Google Reader

Google reader is being killed. There is backlash against Google around every corner of every blog, website, social network, and possibly even people yelling in the streets. Google gives a lot of stuff away for free, and just as easily can take it away. Google is a great company, but people lose sight of their objective. Google is not around to make users happy; that it a byproduct of their main objective: doing what is best for Google. Google Reader was not achieving the goal that they wanted it to, so it was time to cut losses and move resources elsewhere. (My guess is people were not seeing nearly the amount of ads that they “should be”)

I said on Twitter shortly after the announcement that I thought it was a good thing they were shutting Google Reader down. Let’s not forget to make the distinction between Google Reader and RSS. Shutting down Reader does not break RSS, it was simply a client to house your OMPL feed. So why do I think it is good that Google shuttered Reader? Simply put, it opens the door for creative developers to change the game. RSS has basically remained unchanged as to what it accomplishes; it’s how we access the feeds that has changed. The simple “inbox” style of Reader is outdated and broken in my opinion. It is not uncommon in my daily (usually multiple times per day) routine of reading my RSS, to see the same articles over and over. Why not be more intelligent with our feeds?

Google Reader started dying when they took away the ability to share two years ago due to Google+. Google+ is not where I want my RSS news to be funneled.

I think we got complacent with how Google Reader worked and just figured there must not be any better way to do it. Otherwise, wouldn’t Google give it to me? This shutdown will hopefully – and I believe it will – give us a new look at how we consume news, which I very much look forward to. There will be clones of Google Reader by the dozens starting any day now to help those who want things to stay the same.

Secondarily, I hope this move will wake the internet up to the BS notion of “everything should be free for me forever.” No it shouldn’t. Free doesn’t work forever, and hopefully this will open some eyes.

I applaud them for doing the right thing and giving everyone an easy out with their data and plenty of time to try other options out to find what fits their need. I really like that.

Everything is going to be just fine, and I really think we will come out of this happier and more content than how we went in. :)

Agree? Disagree? Would love to hear your input!