Google’s recent ‘structural simplification’ led to 200 people across many of its core development teams, including Python, Dart, and

Google’s Flutter Team Layoffs Leave Ubuntu Devs in a Flap

submited by

Style Pass

2024-05-09 21:00:04

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.