Google-izer

I’ve spent months trying out free iPhone RSS readers, and comparing specs and capabilities of all the paid ones, trying to decide if I should invest, continue using one of the free ones (I’ve tried NewsGator‘s NetNewsWire for iPhone and Simon Oualid‘s Free RSS Reader), or write my own once I get an Intel Mac. Last night I realized that I should just use Google Reader. This has the advantage of being an online service, so I can get to it from anywhere and not have to read the same articles over and over. It’s fast, powerful, and the mobile interface is very user-friendly.

Occurrences of this nature seem to be rather common. I become frustrated with the available options for a certain task, and begin looking for other solutions. I spend a while jumping between solutions, beating myself over the head, and considering writing my own (which is not always feasible), and then realize that Google makes a free product that is better than any of the others. I had this experience with Gmail and Google’s movie showtimes tool. Picasa, Google Calendar, and Google Docs aren’t quite there yet, but I think they will be soon.

Here’s to the next generation of web-based apps. Centralization and reduction of client-side data processing are the way forward.