I think much of the confused back-and-forth in this thread seems to stem from the fact that "good business decision" and "bad outcome for users" are not mutually exclusive. I don't think Marco doubts that Google had valid reasons for shuttering Reader. His piece is simply a plea to avoid becoming dependent on "proprietary monocultures" so that when these shutdowns occur, the negative impact on the user-base is minimized.

(Though I'm not sure that he's entirely against regulation, as some in this thread have suggested.)