Can anyone name a service (other than YouTube) that's really flourished after being acquired by Google? It really seems they must just be buying these companies for the talent. - Ken Sheppardson

I can't. Google kills projects as a pass time :-( - Richard A.

Blogger could be one that has worked out - BCK

Writely - Bwana ☠

Google Earth? / Keyhole - Shawn Farner

I love this service, im really hoping they continue development, any insider info? - Kyle Weller

Writely + XL2Web + TonicSystems -> Google Docs, Keyhole -> Google Earth/Maps, Urchin + MeasureMap -> Google Analytics, JotSpot -> Google Sites, Zingku -> Google FriendConnect, Android -> Android, DoubleClick -> DoubleClick, Feedburner -> AdSense for Feeds (in-process); sorry about Dodgeball. - Jeff

... and David Pogue's comment after the post gets it right -- a new version on new infrastructure will be coming soon. Apologies to anyone who has run into issues on the legacy version. - Jeff

BTW, for folks who don't know, the Jeff posting on this thread is Jeff Huber, SVP of Engineering @ Google. Very cool that Jeff is hanging out here, IMO. - Kevin Scott

Jeff: Will the new version be open source, ala Jaiku? ;-) [Thanks for the list, btw.] - Ken Sheppardson

Forgetting Feedburner? Typical. - Bjorn Stromberg

...or just not trying to give an exhaustive list. I was just asking for one, after all :-) - Ken Sheppardson

Great! And I use this for my local phone number here in Florida. My cell number is still from Kentucky. - tomit

@Jeff thanks for commenting, you have revived some long lost hope in Grandcentral ;) Any more news would be awesome, update the gc blog ;) - Kyle Weller

I'm like tomit. I use GC as my local number, as my cell number is still a Chicago area phone. - Adam C.

Thanks for stopping by here, Jeff. :) - Matt Cutts

It's great news that Grand Central is still alive; I use my GC number as my primary number, and I've been getting nervous not having heard anything from Google about it for so long. I'd love to see it integrated into GMail/Google Talk. - Chris Johnson

I still have to wonder why it took a post like mine to get Google folks talking about GrandCentral again. I don't want them to promise what they may not be able to deliver, but a post every now and then on the blog teasing what we may expect in the next version...and assuring those of us who count on the service that it's still viable would be nice. That folks have to read comments on blog posts and FriendFeed to get official word is ridiculous. - Judi Sohn

@Judi I wonder the same thing. Google wouldn't give away any state secrets by just saying, "Hang tight--we're still committed to Grand Central, and there's a new version somewhere on the horizon," especially as they were announcing the demise of some other services and people were getting antsy about Grand Central. - Chris Johnson

This article seems sensationalist. I'm seeing improvements in GC and can't wait to start paying for it. Their communication seems to be lacking for sure and my trust in Google will take a severe hit if this service were to falter (I don't think it will), but the conclusion of this article is plain silly. - coldbrew

Quite surprising to hear that Google keept a project like GrandCentral apparently deep sixed like this while performing a total overhaul on the infrastructure. - Samuel Bishop

@coldbrew, I really didn't mean it to be sensationalist. With absolutely no public word for nearly a year, and Google's history of ignoring their acquisitions to death, what else was I (or anyone else) to think? - Judi Sohn

Google does not care about a community. They just care about selling their ads. This is why what Google touches FAILS - Igor The Troll יִצְחָק

I use my GrandCentral every day and would personally love to have the contacts integrated with GMail for example. - Phil Yanov