Farewell Google Reader

Just over a year ago I wrote a blog post called Web App Trust Issues. It was a paranoid, yet relatable post about me leaving certain web apps and making my own when I don’t trust the provider to be there for the long haul. Allow me to quote the last line:

The one exception to this web app paranoia is Google. They have ads everywhere and they seem financially viable. If that ever changes I don’t know what I’ll do.

Huh. Yesterday Google announced they’re shutting down Google Reader, my RSS feed aggregator of choice. Wat. I’m so torn about this! 

WHY NOT LEAVE IT UP!?
Apparently it’s in decline (not the impression I get when I read the Twitters), but if it’s still being used at all, why not just leave it there idle? It’s an RSS reader, it doesn’t need to innovate, iterate or improve! I say pop in a couple more ads, and let it sit there and rust.

My old site Debut Creative is still up three years after I left it. It got 300 hits last month (stat from Google Analytics: panic.) As I look at the content being read I can easily speculate it’s helping someone. I have a large server and bandwidth to spare, so I leave it. See how easy that is?!

CAN I TRUST THE GOOG?!
My real question is what else will be axed? My family relies daily on Gmail, Calendar, Picasa, Maps, and Drive. Are these going to stick around? It annoys me to even have to ask that.

I feel like if I can’t trust a bajillion dollar company with something simple (and already complete) like an RSS reader, how can I trust them with my email with is 100x more valuable to me? I feel like I have no choice but to either create my own web apps and rely on myself, or to move into the woods like a hermit (I recently read a really fascinating story about such a thing happening in Russia. It was a great piece of journalism I never would have found without Google Reader).

Hold me.

Categorized in: Industry

This post was written by ArleyM