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This makes me question: how important does Google see developers as being as part of their ecosystem? I mean, I understand all the rational logic of what they

by zmmmmm 12y ago

This makes me question: how important does Google see developers as being as part of their ecosystem? I mean, I understand all the rational logic of what they are saying. Sure, there are other services etc etc, the world will keep turning. But doesn't Google see any kind of benefit from having developers using their service? In terms of mind share, having developers think positively about Google, having them regularly come to and work with a Google service? Even in purely commercial terms, it would be something that Google could leverage to expose developers to their cloud services and other platforms. Traditionally, staying close to developers in any way they can is something platform companies strive to do. But it seems like Google doesn't see any value in any of that. So my basic question is, does Google still care about developers? Or have they simply moved on as a company?

Andrex 12y ago
Google wants developers contributing to their projects, so they go where the developers go. The developers have moved onto GitHub and have effectively abandoned Google Code, therefore so has Google. Stubbornly maintaining their own service no one wants just breeds confusion and and a division of resources. As the article says: > To meet developers where they are, we ourselves migrated nearly a thousand of our own open source projects from Google Code to GitHub. Nearly a thousand open-source Google projects have been migrated to GitHub already.
- zmmmmm 12y ago
  That all sounds weak to me. Google largely abandoned Google Code before all the developers fled to Github. One of the reasons people went to GitHub because it was clear that Google was no longer investing in Google Code. You're painting a picture where Google is just a passive entity that has no control over what developers do, it just meekly follows them around. That is hardly giving an impression that developers are a high priority to Google. If they were a high priority, Google would want them all using a Google service, and be willing to invest in that to keep them there, not cede them to third party.

by zmmmmm 12y ago

Andrex 12y ago

Google wants developers contributing to their projects, so they go where the developers go. The developers have moved onto GitHub and have effectively abandoned Google Code, therefore so has Google. Stubbornly maintaining their own service no one wants just breeds confusion and and a division of resources. As the article says: > To meet developers where they are, we ourselves migrated nearly a thousand of our own open source projects from Google Code to GitHub. Nearly a thousand open-source Google projects have been migrated to GitHub already.

zmmmmm 12y ago
That all sounds weak to me. Google largely abandoned Google Code before all the developers fled to Github. One of the reasons people went to GitHub because it was clear that Google was no longer investing in Google Code. You're painting a picture where Google is just a passive entity that has no control over what developers do, it just meekly follows them around. That is hardly giving an impression that developers are a high priority to Google. If they were a high priority, Google would want them all using a Google service, and be willing to invest in that to keep them there, not cede them to third party.