Feedly

It is official: I've adopted Feedly as my primary Google Reader RSS reader. The Google Reader
shutdown was a shock for me and initially I panicked. But then I immediately realized I was not alone. After all GR was one of the most popular Google service. So somebody must have tapped such opportunity to grab the audience. 

Initially I tried the Google Currents app but it was far from giving me the Reader experience I was used to. So I decided to wait and follow the wisdom of the crowd. At the time of writing it seems the crowd has elected Feedly to be the next RSS reader of choice. It took me a while to adjust but after using it for a week I have to say it is very similar to the original Reader.

Feedly also proves my earlier point on the Apps versus the Web: it exists as an app for the mobile operating systems and as a Web app for desktops.

There are many theories on why Google decided to shut down the Reader. I heard they did not have a lawyer responsible for the product. I heard they did not have a full time team. It has been a very popular subject recently to discuss Why the Google Reader Really Got the Axe. We will judge this move later. And by the way, I wonder how many users would stay with Google, should it decide to monetize the service as a paid subscription. I'd be ready to spare a dollar a week to continue using the Reader.

For the time being I am happy I can seamlessly continue consuming my RSS sources. The Reader remains my #1 learning tool. I still seem to have better sources via RSS channels than via Twitter, but the latter keeps moving to the top of my list, as it has already moved to the official #1 learning tool.

It still remains to be seen how Feedly handles the transition from being a synced Google Reader client to being a self contained RSS aggregator. I will be offline on July 1st, when Google Reader shuts down, but hope my streams will migrate seamlessly.