Snippet: Google Kills Reader ☇

Yesterday, Google announced that it would phase out its Reader tool on July 1 (the only Google product I still regularly use):

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.

Out of all the things written about the news, Shawn Blanc’s take was one of my favorites:

The sites we read and subscribe to are not going away — it’s just the service we’ve been using to keep our read statuses in sync that is. Over the coming months there will no doubt be several alternatives which begin popping up, and so long as you’ve got your OPML file then you can move your “subscriptions” anywhere you like.

I use Reeder on all of my devices (Macs and iOS) after NetNewsWire languished a bit (and there weren’t iOS versions), so I’ll be anxious to see what happens next in this realm. A lot of folks think RSS is a dying tool, but once it’s in your workflow, it’s hard to find good alternatives.