Nick Bradbury

The End of NewsGator Sync: What it Means for FeedDemon Customers

Today NewsGator announced that their consumer synchronization platform will no longer be available as of August 31, 2009.  Rather than re-hash the announcement here, I invite you to read it on NewsGator's official company blog.  There's also an FAQ which addresses most of the questions about this announcement.

So how will this impact you if you're a FeedDemon customer who relies on NewsGator sync?  Honestly, this shouldn't have much impact on you.  FeedDemon 3.0 still offers syncrhonization - – but instead of synching with NewsGator, it syncs with Google Reader.

The first time you run FeedDemon 3.0, you'll be asked whether to convert your NewsGator subscriptions to Google Reader subscriptions.  Once the conversion completes, FeedDemon will sync with Google Reader instead of NewsGator.

If you're among the few customers who created synched clippings in FeedDemon, your clippings will no longer be synched after the conversion, and the RSS feed for your synched clippings will no longer update.  However, prior to the end of NewsGator sync, we'll provide a way to redirect your synched clippings feed so that anyone subscribed to it will be unaffected by the change.  Most of you will want to redirect to your Google Reader shared items feed (here's mine) since FeedDemon 3.0 includes the ability to copy articles to your Google Reader shared items.

What does this mean for the future of FeedDemon?  For the record I want to make it clear that FeedDemon's lifespan won't be cut short by this change.  FeedDemon (and NetNewsWire, for that matter) continues to have a very bright future.  I'm excited about being able to take full advantage of the power of Google Reader sync.

The Google Reader team has been making some interesting moves lately which enable me to take FeedDemon where I've long wanted it to go.  If you're a FeedDemon customer, I think you're going to love where FeedDemon will take you now that it's tied to Google Reader instead of NewsGator.

Why I Use Delphi

Every now and then someone will ask why I develop my software using Delphi.  After all, there are more "modern" languages for Windows like C#.  And besides, Delphi is going to die eventually, right?

Funny thing is, 15 years ago when I was developing HomeSite I was getting razzed by some geeks for using a development tool that they said would soon disappear.  And yet 15 years later I'm still going strong writing software in Delphi.

Here's why:

1. Speed.  Delphi isn't an interpreted language – it compiles to machine code, making it exceptionally fast.  Delphi's string handling is particularly fast, which is important when developing a string-heavy application (such as HomeSite, TopStyle or FeedDemon).
2. No runtime. Languages such as C# and VB.NET require the .NET runtime, which is a separate 20MB+ download for customers that don't already have it.  I don't want to worry about whether potential customers have the .NET runtime installed, or have the correct version installed – I just want them to download my software and use it without any additional headaches.  The latest version of FeedDemon is a mere 3.4MB download (yes, download size still matters), and no additional download is required.
3. Startup time. Related to the above, well-designed Delphi applications start quickly because they don't have to wait for any runtime to load (assuming it's not already loaded).  To me, this is a critical benefit.  Applications that take a long time to load have a low perceived performance, regardless of how fast they are once they're loaded.
4. It's not created by Microsoft. Don't take this as vague Microsoft bashing, because I like much of what Microsoft does (if I didn't, I wouldn't write software for Windows).  However, past experience with Microsoft development tools has taught me that they're willing to sacrifice the needs of developers in order to push forward their agenda.  I like the fact that Delphi is created by a group of dedicated programmers whose single goal is to make it the best development tool possible.

I realize that many Windows developers are put off by the fact that ownership of Delphi has changed hands so many times, but I see that as a testament to how strong the Delphi community is.  By many accounts, the latest version of Delphi is the best yet, so if you're writing software for Windows and are lucky enough to be able to choose your development tool, you should give Delphi serious consideration.

BTW, I'm far from the only one to develop a popular application with Delphi – for example, Skype, Ad-Aware and Macromedia Captivate were also developed with Delphi, and there are plenty of other well-known Delphi applications.