Note: several commentators have pointed out that we’ve failed to make a distinction between a free service and free software. They are correct. We apologize for the confusion.

Google has announced that it’s about to retire Google Reader despite the fact that millions rely on the service. Farhad Manjoo points out that this goes to show why we shouldn’t trust free software:

• The nature of software has changed. Before you would purchase software and you could use it indefinitely. Even now programs decades old can be installed on our computers. Now with software stored on the cloud, if the company decides to shut down the service, there is nothing users can do.
• Free stuff is especially susceptible to this threat. If a company thinks that its software isn’t worth your money then it probably doesn’t think much of the software.
• Similarly, if you do use a free service often, and there’s an option to pay for it, then you should. It might just save the service.
• Google, however, doesn’t really allow you to pay for its service. And that’s likely why a lot of its products will eventually be discontinued. On the chopping block are both Google Voice and Google Scholar among others.

Read more about the future of RSS, some Google products that’ll probably stick around for a bit, and why Orkut will soon die even in Brazil, over here.

Source: Slate

Note: several commentators have pointed out that we’ve failed to make a distinction between a free service and free software. They are correct. We apologize for the confusion.