Yes, it's sad for employees let go, but it's good news for AOL. I don't think AOL is going anywhere; it has a huge user base and a lot of people think of it as the internet. By cutting surgically (removing, as you put it, the "fluffiness"), Jonathan might very well be able to bring some fighting spirit back.
>The problem was the G+ was pitched as a social network. It grew, like a cancer, into some weird meta-project that defies description
Really?
It was a single sign-on system to Google properties, tied to a social networking thing. accounts.google.com came not far after plus.google.com.
Google wanted to avoid becoming MySpace and wanted to mimic Facebook, and miscalculated slightly.
Personally, I really like being able to sign in once to Google properties. I like that YouTube comments now have real names on them. It makes them much less toxic.
How is it that Google+ shut down youtube channels? Changing the display name is all I've seen it do.
If you've made a conscious choice to follow your own path, why is the path you've found so similar to others?
It's hilarious when non-conformists end up conforming even more.