The Google Barge is No More

Remember last year when we first heard about the magical, mythical Google Barge? It was a floating showroom that would serve as an invite-only space for Google to show off its latest and greatest technological wonders, a place where the coolest and most moneyed people would have the chance to see what Google’s working on. Alas, according to a new report today, it seems that Google’s plans for the barge have sunk.

The Portland Press Herald reports today that the barge itself has been bought by an “international barging company,” while the 63 shipping containers that comprised the Google showroom “will be disassembled at Turner’s Island and scrapped.” While the article reports that the City of Portland did earn $400,000 on property taxes while the barge was docked, it seems that the dream of Google setting up shop in the city is gone.

The worst part about this story, really, is that we never actually found out anything concrete about what Google had planned to do with the barge, or what, if anything, it had actually done. The article says that it was supposedly going to head to New York to serve as the aforementioned showroom, but now that it’s being dismantled, obviously that won’t be the case any longer.

Oh well. I guess Google will have to just rent rooms in buildings made of concrete and actually affixed to the Earth itself if it wants showrooms, like it’s some common company bound by the rules and traditions of humanity. What an ignominious end.

[Source: Portland Press Herald]