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This website keeps track of every product and service that Google has ever killed

Published Mar 26th, 2019 4:14PM EDT
Killed by Google
Image: Valeriya Zankovych

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We’re still a few months away from the halfway mark of 2019, and already Google has sent some pretty high-profile products to an early grave — products that the company had high initial hopes for, like its Inbox email service and its failed Facebook killer Google+. But this, as we all know, is really par for the course when it comes to the search giant, which has tried so many experiments over the years with products, apps and services that didn’t quite work out as planned that it’s ended up building quite a crowded graveyard of failed ambitions.

Maybe there’s even a few of those that you loved and are still frustrated with Google for killing them.

To keep track of it all, one developer created an open source list called “Killed by Google” that serves as a kind of running tally of all these efforts — everything from Google Zeitgeist to Buzz — that the company killed early.

The list is simply a rundown of all those former Google properties, listed with a tombstone icon next to them and the years they existed. “Killed by Google is a Free and Open Source list of dead Google products, services, and devices,” reads some boilerplate language at the bottom of the site, which continues: “It serves to be a tribute and memorial of beloved products and services killed by Google.”

The Twitter account associated with the list, @killedbygoogle, notes that it’s the product of Minneapolis-area developer Cody Ogden. In a blog post explaining the list’s creation, he writes that the early buzzy around the project both surprised him and served as a reminder of “how much we can bond with the technology that we introduce into our lives. We grow accustomed to the apps, services, and devices we use as a part of our routine. 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.”

As proof, he then goes on to highlight some of the comments from a Reddit post about the “Killed by Google” list which shows how much passionate support many of the products had and still enjoy:

Andy Meek Trending News Editor

Andy Meek is a reporter based in Memphis who has covered media, entertainment, and culture for over 20 years. His work has appeared in outlets including The Guardian, Forbes, and The Financial Times, and he’s written for BGR since 2015. Andy's coverage includes technology and entertainment, and he has a particular interest in all things streaming.

Over the years, he’s interviewed legendary figures in entertainment and tech that range from Stan Lee to John McAfee, Peter Thiel, and Reed Hastings.