ago
Well, there is a fundamental difference between some of these retired API in the past and this one: in the first case the developer is the user adopting the API, and enhancing his own service with it, without the end user noticing it. With this new API the end users of the product will be people with google accounts which will be able to seamlessly interact with 3rd party products. This greatly benefits the company as a platform, which seems to be the recent focus (which led to unpopular unfortunate choices as dropping "leaf" products). It's ok to criticize that choice etc, but that's another topic. I guess that if you want to build an application which leverages on the google's ecosystem, it's a reasonably safe bet it won't be dropped soon, as google has a immediate return from it (unlike translate API for instance).

by jfoster 14y ago

yanw 14y ago

Nothing lasts forever and I obviously can't guarantee you anything on Google's behalf, but the difference here being APIs and products launched before Larry Page became CEO and those launching after.

RyanZAG 14y ago
That's not really a great difference though. Couple years time and Larry will be doing other things or working on some newer, more interesting problems. I don't see this API surviving more than a couple years considering the speed that Google Docs/Drive continues to change.
- yanw 14y ago
  Any change to this API in a couple of years will be the introduction of v2. Drive is now a pillar of Google's services, not just Apps but Google Now and search rely on data stored in it, and with many competing storage services around any differentiating feature is worth having.
- Shooti 14y ago
  The difference is Drive is a flagship "L-team" product, so it's pretty much on equal standing to Google+ in terms of priority. When Larry Page took the helm he created 7 core focus areas + accompanying SVP's (A nice summary: http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2013/01/03/google-larry-page/ http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2013/01/03/google-larry-page/). Last weeks reshuffle which had the Maps and Commerce units absorbed into the Knowledge and Ads units respectively and Pichai taking over Android brings it down to 5 focus areas: SVP of Knowledge/Search — Alan Eustace, SVP of Identity/Social — Vic Gundotra, SVP of Advertising and Commerce — Susan Wojcicki, SVP of YouTube/Video — Salar Kamangar, SVP of Android, Chrome and Google Apps — Sundar Pichai The key distinction between Drive and Reader is that Drive is pretty much the embodiment of Google Apps itself, whereas Reader was an orphaned product which didn't have a home in any of these 5 post-Page areas.

Shooti 14y ago

FWIW CalDAV wasn't "retired" they're just going to start screening its use: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/19gOLSlkTzHi-zub3BkMv7Ot0JMLPj4YSxJUBseGAMSg/viewform https://docs.google.com/forms/d/19gOLSlkTzHi-zub3BkMv7Ot0JML...

magicalist 14y ago
And the translate API is still available[1] and the Google Base Data API (sic) looks like it's just subsumed into other APIs[2]. [1] https://developers.google.com/translate/ https://developers.google.com/translate/ [2] http://googlemerchantblog.blogspot.com/2010/12/new-shopping-apis-and-deprecation-of.html http://googlemerchantblog.blogspot.com/2010/12/new-shopping-...

ithkuil 14y ago

Well, there is a fundamental difference between some of these retired API in the past and this one: in the first case the developer is the user adopting the API, and enhancing his own service with it, without the end user noticing it. With this new API the end users of the product will be people with google accounts which will be able to seamlessly interact with 3rd party products. This greatly benefits the company as a platform, which seems to be the recent focus (which led to unpopular unfortunate choices as dropping "leaf" products). It's ok to criticize that choice etc, but that's another topic. I guess that if you want to build an application which leverages on the google's ecosystem, it's a reasonably safe bet it won't be dropped soon, as google has a immediate return from it (unlike translate API for instance).