Nick Bradbury

FeedDemon 1.6 Teaser: Synchronization

As you'd expect, FeedDemon 1.6 will offer much better synchronization with NewsGator Online, making life easier for those who read feeds on multiple computers. If you read an item on one computer, it will remain read on any computer you use.

I've tried to keep the whole synchronization process as simple as possible, so you don't have to do much to get it working. Merging your FeedDemon and NewsGator Online subscriptions is a simple one-click process, which makes it ridiculously easy to keep your subscriptions synched. So regardless of whether you're a long-time FeedDemon user who has never used NewsGator Online, or you're a NewsGator Online user who has never used FeedDemon, you can get started quickly.

You can also choose on an individual basis which folders you want to keep synched with NewsGator Online. So, you can keep certain feeds private to one computer, and other feeds synchronized with NewsGator Online. Once a FeedDemon folder is marked to sync with NewsGator Online, any feed you add to that folder will automatically be added to your NewsGator Online subscriptions.

PS: As you can see from the above screenshot, you can now change settings at the folder level - yet another popular feature request that made it's way into v1.6.

FeedDemon 1.6 Teaser: Newspapers

Yesterday's FeedDemon 1.6 teaser talked about improvements in the way feeds are updated. Today's tease involves improvements in FeedDemon's newspapers.

Perhaps the biggest improvement is the new "Surfer" style (screenshot) I mentioned last month, which enables customizing the grouping and sorting from within the newspaper itself. You'll also be able to flag items or copy them to news bins from within the newspaper - great for those like myself who run FeedDemon with the news item list hidden.

My favorite feature, though, is how the Surfer style enables you to choose between full, short and no descriptions. I prefer using short descriptions, which are basically the first two lines of an item's description with all HTML except hyperlinks removed. This "river of news" approach enables viewing a large number of items at once, so I can quickly scan several feeds looking for items of interest.

FeedDemon 1.6 Teaser: Updating Inactive Groups

The first beta of FeedDemon 1.6 is about a week away, and I think you're going to like it. Despite the minor version increment from 1.5 to 1.6, the new FeedDemon actually contains enough improvements to warrant calling it 2.0. So, I figured I'd highlight some of the new features over the next few days, just so you know what's coming.

If you're a long-time FeedDemon user, no doubt you're aware that the current version only updates feeds in the active channel group. I designed FeedDemon this way because it was so bandwidth-friendly, and also because I figured people didn't really care about feeds in inactive groups until the group became active. Well, let's just say I was wrong - very wrong - because second only to synchronization, the ability to update feeds in inactive groups has been the biggest feature request.

So I'm happy to report that FeedDemon 1.6 will update all of your feeds based on their schedule, regardless of whether they're in the active group. And as the image to the right illustrates, the lackluster list of channel groups has been replaced with one that shows which groups have flagged and unread items. While this isn't the treeview that so many have asked for (hey, I have to leave something for 2.0, right?), I think you'll find this change to be a big step in the right direction (and I'll be the first to admit that I should've had this all along).

This is just one of the changes in FeedDemon 1.6, though - there are many more, almost all of which were the direct result of feedback from FeedDemon users. Stick around for the next few days if you'd like to see more of what's in store :)

FeedDemon by Subscription?

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UPDATE: Based on your comments about this post, we've changed our mind.

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Shortly after I was acquired by NewsGator, customers started asking whether FeedDemon would switch to a subscription model. At the time we were still ironing out the details, but we've decided now: FeedDemon (but not TopStyle) will become subscription-based software.

The rational behind moving to a subscription model can be found in this post from Greg Reinacker, which explains how the subscription model actually works out cheaper (especially for existing FeedDemon customers, who get two years of free upgrades). However, "subscription-based software" is a phrase that causes some people to recoil in horror, so I'm curious how FeedDemon users will react to the news.

My own reaction when the idea was first proposed was, "No way!" The subscription model never appealed to me because of ownership - I own the data that my software uses, and I don't want to be locked out of it. So let me clarify that this will not be the case with FeedDemon. If down the road you let your subscription expire, you'll still be able to export your channels, watches and news bins from FeedDemon. That's your data, so you won't be locked out of it.

That was my only real roadblock to accepting the subscription model - once I realized that "subscription" doesn't equal "loss of ownership," I was fine with the idea. And for a company like NewsGator, which offers several products that tie into the same server-side piece, a subscription model actually makes sense. You're paying for a service, and that service includes several software options so you can choose how you'd like to access the service. Fair enough, IMO.

But I realize that you may have other concerns about this move, and I'd like to hear about them. What is your reaction to a subscription-based FeedDemon, and what can we do to address any of your concerns?

PS: For some reason, this is one of those topics that brings out the flamers and trolls, so I have to ask that you be thoughtful and respectful when commenting here. Thanks!