About a year and a half ago, I wrote a column outlining what I viewed as Google’s confusing and chaotic mix of products, including ones it introduced, developed, and then discarded — without much thought (so it seemed) to the customers who’d come to rely on them. Well, it’s happened again, this time with Google Reader. As I wrote back in 2011:
Are you using Google Wave? Buzz? Google TV? I didn’t think so. The churn of Google’s offerings ends up confounding people, especially if you’re not a diehard early adopter looking for the latest developments in Silicon Valley. It is almost as if the company’s executives, rather than viewing Google as an established company — something it certainly is — embrace it as one big experiment in innovation, as a race into the future.
The reaction to the Reader shutdown has been fast and furious:
https://twitter.com/TheRealDunkirk/status/312198822640111616
If you want to save your Reader data, learn more at Google.
ALLAN HOFFMAN 