Much as I don't want Google to shutdown Reader (though I'm also relying on the <a href="http://www.reederapp.com" rel="nofollow">http://www.reederapp.com</a> author sorting out another back-end), I would suggest that the number of people signing the petition is going to be <= the number of people currently using Reader.<p>And Google have decided that number's not high enough for them to keep it around.
As much as I used Reader (every day, multiple times a day), it was obvious that Google didn't care, because it is broken as hell sometimes. I just never found a suitable alternative. Now I have to.