A real shame:

http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2013/...google-reader/

Very poor decision - and one I suspect will be met with a lot of backlash.

Other products and services set for the axe, as detailed here, include:

The GUI Builder and five UiApp widgets in its AppScript service, �to focus efforts on Html Service� as of September 16th.

The CalDAV API �will become available for whitelisted developers, and will be shut down for other developers on September 16, 2013.� The Google Calendar API is expected to pick up the slack.

Google Building Maker goes on June 1, but users will �still able to access and export their models from the 3D Warehouse�.

Google Cloud Connect is gone, superseded by Google Drive. The plugin to Microsoft Office popped files into Google Drive automatically, but left Word even less stable.

The Google Voice App for Blackberry will interpret its last utterance next week, replaced by an HTML5 site with similar functions.

Search API for Shopping goes, replaced by Google Shopping.

Snapseed Desktop for Macintosh and Windows won�t be sold or updated any more, but �Existing customers will continue to be able to download the software and can contact us for support. We�ll continue to offer the Snapseed mobile app on iOS and Android for free.�

what a boneheaded move.

as people try to flee, the servers of alternate rss readers are being overwhelmed and many of them simply use google reader for their backend.

-David

that was quick ... http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...&v=A25VgNZDQ08

What is my alternative to google reader?

From Google's perspective, it is a good move if it leads to increased profits. RSS feeds are waning in popularity and it isn't a profitable venture for them. Social media technologies are becoming increasingly adept at disseminating news, so it makes a lot of sense from a business perspective for Google to encourage users to go that direction.

Feedly is a good one.

Cnet - Google Reader is dying, but we have five worthy alternatives

I quit using an rss reader a couple years ago(that I added feeds), no big deal. Mostly using flipboard now which is a lot like an RSS feed reader, but a much different way of working

Here's a Lifehacker article that discusses various alternatives to Google Reader. I haven't chosen one yet; so happy to add this to my to-do list.

yeah, this is really pretty darn lame. I think I've probably been using reader for nearly a decade now (or almost at least) and honestly, it's my start page, and the one I hit more often than ANY other page on the internet. think of all the linking, think of all the tabs I spawn out of there. Think of all the MEDIA and publishing companies and sites that uses it to filter the flood gates of the internet.. I'm really pretty surprised. I'm meeting with some Sr. Mgmt at goog later in the week and will certainly be letting them know that I think this is a bone head move. Yeah, the numbers are probably not there, but think about that TARGET audience.

Honestly, if I had to think about it Google Reader is one of the things on the internet that I WOULD pay for, at LEAST 20-25$ a year (must save me 100X times in time saved alone)

As the alternative, feedly seems okay. The fact that they are currently engaged with Google to basically fully integrate the API and the code/views in the feedly platform means that they could simply take over the lost souls (again, many of whom I would predict would pay for proper access)

As someone who refuses to participate in Facebook, I don't have a "social" alternative to get my news. I also don't find social dissemination to be at all on par with RSS feeds and I certainly don't want my news to be restricted to what my "friends" decide to post. If I want to read snarky comments about news headlines, I go to Fark.

Thanks to those who posted articles suggesting alternatives to Reader. I will be exploring options over the weekend.

The case you'd have to make to Google would be why it would become profitable for them to continue to support versus other methods of doing the same/similar. It's not just a matter of "is there anyone who still wants this?", as they're well aware that there are still many users, even though the popularity is waning. It's a question of "why keep supporting this when it's not as profitable nor as efficient as alternatives?"

Lots of ways to do it without relying on friends. As you already have a Google Account, you could try using G+ to get your news streamed, customized to precisely what you (not your friends) like, should you choose.

iGoogle is going away in November too. I can see stopping making updates to these tools but I don't get why they need to take them away altogether.

Very unfortunate news.

My start page is essentially iGoogle (which is already being obsoleted by Google) filled with RSS feeds (mostly generated by Google Reader), so I am doubly hosed!

I use Feedly and Flipboard as interfaces to (not replacements for) Google Reader, so that I can easily view my customized content on different devices. I guess that's over now.