Simply Jonathan

Google Acquires AppJet, shuts down EtherPad →

Permanent location of 'Google Acquires AppJet, shuts down EtherPad'

AppJet, the engine behind EtherPad, has been acquired by Google.

This means EtherPad will be shut down come March. This approach to this reminds me of something the Drama 2.0 Show <a href=”http://www.drama20show.com/2008/12/03/silicon-valley-the-only-place-where-getting-a-new-job-acquisition/” rel=”nofollow” title=”‘The Only Place Where Getting a New Job = Acquisition'”, about Six Apart’s acquisition of Pownce”>said a year ago, before it became a porn site:

[A]nytime a failed startup is “acquired” and the service is shut down, you don’t have an acquisition. You have a Silicon Valley signing bonus.

I don’t mean to suggest EtherPad failed (from the reactions this story gets, it would seem this is not the case), but I agree with Drama’s main point: when the acquired company is shut down as part of the agreement, it is not so much acquired, as the founders are hired with sign-on fees.

(Via Jacob Kaplan-Moss)

This is Simply Jonathan, a blog written by Jonathan Holst. It's mostly about technical topics (and mainly the Web at that), but an occasional post on clothing, sports, and general personal life topics can be found.

Jonathan Holst is a programmer, language enthusiast, sports fan, and appreciator of good design, living in Copenhagen, Denmark, Europe. He is also someone pretentious enough to call himself the 'author' of a blog. And talk about himself in the third person.