Editing 1361: Google Announcement

{{comic
| number    = 1361
| date      = April 28, 2014
| title     = Google Announcement
| image     = google_announcement.png
| titletext = The less popular 8.8.4.4 is slated for discontinuation.
}}

==Explanation==
At the time of this comic's release, {{w|Vic Gundotra}} had recently left {{w|Google}}. Because he was the head of {{w|Google+}}, this had caused many people, including [http://techcrunch.com/2014/04/24/google-is-walking-dead/ TechCrunch], to theorize that Google+ was going to be shut down, despite the continuing comments from Google that it would remain active and updated. It lasted five more years, finally being closed on April 2nd, 2019. 

Google has a history of {{w|List of Google products#Discontinued products and services|closing popular services}}.

The comic extrapolates this to an announcement that Google would be closing '''all''' its popular services, up to and including its e-mail service, Gmail, and even the core business of the company, its Internet search engine, to wholly concentrate on a relatively obscure part of its product lineup. According to Google, its Public {{w|Name server|DNS servers}} (Domain Name System servers), better known by their IPv4 addresses {{w|8.8.8.8|8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4}}, are supposed to be a faster alternative to using one's ISP's DNS servers (because of caching effects due to a large user base), as well as less susceptible to censorship. When Turkey started blocking access to Twitter and YouTube in March 2014, Turkish ISPs first did this on the DNS level by manipulating the results from their own name servers. The most popular workaround was using Google's DNS server instead, so much so that its address was written as [http://gawker.com/turkish-graffiti-spreads-the-ip-addresses-of-googles-d-1548946312 graffiti on the side of a building].

The joke may also be related to the fact that 8.8.8.8 is an IP address heavily used by network administrators to perform connectivity tests (''ping'') because it is easy to remember and fast to type. Google would want to concentrate on this feature to build a business model using that fact.

The reason behind this decision may be that Google considers a DNS server, a fairly low-level component of the Internet's service stack, to be the optimal place to collect information on its users, an accusation leveled at Google ever since it introduced the service.

The title text refers to the impression held by some that Google will shut down services that prove less popular than desired at short notice, even though they may in fact have a significant user base. A recent example of that is the closure of the RSS aggregation service, Google Reader, in July 2013. While the same DNS service is provided under both addresses, the more memorable 8.8.8.8 is likely to receive far more requests than 8.8.4.4.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball is standing at a lectern marked Google.]
:Cueball: The rumors are true. Google will be shutting down Plus—
:Cueball: Along with Hangouts, Photos, Voice, Docs, Drive, Maps, Gmail, Chrome, Android, and Search—
:Cueball: To focus on our core project:
:Cueball: The 8.8.8.8 DNS Server.

==Trivia==
Google quickly responded with an acknowledgement of XKCD. The TXT record for the DNS name of IP address 8.8.8.8 was set to "http://xkcd.com/1361/", as can be seen via these various commands (for {{w|Microsoft Windows}} usually only <tt>nslookup</tt> will work)

  host -t txt google-public-dns-a.google.com.

  dig +short TXT google-public-dns-a.google.com.

  nslookup -q=txt google-public-dns-a.google.com.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Internet]]
[[Category:Public speaking]]
[[Category:Google]]
[[Category:Google Plus]]