Web Worker Daily

Mark says: January 9th, 2008 3:48pm

I just switched to using Apple Mail on the desktop instead of the always open browser window. I’m very happy with the move. That said, I’m not interested in desktop RSS. I like closing the browser window, I like what Google Reader offers me. I like that I can access it on my iPhone via Safari, mark items as read, and be done with them.

Peter Cranstone says: January 9th, 2008 4:03pm

All they are doing is trading $$ for your attention data which they will turn around and sell.

They should have done this the day before Google Reader went live - it’s two years to late because things have changed. The action has shifted to the browser, not the desktop app.

Peter

Kathleen Anderson says: January 9th, 2008 4:04pm

I am/was a paying FeedDemon customer, but I could only use it at home. We are not allowed to install software on our work PCs. I discovered Google Reader about 6 months ago and I will not be switching back. I can read feeds in my browser – no software required – and what I read at work stays read and I don’t see it again at home.

Ivan V. says: January 9th, 2008 4:19pm

Not a chance I use a desktop RSS reader. There was a time I did do.

Too little too late.

Zac Garrett says: January 9th, 2008 4:33pm

There is still software based RSS readers out there?

The problem for me with desktop software for reading RSS feeds is that there is no simple way of seeing what you’ve read on another computer. When you read feeds from various places — work, home, mobile — the ability to only see new items is essential. When I tried a few different desktop RSS readers none of them supported this the way that google reader does.

Now that search has been added to google reader it is the best RSS tool I’ve ever used.

NewsGator consumer products now all free–now you have no excuse not to use them says: January 9th, 2008 5:51pm

[...] the huge value the attention data offers us (I can’t wait to learn how to leverage it).  Web Worker Daily and R/WW both wonder if this move will change anything in the RSS market, not to mention the [...]

Brian says: January 9th, 2008 6:05pm

I see a couple of comments along the lines of I have multiple computers/devices and I want to keep my items in sync. Well the products that NewsGator sell are integrated with their NewsGator online service. Other desktop readers offer similar integration such as RSS Bandit.

For me, FeedDemon and NetNewsWire do the job a lot better than Google Reader since I can have all items cached for offline reading, remove feeds I don’t read easily, works well with multiple tabs etc. Whenever Google Reader gets to that level I will likely migrate.

Robert Accettura says: January 9th, 2008 6:18pm

IMHO Google Reader is still more attractive. Runs over SSL and requires no setup. Works on any computer. No installs.

Not to mention it handles several hundred feeds with no issues, delays or sluggishness.

Kurt R says: January 9th, 2008 6:19pm

Google Reader is the single most useful application I’ve ever used.

I used NewsGator before Google Reader, but I can access Reader from any PC that has web access, plus my Windows mobile phone when I have a few free moments. Perfect!

Google Reader may not have caching, but for me, there’s no longer any concept of being “offline”. If that was an issue, I might find NewsGator more appealing.

Peter says: January 9th, 2008 7:06pm

I have been using FeedDemon for years and still love it. Google Reader has improved tremendously over the years and it does integrate better with Gmail than FeedDemon does.

There are still two things FeedDemon does better. One is printing. Printing an article from Reader (not from the site the article came from) is an exercise in frustration. Second is keyword searches. FeedDemon allows you automatically pull out posts that contain keywords you select. So for example, I could subscribe to a generic sports feed and have it only pull out stories about my favorite team or player. Reader does not offer than funstionality at all.

Rob says: January 9th, 2008 7:19pm

NewsGator lost me to Google Reader ages ago. I’m hardly going to reward them for their lethargy by switching from what is a great, free web app to their clunkier desktop program.

zemote says: January 9th, 2008 8:34pm

Onfolio lost me to bloglines, then bloglines lost me to google reader. A desktop app is not needed for feed reading. I have google reader on my phone if i need it too.

Brian Yamabe says: January 9th, 2008 8:50pm

Online readers stink for speed and interface. I can fly through 500+ feeds with NetNewsWire, I can manage an order of magnitude fewer with an online reader.

Leonid Mamchenkov says: January 10th, 2008 12:25am

Desktop RSS readers don’t make much sense for me. I need to keep my computer on, connected, and RSS reader running all the time if I don’t want to miss anything from high traffic feeds (some del.icio.us tags, Flickr groups, etc). I need to do backups. I need to find the way to synchronize collected data, bookmarked items, and read/not-read information among several devices (my laptop, my mobile, etc). Web-based RSS reader takes care of the problems that I care the most.

