It’s In The Geek Press

If you don’t read the “geek” press you might not know about the stink over Google Reader. Reader seemed like a good idea a few years ago. It’s still there today, mostly unused.

Last week Google announced it would discontinue Google Reader.

Here’s the problem. When Google swept into that little niche, they drove a few companies under!

My opinion: Google is morally obliged to keep Google Reader alive.

Others feel the same way and have drawn a line in the sand.

Google’s mojo is based on trust. Users trust Google will still be there. Products we’re enticed to use should be maintained. This is especially true where the cost to Google is a pittance.

Google Reader itself? Who Cares? This is a larger issue.

Google is run by smart people who will get the message. Some damage has already been done.

7 thoughts on “It’s In The Geek Press”

  1. “Google Reader itself? Who Cares?” I CARE!! I’ve been using as long as I realized what it was and that I could put all my blogs I read into one spot and have a new post pop up when written!
    I hate change! I archived my blogs like it suggested I do but honestly I don’t know what the hell to do with them. What’s blog reader should I use?

  2. Try Feedly or Bloglovin
    I am a Google Reader user also and I’m not happy with Google right now.

    I’m using Feedly on Chrome – getting used to it but it’s going to take time.

  3. Where business (and therefore money) are concerned, morals go out the window. This is especially true of publically traded businesses who have to answer to stockholders. And I think that’s what Google will tell you; this was a business decision.
    I don’t have any of these gadgets so I can’t speak on which is better than what but the morality of big business I DO know about.
    Thanks for being on the right side of the issue Geoff.

  4. Google Reader is how I read YOUR blog, Geoff, as well as all the others that I follow. I’m not a happy camper. But don’t worry, one way or another, I’ll still follow you.c

    1. I suspect sometime early this week Google will announce Reader is saved. Either Google will continue to run it, or something like the Apache Foundation (http://www.apache.org/) will take it over. That’s a guess, but as I said, Google isn’t stupid.

  5. I’ll second trying feedly. I was using Google Reader and iGoogle to track blogs and news sites – iGoogle will be ceased in November 2013 as well. I switched to feedly last week and find it very intuitive and easy to use across platforms – smart phone as well as laptop.

    Google has done some damage to their reputation over this. If I’m not mistaken, Wired and Atlantic both ran articles recently about Google’s new service – Keep – intended to compete against Evernote. There’s a reluctance to try the new “free” service for fear it will be thrown in the trash bin by Google in a short while. A few commentators have noted that paid services with actual software may actually be better since the company is being compensated for maintaining the service rather than free cloud services that vanish when Google or another provider pulls the plug.

Leave a Reply to Dave Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *