Google, in a Season of Changes

The moves follow changes in leadership, a push into social networking and the announcement of plans for a major acquisition.

Google bought Aardvark for $50 million last year, however already it's first on the list of discontinued products. Dubbed "a new kind of social search," it was a service that fielded questions and routed them for answers to the most qualified respondents within the user's social-networking circle.

The fact that more people are using the cloud for storage and computing and Web apps instead of downloadable software plays into the shuttering of Google's Desktop search application and Google Pack.