Open-source Google Reader, we will take it from here!

I set up a petition last night keepgooglereader.com and I have been amazed by the response. At the time of writing we have about 22,000 signatures and it is still climbing. The site has been covered in the LA Times, Mashable, Le Monde and several other news outlets. But let’s be honest, Google won’t agree to keep Reader on. They never have listened to their user base and they probably won’t start now.

So here is what I am proposing to Google – open-source the Google Reader code and let us run it. We will find a way to monetise it, we will find a way to keep it going.

If you agree, then please head over to keepgooglereader.com and sign the petition. Come on Google, do the right thing!

  • Keith

    I’m with you Christopher! I think that making Reader open source is a great idea. There are many companies and services that rely on the API already, so maybe some of these guys could help? I know that Feedly relies on the API and now have to build their own. I would love to help in any way I can. Thanks!

    • http://christophmccann.com/ Christopher McCann

      Thanks Keith. Hopefully we can get the momentum to push Google to take some action!

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  • Rob Gowers

    It is now mentioned in the Financial Times:

    http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/4c607f1a-8c99-11e2-8ee0-00144feabdc0.html#axzz2NWMOK6S4

    Google reader is an awesome source – it must stay!

    • http://christophmccann.com/ Christopher McCann

      Thanks, never noticed that!

  • http://www.nonacreative.com Paul

    So bleak about google reader coming down, would be amazing if they open sourced it, but I wonder abut there track record with open sourcing their technology, like you say they do seem to ignore there user base to some degree.

    • http://christophmccann.com/ Christopher McCann

      I think, to be honest, that we have no chance of either happening. It is probably time we start thinking about using the alternatives.

      I am going to do a post shortly on those!

  • Dinesh Manne

    I think the interview in GigaOM of ex Google Reader Engineer specifies why it cant be open sourced are even sold to anyone else
    http://gigaom.com/2013/03/13/chris-wetherll-google-reader/. So i guess open sourcing will not happen because of its tight integration with google infrastructure.

    • http://christophmccann.com/ Christopher McCann

      Thanks for sharing Dinesh.

  • Jien

    Yeah, do the right thing! Come on!

  • rocket

    From my experience at IT company, open source may be impossible. Those kind of product are always closely tied to google internal services. But I am not sure. Let’s pray.

  • wysiwygjt

    While grateful for the efforts you’ve made, the focus of the petition changed from 24 hours ago. Now you ask Google to open source the code; yesterday it was asking Google to keep the Reader. Huge difference and also raises a lot of questions.

    • http://christophmccann.com/ Christopher McCann

      Thanks for your comment. I shall slightly amend the wording – the point is meant to be that if they won’t keep it going, even under the weight of community pressure, then they should give it to the community to run.

      The consensus seems to be that even if Google did that it would be to closely tied to proprietary Google tech so that probably isn’t going to be possible.

      I think now the focus probably has to be on alternatives like Feedly or maybe the community builds their own by forking Tiny Tiny RSS.

      • wysiwygjt

        Appreciated, even though it’s looking quite discouraging.

        I’ve been searching, like everyone else, for possible alternatives. So far no one app out there seems to cover everything that GR current does. GR syncs across devices, shares, or can be configured to share, to many different services (not just email, FB and Twitter!) and publishes feeds.

        I’ll keep looking and it may be that I’ll end up needing to use more than one.

  • http://www.economatix.com Economatix

    For those who might want to host their own RSS aggregator, there’s RNews (http://rnews.sourceforge.net/index.php) which requires a web server, php & MySQL. It won’t scale, but has the feeling of “one in the eye” for Google. “Yeah, we can do RSS too” (albeit on a micro scale). Sorry, Feedly, Netvibes and the rest of the pack that have surfaced in the past 24 hours are very nice, but if you just want a simple single-point-of-reference RSS feed then this application (or something like it) is for you.

    • Rama

      @Economatix
      Nice link, thanks!! :) VERY useful!

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  • imbahom

    come on google!

  • kssbsr

    You’re right.