DJYSRV

Google RSS Reader rolls out by ZDNet's Dan Farber -- At the Web 2.0 conference Google took the wraps off its RSS reader-- Google Reader Like other Google products, the RSS reader has a simple interface, makes good use of AJAX and shows how the company is scoping out all the kinds of applications and services that Web users will want to have. It's beta and [...]

It isn't clear that anyone is going to like it, at least not right away. The user inteface is so clearly different that the usual suspects including Opera's that it may take some time to get used to. Maybe Google has gotten the idea of using beta applications as loss leaders? In other words, some beta products are throw aways just to be sure they really are as bad as they think they are. In my experience the Google news reader is so bad that this must be the answer. It didn't work half the time and in several instances dumped me out of the session before I could get any results.

And if you don't like my comments here is what Google blogger Nathan Weinberg has to say,

"Google Reader doesn’t follow the very popular River-Of-News style, where article after article can be read in a scrolling list, allowing you to fly quickly through massive amounts of news. Google Reader doesn’t follow the Outlook-style view of email that many are used to, where your news comes in and you can view an overview at a glance, then choose what to read now. Google Reader doesn’t follow the MyYahoo style, in which your news is presented in a static view with all of your feeds presented with a limited amount of content. Google Reader blazes its own path, which might not be the best idea. Brad Hill says “Overall, then, this launch bookmarks an interface style while hinting at intriguing future directions. It cannot be taken seriously as a usable tool right now, but that could change quickly”.