"It's only when the tide goes out that you learn who's been swimming naked," says Warren Buffet.

I'm not saying Google's been paddling around in the buff - far from it - but news it's closed Lively, its failure to make Chrome stick and a big share price decline, makes me wonder if its Speedos are starting to show in these recessionary times.

Many tech fans (me included) have had a tendency to view Google's ventures as part of some farsighted, integrated strategy: Google playing chess with the web while everyone else plays draughts.

Actually, what's happening is Google has 30,000 employees on 20% time with the result being too many questionable projects, and too little management time to get behind those that aren't.

One thing that recessions bring is focus on what matters, what you do best, and what you need to be doing next. Or as Google says on its blog, "we want to ensure that we prioritize our resources and focus more on our core search, ads and apps business."

Look at Google's list of ventures and current projects. Will Google ever make money from second rank products like Orkut, Picasa - even Google Talk?

Even back in 2006, people were questioning whether Google was better at generating hype than hits. With 2009 fast approaching, and a far less favourable economic environment beckoning, Google is starting to ask itself the same question. Lively will be the first of a few.