Today, Google announced that in this year’s spring cleaning they will be closing a few services, which they do every year. But this time it’s a service that most of us use religiously. And that is Google Reader. Google does a spring cleaning every year in effort to not spread themselves to thin and make their existing products even better.
Google Reader won’t be dying off immediately. But it’ll be gone on July 1st, 2013. So you’ll have until then to get all your data out and find yourself a replacement RSS reader. Here’s what Google said about this:
We launched Google Reader in 2005 in an effort to make it easy for people to discover and keep tabs on their favorite websites. While the product has a loyal following, over the years usage has declined. So, on July 1, 2013, we will retire Google Reader. Users and developers interested in RSS alternatives can export their data, including their subscriptions, with Google Takeout over the course of the next four months.
It is quite disappointing, but we can’t say it’s surprising. Google has been neglecting Reader for quite some time. It even took a while to get the new redesign in 2011, which made Google Reader look more modern like it does today. Google has especially neglected their Google Reader client for Android, while usable it’s not very user friendly. Which was the same with Google Listen, which was laid to rest last year.
Google is also getting rid of a few other services as well, which you can check out the Google Blog for more information on those services. Won’t you join us for a moment of silence for Google Reader? It’ll be missed greatly.
How many of you out there use Google Reader? We’ll all have to find some new alternatives to Google Reader over the next couple of months. Let us know in the comments which RSS feed client your using.