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Slashdot Asks: How Will You Replace Google Reader?
Despite a hue and cry from disappointed users, Google has not made any moves to reverse its decision to close down Google Reader on the first of July, just a few weeks away. Despite the name — and the functions it started out with in 2001 — Reader has become more than a simple interface to RSS feeds; Wikipedia gives a concise explanation of how it evolved from just a few features to a full-blown platform of its own, incorporating social-sharing features of the kind that have become expected in many online apps. Those features have morphed over the years along with Google's larger social strategies, along the way upsetting some readers who'd grown used to certain features. If you're a Google Reader user, will you be replacing it with another aggregator?
Really bummed that Google Reader is closing. But if Google is no longer interested in my news reading habits then it's their loss. And I'll no longer be logged-in to Google all day. So it's really their loss. But a huge gain for my privacy.
At work using Windows RSS Owl is looking like my best choice. Akregator for Linux. Not yet sure what I'll use on Mac.
Why on earth would you need a website for what ought to be a simple RSS reader?
It feels neater architecturally. If 1000 people use a desktop RSS reader set to poll every 5 minutes, the feed gets 1000 hits every 5 minutes. If they all use a service like Reader (and it's sensibly written) then the feed gets one hit every 5 minutes.
It has the convenience of giving you all your items, with your unread flags up-to-date, wherever you're reading (home, work, mobile, ...).
It empowers the provider to generate good "people who liked this also liked..." recommendations -- whether you find that useful, scary or both.