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.
