Why Google killed off Google Reader: It was self-defense
It's not a huge surprise that Google is dropping Google Reader, the blog reader it operated since 2005. After all, they'd let it go for some time now (not that I'm complaining – it was after all, a free service, a fine product, and a boon for the overall ecosystem of blogging, podcasts and RSS).
The reality, though, is that Google operates at vast scale, and a niche consumer product like Reader just doesn't move the needle.
I've been a fan and user of Google Reader since its start. And while I've tried a dozen or more other RSS readers, I wound up returning to Google's. This is sad.
