[jdost]

It is more a combination of the small and vocal user base and the message it sends to them about Google being open to cutting any product that has a usage they don't think is significant. Those people who see Google cut a product that they have adopted into a regular usage will probably add an asterisk to any recommendation for adopting a new Google product. There is no certainty that the lifespan of that Google is dedicated to that product. With the shutting down or Reader, it sends a clear message that almost no product of Google's is safe and that we should all be wary of what of theirs we adopt into daily usage.

[vonuebelgarten]

> cutting any product that has a usage they don't think is significant.

Curiously, some products that are moribund for more time still alive (e.g. Orkut).

[ijk]

Orkut is big in Brazil and India, so it makes sense that Google wouldn't kill the only social media platform they own with an actual mainstream userbase (modulo YouTube).

[joedevon]

LOL, check out http://www.bonkersworld.net/usual-suspects/ by a googler.

[camus]

nothig else to add , you sum it up perfectly.