Michal Ždanský Shortly after midnight (March 14th), Google announced via its blog that Google Reader will be discontinued on July 1st. Thus came the moment that many users of the service feared and whose signs we could see as early as 2011, when the company removed several functions and enabled data migration. However, the biggest impact will be on most RSS applications that use the service to manage the synchronization of RSS feeds.
We launched Google Reader in 2005 with the goal of helping people more easily discover and keep track of their favorite sites. Although the project has loyal users, it has been used less and less over the years. That's why we are shutting down Google Reader on July 1, 2013. Users and developers interested in RSS alternatives can export their data including subscriptions using Google Takeout over the next four months.
This is what Google's announcement sounds like on its official website blog. Along with Reader, the company is ending several other projects, including the desktop version of the application Snapseed, which it recently acquired through acquisition. Termination of less successful projects is nothing new for Google, it has already cut off much larger services in the past, for example Wave or Buzz. According to Larry Page, the company wants to focus its efforts on fewer products, but with greater intensity, or as Page specifically states: "use more wood in fewer arrows."
Already in 2011, Google Reader lost the feed sharing function, which caused outrage among many users and many pointed to the approaching end of the service. Social functions gradually moved to other services, namely Google+, which occupies the status of an information aggregator in addition to a social network. In addition, the company also released its own application for mobile devices - Currents – which is very similar to the popular Flipboard, but does not use Google Reader for aggregation.
Google Reader itself, i.e. the web application, did not enjoy such popularity. The application has an interface similar to a mail client in which users manage and read RSS feeds from their favorite sites. However, in recent years it has been used more as an administrator, not as a reader. Reading was mainly done by third-party applications, which boomed with the arrival of the App Store. And it is RSS readers and clients who will be hit the hardest due to the termination of the service. The vast majority of these applications, led by Reeder, Flipboard, Press or Byline used the service to manage and synchronize all content.
Don't worry, Reeder won't die with Google Reader.
- Reeder (@reederapp) 14. March 2013
However, this does not mean the end of these applications. Developers will be forced to find an adequate replacement for Reader over the course of four and a half months. For many, however, it will be a relief in a way. The implementation of Reader was not exactly a walk in the park. The service has no official API and lacks proper documentation. Although the developers received unofficial support from Google, the applications never stood on firm feet. Since the API was unofficial, no one was bound by their maintenance and functionality. Nobody knew when they would stop working from hour to hour.
There are currently several possible alternatives: Feedly, Netvibes or paid Fever, which is already supported in Reeder for iOS, for example. It is also likely that other alternatives will appear in the four-month period that will try to replace the Reader and probably surpass it in many ways (it is already sticking out its horns FeedWrangler). But most of the better apps won't be free. This is also one of the main reasons why Google Reader is canceled - it could not monetize it in any way.
A question mark remains over Google's other RSS service - Feedburner, an analytical tool for RSS feeds, which is especially popular with podcasters and through which you can also get podcasts into iTunes. Google acquired the service in 2007, but has since cut several features, including support for AdSense in RSS, which allowed feed content to be monetized. It is possible that Feedburner will soon meet a similar fate along with other less successful Google projects.
Source: Cnet.com
Wow, I use Google Reader every day. So, does this mean that the service is shutting down completely or just stopping its development? I hope that some decent alternative will be made in those 4 months.
If the problem is not also that there is a discussion about it in a number of countries. that aggregators and rss readers should pay fees to article sources… :-( but this is really very unpleasant news
..if Google wants to cancel it, so be it, there will be alternatives, at least I will use a little less data miner Scroogle again..
Isn't Waze like Wave ;)
Why did they buy snapseed when they're going to bury it now? The best on iOS for editing photos... I'm pissed now.
desktop version ends
The fact that they canceled Google Reader doesn't even bother me. but the fact that I bought the snapseed mac version some time ago, then google bought it and now it's being shut down by me. I'm angry at both nik software and google. it's nefer from nik software and connectivity from google. I personally switch to other alternatives, at least where possible. I'm using google accounts (e.g. gmail), it's already a long time. it will be better with a search engine, but I can do without the rest. I'd rather pay for the services - even if it's not a guarantee that it won't turn out like with snapseed :(
I'm getting it right: Google came years ago with Reader - a free alternative that was good enough (and under Google's wing) that it wiped out the rest of the market. If that happens, cancel the service. That's what Amazon does, right?