AfterDawn: Tech news

Google killing off Google Reader, Internet goes up in arms

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 13 Mar 2013 11:19 User comments (7)

Google killing off Google Reader, Internet goes up in arms

Google has announced today that it is killing off the popular Google Reader service, among other services as it completes its second round of "spring cleaning."
The company has been killing off small projects and "non-core" projects since 2011. Google Reader is an aggregator that can read Atom and RSS feeds.

Reads the post:

"Everyone has a device, sometimes multiple devices. It's been a long time since we have had this rate of change--it probably hasn't happened since the birth of personal computing 40 years ago. To make the most of these opportunities, we need to focus--otherwise we spread ourselves too thin and lack impact. So today we're announcing some more closures, bringing the total to 70 features or services closed since our spring cleaning began in 2011.

We launched Google Reader in 2005 in an effort to make it easy for people to discover and keep tabs on their favorite websites. While the product has a loyal following, over the years usage has declined. So, on July 1, 2013, we will retire Google Reader. Users and developers interested in RSS alternatives can export their data, including their subscriptions, with Google Takeout over the course of the next four months."




Besides Google Reader, the company is also killing Snapseed, Google Voice for BlackBerry and Google Building Maker.

Since the announcement, the Internet has gone up in arms over the death of Google Reader with the search giant seeing significant backlash, especially among the tech saavy crowd. It will be interesting to see if the Reader stays dead moving forward.

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7 user comments

114.3.2013 06:22

Damn. I liked it. It's the RSS reader I am using currently.

214.3.2013 09:54
id628
Unverified new user

Google is even killing it for paying Google Apps customers.

Why in the world would I base my organization's entire infrastructure on Google Apps when Google will simply suddenly kill parts without any warning, without any sunset plan?

314.3.2013 11:55
ragnorok
Unverified new user

Oh No!

414.3.2013 17:51

Was thinking of switching from Netvibes to Google Reader. Guess now I won't be. :-D

515.3.2013 11:54
tonixx
Unverified new user

Google Reader IS NOT DEAD!

SmashingReader.com is the alternative. The only one!

616.3.2013 08:57

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA

This is why i love apple icloud i get rss feeds daily in my mailbox on my mac mini with no third party software needed

716.3.2013 12:32

Originally posted by megadunderhead:
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA

This is why i love apple icloud i get rss feeds daily in my mailbox on my mac mini with no third party software needed

Oh, that's so nice, so cute! Google Reader only adds to that the ability of reading and synchronizing RSS feeds on ANY (overpriced or not) device under ANY (paid or free) OS. That is, pretty much the same thing. (Facepalm).

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