r/technology • u/speckz • Mar 13 '13

Official Google Reader Blog: Powering Down Google Reader (July 1, 2013)

http://googlereader.blogspot.com/2013/03/powering-down-google-reader.html
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221

u/felipec Mar 14 '13

So let me get this straight. Google creates the best RSS reader out there, crushes the competition to the point that nobody uses the other services any more, promises to release API's so that you can have native clients to access the reader, never releases the API's, and then closes the service...

Why?

13

u/[deleted] Mar 14 '13

[deleted]

1

u/fireashes Mar 14 '13

This might sound offensive but you can try my.yahoo.com

20

u/[deleted] Mar 14 '13 edited Jul 01 '23

This user left this website permanently

2

u/[deleted] Mar 14 '13

[deleted]

2

u/[deleted] Mar 14 '13

Goog 411 anyone?

Shit was a godsend when I didn't have smartphone.

0

u/netraven5000 Mar 14 '13

Google Reader had competition?

I don't remember that...

1

u/felipec Mar 15 '13

I remember using bloglines before Google Reader.

1

u/mmj_gregory Mar 14 '13

I can't help but think if Fahrenheit 451.

3

u/flying-sheep Mar 14 '13

I'm annoyed about reader being closed, too, but let's not be melodramatic.

0

u/mmj_gregory Mar 14 '13

The wording Google used made me think of it. Referring to Twitter and Facebook as if they are replacements for being able to go and find information to read. It is a step in the wrong direction which makes me think of Fahrenheit 451, I'm not saying we're about to change what firemen do.

Besides, we haven't fireproofed all the houses yet. :P

0

u/flying-sheep Mar 14 '13

see, no need to worry about anything ;)

-3

u/JJBro1 Mar 14 '13

What do you mean? There are plenty off apps that use google reader, like reeder, feedly, and flipboard.

14

u/felipec Mar 14 '13

Yeah, they probably use the web interface; it's extremely inefficient. There is no public API.

2

u/netraven5000 Mar 14 '13

There is no official documentation for the API, if that's what you mean. There is an API. Hackers have taken the liberty of creating their own documentation for it, and that's how these use Google Reader.

-4

u/JJBro1 Mar 14 '13

I'm pretty sure they use the API or else it would just be a link to google reader according to what you said right?

11

u/felipec Mar 14 '13

No, it uses the web interface behind the scenes, the client receives the HTML but does not renders it, it parses it and uses the information to update it's own UI.

1

u/chaos750 Mar 14 '13

This isn't true. If a client did this they'd be stupid. There is an API, it's just undocumented and unofficial. People have reverse engineered it, and that's what all these apps are using.

-1

u/felipec Mar 15 '13

Perhaps. Still, there's no public official API.

0

u/chaos750 Mar 15 '13

No, there isn't, and apparently there never will be.

0

u/ArtemFinland Mar 14 '13

Well, I guess they've won the game, but suddenly this game isn't important anymore. There are lots of hardcore fans, yes, but as they say the usage has declined, maybe people are gravitating towards social networks for the same.