Oh, and I keep a browser window open with most used tabs all the time my laptop is on anyway…

Leonid Mamchenkov says: January 10th, 2008 12:27am

@Brian Yamaba: Google Reader with keyboard navigation does pretty good. I used to manage close to 800 feeds, and it wasn’t the speed of the application that caused me drop the number of subscriptions to under a 100, but the information overload. :)

Also, Google Reader supports Google Gears, which speed up things a lot in off-line mode and offer a way to go through feeds when not connected.

Judi Sohn says: January 10th, 2008 2:52am

Thanks for the lively feedback! I’m with most of you. I already have paid licenses for both NetNewsWire and FeedDemon. But I still switched to Google Reader a couple of years ago and I’m not quite compelled to switch back.

Personally, I like taking “hit & run” passes on my feeds in between other things and it’s easier to do that in the browser than have a separate application running.

Plus, with all due respect to NewsGator folks, I don’t think NewsGator Online is their best effort. ’nuff said there.

Captain Marc says: January 10th, 2008 6:05am

Thought I’d be excited about this, but a few mins after running NNW for the first time in months, I decided to stick with Google Reader.

Ability to move seamlessly between different devices and have everything in sync is so nice with GR (great mobile interface, too). Also love the ability to just show updated feeds.

Ian says: January 10th, 2008 7:25am

The other day I exported all my feeds from NNW and imported them to Google Reader. Googles lack of support for sub-folders, and auto-refreshing of all feeds meant that I had over 200 articles instead of just 20. I’ll stick with NNW which itself syncs with the online service at Newsgator.com

Also I’m skint, my trial just ended and I was to buy NNW, so great timing!

The Flowercast » NewsGator’s Free Offering says: January 10th, 2008 7:41am

[...] I guess by now we all know that NewsGator’s products are all now free. There has been a lot of talk on this subject and Web Worker Daily asked yesterday if it changes anything. [...]

Bill Day says: January 10th, 2008 9:38am

Mobility and availability on any computer, phone, and browser is much more important to me than price. This isn’t even a blip on my radar.

Web Worker Daily » Archive Newsgator: It’s the Attention, Stupid « says: January 10th, 2008 11:00am

[...] giving away all of its client products. Much of the early discussion (including in the comments to our own coverage) has been about whether the software is compelling enough, even at a “free” price [...]

A few thoughts on the Newsgator announcement (aka Desktop versus Web-based feed readers) | Wired Gecko says: January 11th, 2008 11:44pm

[...] Web Worker Daily has been covering Newsgator’s decision to release its consumer products for free: As you may have heard, this afternoon NewsGator announced that all of their desktop/mobile client applications are now freeware. NetNewsWire (see our review) and FeedDemon are well regarded as the best-in-class for all things RSS in a desktop application..now without a price tag. Loyal fans are cheering that the company has abandoned their ‘buy the software and get a free subscription’ model in favor of different ways of raising revenue (including abandoning all but web forum support options). [...]

david fauber says: January 15th, 2008 1:26pm

personally I think its too late, GoogleReader et al are too far out in front. Also given that most of the folks who use things like RSS readers like having that info available from anywhere, it gives a huge legup to browser based solutions.

A few thoughts on the Newsgator announcement (aka Desktop versus Web-based feed readers) | chilibean says: January 25th, 2008 5:30am

[...] Web Worker Daily has been covering Newsgator’s decision to release its consumer products for free: As you may have heard, this afternoon NewsGator announced that all of their desktop/mobile client applications are now freeware. NetNewsWire (see our review) and FeedDemon are well regarded as the best-in-class for all things RSS in a desktop application..now without a price tag. Loyal fans are cheering that the company has abandoned their ‘buy the software and get a free subscription’ model in favor of different ways of raising revenue (including abandoning all but web forum support options). [...]

Web Worker Daily » Archive Another Newsreader Goes Free « says: March 1st, 2008 8:34am

[...] 1st, 2008 (8:34am) Mike Gunderloy No Comments Possibly feeling the pressure from the giveaway of the NewsGator client applications, Mac OS X RSS reader NewsFire is now free. Unlike the NewsGator giveaway, this one doesn’t [...]

TechLog: » Mac tip: RSS čtečka Newsfire nyní zdarma says: March 1st, 2008 4:25pm

[...] už je to pod tlakem NewsGatoru zdarma, jak se domnívá Mike Gunderloy z WebWorkerDaily, nebo pod nátlakem celé řady možností jak si [...]