> Standing on stage on Wednesday morning at Google I/O,
> Android PM Director Stephanie Saad Cuthbertson broke the
> news that Kotlin, which was first released in 2012, is now
> officially supported as a “first class” language for
> Android...
> developers whooped freely when told that they no longer had
> to worry that Kotlin fever was just a phase, to be
> abandoned like dozens of other cult favorites before it.
Nothing that google says about Kotlin could possibly mean that it's not a phase, to be abandoned like other cult favorites before it. Is Kotlin more official than Wave? Reader? Fiber? Loon? Boston Dynamics? Picasa? Titan? Glass? Google+? Labs? Gears? Code Search? Health? Knol? Orkut? Answers? Deskbar? Page Creator? Sites?
Google has the right to stop supporting whatever they want, but there is a hard-to-measure cost in developer trust (and goodwill).
You make it sound like Google is the only company to EOL underperforming products and services. How many products and services has Apple or Microsoft abandoned or shut down during their span? I'm guessing that list is very long.
They have the right to EOL what they want; but OP is still right to warn about it based on Google's history of EOLing stuff that has been liked by the community.
> How many products and services has Apple or Microsoft abandoned or shut down during their span?
Microsoft is the best example for commitment to API compatibility over decades, i.e. the polar opposite of Google.
The only way for Google to shut down Kotlin is to shut down Android.
It's really convenient for you that you only mentioned products that Google shut down and skipped the many products that Google still supports and constantly improving thru this day.
Nearly all the no defunct things you list were not central to Google's mission. Android is, the move to kotlin was not some Willy nilly experiment it was a strategic move.
you make a good point, but I would argue that the existence of java means that there is absolutely no more necessity for kotlin, per se, than anything on the list. having it is great insurance for google against oracle, but it shouldn't give any assurance to developers.
There is definitely pressure from the community to use something other than java to develop Android apps. Add on the pressure from Apple with Swift/iOS it only makes sense that google would invest in ways to make app development easier and faster.
> There is definitely pressure from the community to use something other than java to develop Android apps.
People mainly want sane APIs and a retained-mode graphics stack that does not suck. Instead, we got lipstick on our pig (and even here, Google has never been the driving force, but merely reacted to the community).
Luckily, Kotlin isn’t actually a Google product, but a product of JetBrains, which is independent. If Google drops support, Kotlin will continue existing.
Nothing that google says about Kotlin could possibly mean that it's not a phase, to be abandoned like other cult favorites before it. Is Kotlin more official than Wave? Reader? Fiber? Loon? Boston Dynamics? Picasa? Titan? Glass? Google+? Labs? Gears? Code Search? Health? Knol? Orkut? Answers? Deskbar? Page Creator? Sites?
Google has the right to stop supporting whatever they want, but there is a hard-to-measure cost in developer trust (and goodwill).
edit: formatting