8 ms·

I still miss google reader and Picasa. I don’t think I will ever get over those two losses.

deepsun 6y ago
Any good replacements? I mean, if people really miss Picasa (and I personally know several) -- it's worthwhile to reimplement it and make money.
- bryanrasmussen 6y ago
  >it's worthwhile to reimplement it and make money. no it's not, because if you do (and look to be getting significant growth) Google will just start it up again and drive you out of business, run it for a year or two afterwards for free and then kill it.
- astrange 6y ago
  RSS readers existed before Google Reader and they still exist after it. https://netnewswire.com https://netnewswire.com https://feedly.com https://feedly.com
  - deepsun 6y ago
    Yes, I pay for BazQux
- llimos 6y ago
  I quite like DigiKam.
dimator 6y ago
I realize google reader was a popular app, especially among the hn crowd. But there's been how many years since reader? Why hasn't anyone duplicated exactly the reader experience? The truth is that you miss the world in which google reader could exist. Free, unfettered, unabridged access to full length articles in a highly consumable format is not a thing that most publishers are behind now. They want your eyes on their ux and their ads. It's a bit like saying you miss street fighter 2 cabinets. Ok but, there are no arcades left.
- acover 6y ago
  Feedly replicated it when reader stopped.
- sp332 6y ago
  It kept archives of defunct blogs. When Reader went away, they just deleted it all. Also, it's less useful for a smaller site to have social sharing features when we used to have a Google-sized network of readers.
  - jhoechtl 6y ago
    Defunct blogs create no ad revenue stream.
    - ddalex 6y ago
      Why not? I mean if there is readership interested in that content, nothing wrong with using the ad impression. Text storage requirements are insignificant
- Epitom3 6y ago
  Sad times we live in
- joosters 6y ago
  Inoreader - https://www.inoreader.com/ https://www.inoreader.com/ RSS still exists, you know!
- laurent92 6y ago
  https://theoldreader.com https://theoldreader.com Excellent. But what Google took away was the culture of blog-RSSing. It gave an enormous advantage to Facebook and Instagram. Which are competitors to Google. What a bad move from Google.
  - ignoramous 6y ago
    Google built Chrome and then AMP. I assume, Reader fell short where Chrome excelled, and hence the Google axe.
wlesieutre 6y ago
Once upon a time I volunteered on an Eagle Scout project, scanning boxes of old photos to digitize the whole collection. We thought "Google is a big tech company, this should stick around." Got about 10 years out of it, which strikes me as pretty average for a tech product, but not great for a photo archive. Hell of a lot shorter than "4x6s in a shoebox." At least that was a desktop app and they still have their data. Hopefully they were able to find a new way to organize them. But I'm becoming more and more convinced that the only good way to store data is in an organized tree of folders, with any management software being a veiwer UI into that structure. App inevitably goes away? Replace it with the next one. Some things just need to have longer lifespans than software projects.
- wlesieutre 6y ago
  Should have mentioned Unbound, the app I’d use for that today. https://www.unboundapp.com/ https://www.unboundapp.com/ Point it at a folder, that’s your photo library. Dev could stop development tomorrow and your photos would be right where you left them.

Any good replacements? I mean, if people really miss Picasa (and I personally know several) -- it's worthwhile to reimplement it and make money.

bryanrasmussen 6y ago
>it's worthwhile to reimplement it and make money. no it's not, because if you do (and look to be getting significant growth) Google will just start it up again and drive you out of business, run it for a year or two afterwards for free and then kill it.
astrange 6y ago
RSS readers existed before Google Reader and they still exist after it. https://netnewswire.com https://netnewswire.com https://feedly.com https://feedly.com
- deepsun 6y ago
  Yes, I pay for BazQux
llimos 6y ago
I quite like DigiKam.

dimator 6y ago

I realize google reader was a popular app, especially among the hn crowd. But there's been how many years since reader? Why hasn't anyone duplicated exactly the reader experience? The truth is that you miss the world in which google reader could exist. Free, unfettered, unabridged access to full length articles in a highly consumable format is not a thing that most publishers are behind now. They want your eyes on their ux and their ads. It's a bit like saying you miss street fighter 2 cabinets. Ok but, there are no arcades left.

acover 6y ago
Feedly replicated it when reader stopped.
sp332 6y ago
It kept archives of defunct blogs. When Reader went away, they just deleted it all. Also, it's less useful for a smaller site to have social sharing features when we used to have a Google-sized network of readers.
- jhoechtl 6y ago
  Defunct blogs create no ad revenue stream.
  - ddalex 6y ago
    Why not? I mean if there is readership interested in that content, nothing wrong with using the ad impression. Text storage requirements are insignificant
Epitom3 6y ago
Sad times we live in
joosters 6y ago
Inoreader - https://www.inoreader.com/ https://www.inoreader.com/ RSS still exists, you know!
laurent92 6y ago
https://theoldreader.com https://theoldreader.com Excellent. But what Google took away was the culture of blog-RSSing. It gave an enormous advantage to Facebook and Instagram. Which are competitors to Google. What a bad move from Google.
- ignoramous 6y ago
  Google built Chrome and then AMP. I assume, Reader fell short where Chrome excelled, and hence the Google axe.

wlesieutre 6y ago

Once upon a time I volunteered on an Eagle Scout project, scanning boxes of old photos to digitize the whole collection. We thought "Google is a big tech company, this should stick around." Got about 10 years out of it, which strikes me as pretty average for a tech product, but not great for a photo archive. Hell of a lot shorter than "4x6s in a shoebox." At least that was a desktop app and they still have their data. Hopefully they were able to find a new way to organize them. But I'm becoming more and more convinced that the only good way to store data is in an organized tree of folders, with any management software being a veiwer UI into that structure. App inevitably goes away? Replace it with the next one. Some things just need to have longer lifespans than software projects.

wlesieutre 6y ago
Should have mentioned Unbound, the app I’d use for that today. https://www.unboundapp.com/ https://www.unboundapp.com/ Point it at a folder, that’s your photo library. Dev could stop development tomorrow and your photos would be right where you left them.