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Occupy Google Reader Takes to the Streets

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Okay, so it's not exactly Occupy Wall Street, and the cause isn't quite so dire as the recklessness of investment bankers gone wild or the government bailouts, but Google Reader is being cut off at the knees, and a number of its die-hard fans (including a few I know from Google Reader) have taken to the street to protest.

I'm not sure this one is entirely cognizant of the stakes:

But hey, the more the merrier. Maybe Google will take note. I doubt they've ever had this sort of protest due to the discontinuation of one of their services before.

Oh, and just to be clear, no Reader is not being killed off in the strictest sense. It is being merged with Google Plus and a number of its best functions are being axed. This is why people are upset. People like myself who use these functions all the time (namely the following/sharing/commenting functionality) have grown fond of and even somewhat dependent on them. We'd rather Google left them alone. When you hear someone like myself saying "Don't kill Google Reader!" we do mean what we say. I don't want a watered down Google-Plus-merged Reader. I realize I have no say in the matter, naturally, but it's still a shame.

You can see more pics from the protest here.

See previous coverage of this subject here. (And yes, I know that at least one very vocal commenter out there really hates the fact that I've written about this more than once. Heaven forbid!)

Sign the petition to save Google Reader.

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