Goodbye to Google Reader

It is indeed very sad news coming from Google - Google Reader is to be discontinued from 1 July 2013 onwards. This is Google's yet another round of spring cleaning effort.

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.

Google also advised in their support page on how to go about downloading your data so you can bring your RSS subscriptions to a RSS alternative.

The closing of Google Reader must have upset several users including myself and Americans have already started putting up a petition to Keep Google Reader Running. To date, the petition has garnered over 26,000 signatures.