Tuesday, July 2, 2013

RIP Google Reader

I'm back from the weekend and am literally forcing myself to post. So I might just take the easy way out and rant my way through this post. 

About 4 years ago, I started using Google Reader as recommended by a friend. Before that, I didn't spend too much time on the net - at least, not on regular reading. Google Reader brought me to a whole new world that I had heard about but never participated in. I got some blog recommendations (nanopolitan, KrishAshok) and found some on my own through Indiblogger. I also looked up DesiPundit which led me to an entire list of people whose writings I love- greatbong, Shenoy, and CoconutChutney.

One day, I was looking at a Calvin Hobbes comic on the net and I suddenly realized I could subscribe to Daily Comics. That started a whole folder in my Reader- Calvin, Dilbert, Abstruse Goose, xkcd, PhD Comics. I resumed my Coffee-with-Calvin ritual. (I used to read the daily calvin on The Hindu while drinking my morning coffee when I was at home. Once I subscribed to C&H on Reader, I started reading Calvin with my afternoon coffee at work.) Google Reader was one of the tabs always open on my browser.

And today, as a last time effort, I read Hallucinations on Reader this morning. I was just hoping in the corner of my heart, even then, that the guys at Google would finally see sense and let Reader be. Well, considering they are the guys who gave us G+ AND tried to integrate G+ into every good feature until it turned annoying- I should have known better. Midnight today, Reader went out of existence.

Seeing the page say "Thank you for stopping by", it almost feels like one of my best friends died.

So, dedicating today's post to one of the sites that opened me up to the world AND made me spend a lot more time online than I ever would have. To the site that enlivened my coffee breaks through the years. And the site that gave me a lot to write about...

RIP Reader! RIP....

(Update 1: Added links to all the blogs mentioned, except the popular comics!)

3 comments:

  1. You should try http://cloud.feedly.com/ if haven't already. :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Suchi, you should try Feedly, http://cloud.feedly.com/ if you haven't already. :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thanks! And I have. I also tried the Old Reader and the Digg Reader. Not sure which I will stick to in the end... :)

    ReplyDelete

Comments are moderated mostly to skip spam. Posting anything else is ok! As far as possible, please try to be respectful and criticize the idea, not the person (including other readers!)
Thanks!