Changes are afoot!

Dear Readers,

Recently, Google decided to drop two of its services, Reader and iGoogle.  The reason boiled down to declining use (and the decision to focus on fewer, high-demand products).  I am one of those busy people who relied on Reader to sort my feeds and save hundreds of tagged posts.  The options do not work as well as Reader and much of my content will not migrate to another service.  I will no longer subscribe to many great blogs (sorry bloggers).  Google seems to not care about its devoted and passionate followers, of which I was one until a few days ago.  The company doesn't seem to realize the impact this move will have on bloggers everywhere.  Or maybe they do and just want to push everyone to use Google+ no matter what.  Not everyone wants to get their updates via Facebook or Google+.

I have three blogs (including this one) on Blogger, another Google product.  I have loved Blogger and I still think it is amazing that the designers were able to so easily and simply make web design available to everyone.  My concern is that, eventually, Google will yank Blogger as well.  There seems to be a pattern, provide a cool (and yes, free) service, get people hooked, then yank it or let it decline into crap.  As Google has become a larger company, I've watched their customer service decline.  I am concerned, not just as a web user, but as a creator of content.

I suspect that this pattern will only continue.  Up until now, I've been happy to allow Google to trawl through my content and do whatever they do with it in return for a fantastic free service.  Well, no longer.  I am going to begin the process of migrating all of my stuff over to a new website. 

For those of you who know me, you know I hate change.  You know I don't work quickly.  You know my personal motto (do the minimum).  You can imagine... I...am...not...pleased.  This strategy will mean a lot more work for me (damn it), but I will have control over my work. 

The process will take time. I will continue to post and when I finally get the move done, most of my content will stay here for a while.  For those of you who subscribe, I don't know what your options will be.  RSS may be a thing of the past.

Thanks for visiting, following and reading.  I hope to have a great new website in the future.  Stay tuned...