This doesn't come off as much as a surprise, because there are better alternatives because google code stagnated and wasn't a priority. Google code still has very old looking interface (especially when contrasted to their active products like G+ and gmail), google code only declined because google didn't want to work on it.
This doesn't do google any favours, as with every product they launch I'll be asking myself if it's worth investing time or money into just for it to stagnate.
This doesn't do google any favours, as with every product they launch I'll be asking myself if it's worth investing time or money into just for it to stagnate.