NNSquad - Network Neutrality Squad
[ NNSquad ] The End of Google Reader Is Not the End of the World
The End of Google Reader Is Not the End of the World
http://lauren.vortex.com/archive/001014.html
Google announced today that their Google Reader RSS system will be
discontinued on the first of July, with capabilities provided
immediately for exporting all relevant subscription and related data.
Google's statement triggered an outpouring of wailing on the Net that
literally (at least according to various social trending indicators)
surpassed likely much more important news suggestive perhaps of future
integration of Google's Chrome and Android operating systems, and even
another matter of interest to some number of billions of Catholics on
this planet. Even Hitler "weighed in" with an expletive-laden
rampaging subtitle rant against Google's move, courtesy of the now
seriously worn out "Downfall" movie meme. Petitions (yes, even one of
the goofy White House petitions) immediately popped up demanding that
Reader be retained.
The detailed reasons behind the announcement haven't been officially
discussed, but the handwriting has been on the wall for quite some
time, as the Reader user base was clearly in decline and Reader
improvements pretty much ground to a halt.
In some quarters today, the old "RSS is dying anyway" platitude could
be heard, but while there's some truth in that, RSS is far from dead.
To be sure, my initial response when reading of Reader's demise this
morning was a rather loud "Ouch!"
I'm a very heavy Reader user. I almost always have a Reader tab open,
and I use various apps on my Android devices to keep Reader in sync as
I quickly scan for potentially interesting news items through the day.
So yes, I am going to miss Google Reader.
On the other hand, it's not as if Reader is the only game in town for
dealing with RSS, even when you're working with multiple devices as do
I (and presumably, as do most of you).
For example, feedly.com offers a free slate of reader apps for desktop
browsers, Android, iOS, and more, and they're promising to provide
their own backend to seamlessly replace Reader's feed functions. In
my early testing linking Feedly to the existing Reader infrastructure,
the results have been very good both on the Chrome browser and
Android. Right now Feedly is somewhat overloaded -- not at all
surprising under the circumstances today -- but if their service pans
out as promised I don't think I'll have any problem at all living with
their apps (which, by the way, can be configured to very closely
approximate the Reader look and feel).
There are a wide variety of other RSS readers of course, and I've
heard rumors today of new "Google Reader clones" being planned as
well.
The upshot of all this, especially in light of the provided ability to
export existing Reader data for input into other systems, is that
while there's likely to be a bit of hassle involved in the short term,
the end of Reader will not signal the end of RSS. In fact, RSS may
actually become healthier with so much new energy being injected into
other reader applications and associated systems.
I'm as lazy as anyone else when it comes to getting comfortable and
complacent with familiar apps. All else being equal, I'd have
preferred that Reader continued, even though, truth be told, Reader
has definitely gotten rather long in the tooth.
So yeah, the end of Reader is something of a bummer. But
realistically, in context, it doesn't push very far into the bummer
scale. Reader users are encouraged (to paraphrase an old song) to
pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and try some new RSS apps.
Now, what else happened in the news today, again?
--Lauren--
Lauren Weinstein (lauren@vortex.com): http://www.vortex.com/lauren
Co-Founder: People For Internet Responsibility: http://www.pfir.org/pfir-info
Founder:
- Network Neutrality Squad: http://www.nnsquad.org
- PRIVACY Forum: http://www.vortex.com/privacy-info
- Data Wisdom Explorers League: http://www.dwel.org
- Global Coalition for Transparent Internet Performance: http://www.gctip.org
Member: ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy
Lauren's Blog: http://lauren.vortex.com
Google+: http://vortex.com/g+lauren / Twitter: http://vortex.com/t-lauren
Tel: +1 (818) 225-2800 / Skype: vortex.com
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