I can't fully explain why it was reduced, but it's several factors:
1) Some people left, for various reasons (like being at Google for 6+ years), for example, 5 left to go to different startups.
2) Some went to work on Dart
3) Some when to work on Chrome
4) Some went to work on a secret project
5) Maturity. At Google, 20 is considered a "big" team. The Closure Compiler, on which GMail, Docs, Google +, Google Search, Google Maps, etc is based is not even staffed, it's just the result of 20% contributions. GWT was, from an organizational standpoint, even in the wrong division. It should have been in infrastructure/dev-tools/etc, but instead it was under a management chain that cared about other stuff.
GWT 2.5 will be released very soon. I am trying to collect all external contributions that have been languishing and land them first.
1) Some people left, for various reasons (like being at Google for 6+ years), for example, 5 left to go to different startups.
2) Some went to work on Dart
3) Some when to work on Chrome
4) Some went to work on a secret project
5) Maturity. At Google, 20 is considered a "big" team. The Closure Compiler, on which GMail, Docs, Google +, Google Search, Google Maps, etc is based is not even staffed, it's just the result of 20% contributions. GWT was, from an organizational standpoint, even in the wrong division. It should have been in infrastructure/dev-tools/etc, but instead it was under a management chain that cared about other stuff.
GWT 2.5 will be released very soon. I am trying to collect all external contributions that have been languishing and land them first.