Newsgator Declares RSS Readers Free

• By Dian Schaffhauser
• 01/16/08

Newsgator, one of the earliest entrants into the RSS and aggregated content reader business, has decided to offer its latest generation of client tools for free. That includes NetNewsWire 3.1, a Mac reader; FeedDemon 2.6, a PC reader; and NewsGator Go! for Windows Mobile 2.0, a mobile reader. The company is also offering a free version of NewsGator Inbox, which delivers RSS feeds to Microsoft Outlook folders.

Real simple syndication (RSS) readers allow users to subscribe to news, information, podcasts and other relevant content.

"It's all about ubiquity," said NewsGator CTO and founder, Greg Reinacker, explaining why the company decided to stop charging for its client applications. The move is expected to expand adoption of the tools, which also track usage of the feeds that are downloaded--such as whether an article is clicked on, read, forwarded and saved. That data is valuable to the media and online publishing companies that provide feeds through the Newsgator products. (Users who prefer anonymous usage can turn off the tracking feature.)