Solo Technology

Oh goodness, “Google Reader Suffers Down Time” and panic ensues! Seriously, the article is from TechCrunch, was posted at 2am and bemoans the fact that Google Reader isn’t updating feeds. Even worse, the outage last several hours.

Read the comments — folks are honestly freaking out. Good grief people, get a grip and use a little common sense.

If your job depends on 99%+ uptime for a feed reader maybe, just maybe, you shouldn’t pin all your hopes on a product designated as a “labs” product. Hmm? Not even beta. “labs”

Don’t get me wrong, I’m a loyal G Reader user myself. I’m not hating on the big G. But for pete’s sake, look at the top of the Labs page:

Google labs showcases a few of our favorite ideas that aren’t quite ready for prime time. Your feedback can help us improve them. Please play with these prototypes and send your comments directly to the Googlers who developed them.

So here’s a tip for those who may not be aware: Like most feed readers, you can export your subscriptions list to an OPML file.

1. At the bottom of Reader, click “Manage Subscriptions”
2. Click Import/Export
3. Click Export your subscriptions as an OPML file.
4. Save to your PC

Now, head off to Netvibes or any other feed reading site (or desktop application) and import that OPML. Instant contingency plan.

One Response to “Feed Reading and Perspective”

1. Lincoln on June 25th, 2007 8:10 pm
   

   Google was down?? Sheesh I didn’t even notice, and I was checking feeds all day. I need a life. :-X

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