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Networking | 28 Aug 2009 | Listen   | Print Printer-Friendly Version of This Article | Comment (3)

NewsGator Pushes Back Date, Sets Price

by Glenn Fleishman Send Email to Author

NewsGator slipped out additional information about the planned shutdown of its synchronization server and the release schedule for NetNewsWire for Mac OS X and iPhone, and for FeedDemon for Windows. Some details were sent via email, while the rest were posted in an FAQ on the company's site.

NewsGator is turning to Google Reader to provide synchronization services in its updated RSS aggregation software, and the company is eliminating its Web-based service as well as an array of other niche products. (See "NewsGator Switches Users to Google Reader for Sync, Online RSS," 2009-08-04, for the background.)

Previously, NewsGator had set the end of its sync service at 31-Aug-09. However, release versions of its Mac, iPhone, and Windows newsreaders haven't yet been finalized. The company expects to have such versions in a few days, and will not shut down sync services until after those versions are available. It expects a shutdown around 10-Sep-09.

The new version of NetNewsWire will include ads, and NewsGator had said that users would be able to pay to remove enticements. The company's FAQ now says that the initial fee will be $9.95. Ads will reappear in NetNewsWire betas starting 01-Sep-09, at which point customers can pay to remove them. NetNewsWire for iPhone is currently listed as a free application.

I had previously criticized NewsGator on two fronts. First, for announcing an abrupt end to a popular service without having replacement software in hand to aid in a migration. Second, because the firm referred customers to a beta version of NetNewsWire without noting that status; the beta page was far clearer, but the warning should have been in both places.

On the first front, the company is under no obligation to continue its sync service, but unless the cost is unbearable, it seems that offering a few weeks of migration following completed releases of its three continuing newsreading applications would certainly be a way to preserve goodwill, something the company and its developers - and certainly NetNewsWire programmer Brent Simmons - have always had in large supply.

On the second front, the company's FAQ and migration page now make it much clearer that NetNewsWire is currently in beta testing.

 

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Comments about NewsGator Pushes Back Date, Sets Price

John Ralls2009-08-28 20:53
I'm partly grateful to Newsgator. I've used NetNewsWire for years, and would never have tried Google Reader if they hadn't forced my to get an account.

Well, between their half-baked rewrite and the general servicibility of Google Reader, I've decided that NetNewsWire isn't worth free, never mind $10. I'm quite happily using Google Reader, and I don't expect to ever use NetNewsWire again.
Andy Affleck2009-09-01 07:42
Has there been any word if the people (like me) who paid for NNW Pro before it went free will have to pay *again* for the ad free version?
Glenn Fleishman2009-09-01 08:08
Yes: Brent said it was a subscription price before and those subscriptions all expired at the end of 2008. So there are no paid NNW Pro subscriptions active!