[greyfade]

Honest transparency? They've announced the move quite clearly, and have even given a timeline for its shutdown. You can still access your data and export it through Google Takeout[1].

I don't see what's untrustworthy, dishonest, or non-transparent about this. I am disappointed they're discontinuing a service I enjoy immensely, but it's their prerogative - they're not required to continue to offer a service if it's not in there interests to do so.

[1]: https://www.google.com/takeout/

[Samuel_Michon]

Google Reader co-creator Chris Wetherell: “When they replaced sharing with +1 on Google Reader, it was clear that this day was going to come,” he said. Wetherell, 43, is amazed that Reader has lasted this long. Even before the project saw the light of the day, Google executives were unsure about the service and it was through sheer perseverance that it squeaked out into the market. At one point, the management team threatened to cancel the project even before it saw the light of the day, if there was a delay. http://gigaom.com/2013/03/13/chris-wetherll-google-reader/

That's like Walmart moving into your small town, pricing its items so low that no local retailer can compete, watching all the local stores shut down, and when only Walmart is left they say "Not enough money to be made here, we're shutting down".

[ok_craig]

Which gives the local retailers a chance to come back, right? Or are they all gone forever?

[Samuel_Michon]

Sure, but by that time, most of the citizens will have moved to a town that has shops. Only the poor and the elderly will stay, because they have nowhere to go. Sadly, they'll develop all kinds of health problems because they're forced to eat at fast food restaurants every day.

[ijk]

I do think that more mention should be made if Google Talkeout in all this, if only because I want access to my data when the _next_ Google product is closed and I'd rather encourage Google to offer more open data like this.