I wish I could find the joke video someone made when Google acquired the beloved email client Sparrow back in 2012. The vid presented itself as a cheerful tutorial on “How to prepare for the Sparrow Google migration” that basically went like this: 

1. Open your Applications folder.
2. Locate the Sparrow app icon.
3. Now, carefully just drag it to the trash.
4. Empty the trash.
5. And voila, now you’re ready for Google’s ownership of this great app!

I’ve thought of it countless times over the years, and I think of it now recalling BumpTop, a 3D desktop GUI that I first wrote about 13 years ago (!):

Google acquired the tech & team back in 2010, and then… nothing, as far as I know. (All this predated my time at the company, so I have zero inside info.) Empty the trash, and voila!

But evidently not content to let things die, the BumpTop team has reemerged with Spatial, a new approach to team collaboration done via virtual & augmented reality. Check it out:

Will Spatial have more lasting impact than BumpTop? I have no idea! But I look forward to trying it out, and I’m sure glad that teams like this are busy trying to make the world more delightful.

[YouTube 1 & 2]