The topic of GNOME 50 killed Google Drive integration because nobody wanted to maintain it is currently the subject of lively debate — readers and analysts are keeping a close eye on developments.
This is taking place in a dynamic environment: companies’ decisions and competitors’ reactions can quickly change the picture.
Despite being FOSS, Linux distros will often add support for proprietary apps within the operating system. Not only does it make it easier for people to migrate from closed-source operating systems to Linux, but it’s also really handy for people who may not want to pick from the open-source options available.
Unfortunately, it turns out that GNOME 50 will scrap a part of its GNOME Online Accounts (GOA) tool that allows people to add Google Drive to Nautilus. However, before you reach for your pitchforks, it’s worth noting that it got scrapped because, seemingly, nobody really cares for it.
As reported by OMG Ubuntu, someone reported a bug on the GNOME Discourse forum. Titled “Google Drive in GNOME 50,” the poster noticed that GNOME 50 on Fedora 44 no longer had the Google Drive integration within its file manager software, Nautilus. They noted that you can still “enable permissions for mail, contacts and calendar,” but the Google Drive option didn’t work anymore.
Emmanuele Bassi of the GNOME Team posted a reply in the thread, confirming that it wasn’t a bug:
It is no longer supported, unfortunately. Libgdata, which was used to handle integration with some Google online services, has been unmaintained for nearly 4 years. GVFS has disabled the dependency by default by default 10 months ago, and GNOME Online Accounts checks for that.
Sure enough, the first link leads to a post titled “Call for help with libgdata.” It specifically asks for a “volunteer willing to do the work” of maintaining libgdata until GNOME is ready to swap it out, but it seems that help never came. As such, it’s less of an issue with the GNOME developer team and more of a problem with people not stepping up to keep the feature supported, so it had to be scrapped. At least they gave us plenty of warning beforehand.
Why it matters
News like this often changes audience expectations and competitors’ plans.
When one player makes a move, others usually react — it is worth reading the event in context.
What to look out for next
The full picture will become clear in time, but the headline already shows the dynamics of the industry.
Further statements and user reactions will add to the story.