OP here:
This news is dissapointing. I've been using the Google Earth API for years now and while it does feel "bolted on" it's gotten the job done. Sure the updates were slow, and bug fixes/enhancements few in the past couple of years, but it works well. I'm actively looking for an alternative. Here's a brief list of what I've found.
World Wind - http://worldwind.arc.nasa.gov/java/ Cesium - http://cesiumjs.org/