Google’s recent ‘structural simplification’ led to 200 people across many of its core development teams, including Python, Dart, and Flutter, losing their roles.
With Canonical committed to using Flutter for its own desktop apps the news of layoffs in the team responsible for building the framework has left some in the wider Ubuntu community worried about its future viability.
The new Ubuntu Installer, Firmware Updater, App Center, and the (currently MIA) Desktop Security Center are all built using Flutter, which is Google’s cross-platform Web-based UI framework underpinned by the Dart programming language.
And within the Ubuntu Flutter community a number of devs are also using the framework to build interesting new desktop apps. Perhaps the best known example is slick music/radio/podcast/video player MusicPod.
Has Canonical backed the wrong horse? One concerned community dev tells me Flutter roadmap for 2024 has deprioritised desktop features, a sign they say doesn’t bode well for the future of the framework or their enthusiasm to build apps using it.
But as we like to say here in Blighty1: keep calm and carry on — ‘cos things don’t seem as bleak on the ol’ Flutter front as this news might suggest…
Fluttering to the Google Graveyard?
According to a CNBC report citing internal docs 200 people across core teams includes Flutter and Dart, were laid off. But many of the the roles (i.e., the job but not the person) were reassigned to Google employees in other countries, including India, Mexico, and Germany.
Writing on X, Michael Thomsen, Product Manager at Google on Dart and Flutter, offers reassurance stating: “No strategy changes. No change in team size; some DevOps roles moving to new locations. 2024 roadmap continues.”
So no reduction in headcount just different heads to count, I guess.
Kevin Moore, also a Project Manager on Dart and Flutter at Google, adds: –
“Flutter and Dart were not affected any more or less that others. We’re sad, but still cranking on hard on I/O and beyond. We know ya’ll care SO MUCH about the project and the team and the awesome ecosystem we’ve built together.”
“You’re nervous. I get it. We get it. You’re betting on Flutter and Dart. So am I. So is Google.”
Reassuring stuff — though I’m not a developer so may be missing nuance.
Indeed, the Flutter 2024 roadmap is what has desktop Flutter devs within the Ubuntu community in a flap. GTK4 support and accessibility are on the to-do list but other features, like much-requested multi-window support, are not.
With Google prioritising Flutter web and mobile efforts this year (where the majority of use is; scores of web apps and a fleet of iOS and Android apps use Flutter) folks in the wider community wonder if Canonical ought to step up its investment in Flutter to fill the gaps.
In the near-term, Ubuntu isn’t affected. Development on the Flutter apps developed by Canonical (and the Flutter experts Canonical pay to build them) remains active and ongoing, and we can expect further finesses and bug fixes in the coming months.
Side note: People losing jobs (even if they can ‘apply for new roles within the company’, as Google say) is awful. Security of employment aside, people build up expertise, get emotionally invested in outcomes, build friendships — all which abruptly ends.
Techcrunch (via P.P.)
- In merchandise we sell to tourists, at least ;) ↩︎