Today is July 1, 2013, a somewhat special day. Google has decided to shut down Google Reader, a service that was once widely popular. More than six months ago, Google had already announced that Google Reader would officially cease operation today.

For many users, the shutdown of Google Reader was undoubtedly a heavy blow. It not only made it convenient to subscribe to a wealth of international information, but also did an excellent job of preserving reading history. For me personally, however, the demise of Google Reader stirred little emotion. Due to network constraints, I preferred using the offline reader Liferea, which better suited my needs in certain respects. So Google Reader was merely one of many useful tools to me — I would open it from time to time, but never considered it indispensable. In fact, no tool is truly irreplaceable; finding an alternative is just a bit of a hassle, and Google is certainly not among the irreplaceable ones.

I know some might accuse me of failing to understand the feelings of those loyal users — for whom the shutdown of Google Reader was enough to drain all hope from life, even turning their fervent admiration of Google into bitter enmity. But in my view, much of this kind of sentiment is simply unnecessary. Google is an excellent commercial company that has produced many outstanding products. At the end of the day, however, it remains a business driven by profit. Demanding that a company keep investing in a project regardless of returns — even morally blackmailing it over this — is asking too much.

That said, as a user-friendly and widely praised RSS reader, the disappearance of Google Reader still deserves a moment of silence here in remembrance. Farewell, Google Reader.