You might have missed the news because Google did not make any official announcement on it’s main blog. On January 15th 2009, in a series of separate posts on various official Google blogs the company announced that it was terminating, stopping development on, or restricting access to six products. These products include:

Google Video will no longer allow user uploads. See the Google Video Blog.

Google Catalog Search will be mothballed. See the Inside Google Book Search blog.

Google Notebook will no longer be developed. See the Google Notebook blog.

Dodgeball, Google’s Mashup Editor, and Jaiku will be closed. Jaiku and The Mashup Editor will be ported to the Google App Engine. The Google Code Blog Gthe fates of Dodgeball, Jaiku, and the Mashup Editor.

While it is not surprising, in these tough times, that Google would close less successful products, its  a good lesson on on reliance of Google products with a  cloud-based interface . Imagine, for example, you had a business centered on Google Lively.When the announced shut down came, what could you do?

We are not here to point fingers at Google. They have every right to end or discontinue unpopular products. What one needs to ensure is to always has control or a back up for the main elements of your business when you rely on third party web-based products. If you give directions to your business by a link to Google Maps, what happens if that service goes down? Would it not be easier to have an image on your site pointing out where you are located, with a link to Google Maps for info? Or look at  another project Google Friend Connect. While at first this service is interesting, in the scenario of shut down, it becomes a major concern. You would have no access to user comments or content. Even worse, should Google close that program you will lose access to who are/were your members.

In short, always have a clear understanding of the third party products your website relies upon. Some tips: If possible, use third party products you can host yourself, that you can access source code/export data and is regularly updated/supported. We know for the smaller business third party services are cheaper (and easier), but this will not help your cause if they are shut down. We have seen on more than one occasion the panic that can ensue by not paying attention to reliance on those beyond your company.