Google Reader shut down announced ten years ago today

I still don't understand why people couldn't switch to a different RSS reader. The Google Reader narrative seems like it was just as helpful as the bank run we just had.

Re: Google Reader shut down announced ten years ago today

#7

Post by ramraj07 » Mon, Mar 13, 2023, 5:08 AM UTC

I literally stopped reading literature the same way after that. With GReader I used to consume the ToC of 15-30 journals without missing a single abstract. I just gave up on reading that way after that, no other tool came close.

Re: Google Reader shut down announced ten years ago today

#8

Post by dewey » Mon, Mar 13, 2023, 5:13 AM UTC

wmf wrote: post #6

I still don't understand why people couldn't switch to a different RSS reader. The Google Reader narrative seems like it was just as helpful as the bank run we just had.

People who cared enough did just that. I also don't think the main problem was Google Reader going away but the signal that it sent ("RSS is going away").

To be fair, the sites I care about all still have RSS support though.

Re: Google Reader shut down announced ten years ago today

#9

Post by chunkyks » Mon, Mar 13, 2023, 5:13 AM UTC

I switched to feedly. No biggie, in retrospect.

But, that was the first Google product where it really hit home, to me, how even if a product is fantastic and useful, Google will kill it without a second thought.

It fundamentally changed my attitude toward Google and made me far more deliberate about what services I choose to rely on, especially from the big G.

Obligatory link to https://killedbygoogle.com/

Re: Google Reader shut down announced ten years ago today

#10

Post by yjftsjthsd-h » Mon, Mar 13, 2023, 5:13 AM UTC

I feel like killing Reader was the point at which I switched from viewing Google mostly positively to more skeptically. Which doesn't seem terribly rational, really; it wasn't the first product to be axed, it was perfectly possible to replace... Maybe it was just the first product axing that really affected me? The moment Google went from "provider of great free stuff" to "sometimes provider of free stuff, sometimes kills stuff" is the moment it became unreliable, the moment I had to stop and consider whether their interests really aligned with mine rather than just assuming so. Or maybe I'm just bitter over nothing:)

Edit: Perhaps a better phrasing: Before, if you asked "will this useful Google product be here in a year", I would answer "yes". After, I could only say "maybe". And that made all the difference.