The End of the Google Reader

Google has announced on their Official Google Blog that they are planning on shutting down their Google Reader. Much to the chagrin of many loyal users of product, Google Reader will officially come to an end on July 1, 2013.  The company has indicated that the announcement was made with the intention of providing users with enough time in order to find an alternative reading solution.

Google Reader was first launched in 2005.  For those who perhaps aren’t that familiar with the feed-reading service, the news may not sound spectacularly earth shattering. However, the product has an extremely loyal following. Google Reader made it easy for people to follow multiple news sources at one time. But, according to Google, despite the devoted following, usage has declined over the years. In a statement by Alan Green, a software engineer with Google, the reason for the decision to bring Google Reader to an end is so that Google can focus on fewer products.  Essentially, the company has decided to devote more resources and energy to fewer projects, rather than to continue to devote resources to a product with a declining user base.

While the reasoning behind the retirement of Google Reader makes sense, it is certain to cause many users disappointment as they must now look for an alternative. Google has indicated that users can retain all of their Reader data, including all of their subscriptions. Google Reader users can maintain their data through Google Takeout. Google Takeout is a service from Google that allows you to download a copy of all of your data that is stored within Google products.  Users will have the next three months and then the service will be officially terminated. Then it will be up to users to decide on which alternative RSS product to use going forward.

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