Yeh. Heard about that too. Not gone. replaced.
I just did the upgrade and it was seamless. No extra sync required but added functionality… I like it so far!
I hate that Google does this all the time.
As much as I agree with you on this point, at least there is a better product and we are not losing functionality. One big example of this problem is messaging on Android, there are like 5 different clients and functionality is all over the place. Hangouts was a prime example of a decent product that Google basically abandon and removed SMS support. As much good that comes out of Google sometimes I really do not understand their logic.
This is the main reason I restrain form adopting Google Tech now. They are always shutting stuff down. It seems like everything is just a project for them.
I also don’t like how they announce things and then delay. Ex. Google Assistant on Nvidia shield/AndroidTV