Revisiting Portals »
So it seems that the world is afire with news of the new Google homepage. While that's just wonderful and all, I have to ask - do many people actually use portals? The closest I get is Bloglines, but I use it to aggregate information - bring it all to me. I don't use it to start each day. Well, that's not entirely true - I do start most days with Bloglines, but it's a whole lot easier than trying to read everything on different sites.
While the new Google initiative (as well as My Yahoo!) is supposed to integrate feed reading, I simply can't imagine it working as well as Bloglines. There is no archive to it and the data is limited. Of course, you have Google - there isn't much need for an archive. But much like the aforementioned Newsgator Online service, it's designed for quick viewing. I don't do that.
I like to go in, and read the couple hundred items. No, I don't read all of them - but I could. Whether I'm using Google, Newsgator or Yahoo!, that's a bit of a chore - you get the visual equivalent of sound bites, which just isn't my style.
As for a "launching pad", I use Firefox Keyword Searches. Sorry, Google, but it is so much faster. I'm sure you understand that it's nothing personal, but I don't know how much I'll be making use of this new service of yours.
