I'm A Normal Person And I'm Furious About The Death Of Google Reader

When I found out yesterday afternoon that Google was shutting down Google Reader, I thought it was a prank.

It is one of the three Google services I use multiple times a day for work, in addition to email and search. My reader is one of a few automatic tabs that open when I start my browser every morning.

As an editor, I love having the dozens of publications I read daily in one place, from the real estate section of the Wall Street Journal to a niche blog about luxury shopping in China.

So when I found out that the news was real, and that Google Reader would no longer be available after July 1, I was peeved.

Yes, I'm in the media, and probably rely on Google Reader more than most people to keep up with the news.

But I consider myself a "normal" person and not a "tech nerd" — I've had the same MacBook since 2007, I've never paid for an app, and even though I've worked at Business Insider for more than two years, a lot of the news on SAI goes right over my head.

In fact, this is the first time I can recall having an emotional reaction, positive or negative, to tech news.

The truth is, Google Reader makes my job much easier, and I dread the thought of turning on my computer the first day of July and seeing an error page where my feeds used to be. I've heard there are other services that can replace my reader once its defunct, but it seems inconvenient to switch when my current reader works perfectly well.

For me — and for the thousands of people who have signed petitions begging Google to change its mind — it's a useful tool, and probably not too costly or complicated to keep around.

So why are they killing it?