Other poster is correct, it was a 20% project, so it didn't even cost Google any money to acquire, which is crazy.

I remember it getting absolutely destroyed by Spam at some point. Then they tried some redesigns, and an integration with Google+ that caused more problems than it solved. Each one of these events drove people to other websites.

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lokar 3 hours ago | parent [-]

Also, the implementation and infrastructure was a total shit show.

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whstl 3 hours ago | parent [-]

True, its downtimes predated the Twitter fail whale.

Interestingly, the first version used ASP.NET, visible in the .aspx domains, which really deviated from other Google tech.

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egeozcan 2 hours ago | parent | next [-]

What is (and was) Google tech? I naively thought Google didn't have a praised stack.

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whstl 2 hours ago | parent [-]

Back then it was mostly Java, Python and C++.

They even made a Java-based framework that would generate Javascript, GWT. Orkut was rewritten to use in 2009.

	▲	neuronexmachina an hour ago \| parent [-]
		I used to use GWT. It was such a mess to work with, but an interesting mess.

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lokar 3 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Yeah, internally it was, uh, an issue.

Just before launch there was a attempt to hide that it was google.