I mentioned before that it looked like the online feed-reader service Bloglines was going to shut down. Apparently, an outfit called MerchantCircle.com has taken over the service from Ask.com, and they pledge to keep it going.
According to a blog post on their site, there will be somewhat of a transition process, "[b]eginning around December 1st, when you log in to your Bloglines account …" They say they this will be an "almost-automatic migration process." And?
And no, it won't be IDENTICAL to the old Bloglines experience. We are going to provide better, more stable reader technology, with a wider range of user features, but some minimally used features in need of expensive updates didn't make the cut. Instead, we've included some helpful new resources that you didn't have before; and we'll continue to incorporate as many features as possible.
Since MerchantCircle.com describes itself as "the largest online network of local business owners, combining social networking features with free marketing tools to connect local business owners with their communities," I dread can only imagine what the "helpful new resources" might be, but maybe I won't surrender to cynicism completely, and will at least give them a chance. Ping me if I haven't reported on it by early next month, if you care to know what my impressions are.
For the moment, things look the way they used to, except for an announcement message when you first log in. You might want to visit Bloglines before 1 December and download a list of your feeds, just to be safe, if you haven't already. (It's easy, and more details are in an earlier post, if you want them.)
You might also find it useful to track @bloglines on the Twitter.
(h/t: KK, via email)
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