NewsGator
announced on Wednesday that it has released NetNewsWire 3.1, the latest version of its popular feed-reading program, as a free download. The product previously cost $30.
“For me personally, this is a dream come true,” NetNewsWire author Brent Simmons wrote on his personal blog. “Every developer wants to be able to work on the software they love, make a living at it, and give it to the world for free. Usually you get to pick two out of three–if you’re lucky. Me, I get all three.”
NetNewsWire isn’t the only product to be made available for free today. In Fact, NewsGator has made all of its RSS products–including FeedDemon 2.6 and NewsGator Go! for Windows Mobile 2.0–free.
All users who purchased one of NewsGator’s client applications (or renewed a subscription) on or after December 9, 2007 will automatically receive a credit on the credit card they used to make the purchase, the company said in a posting to its Web site.
NewsGator will end its direct end-user support via email. The comapny said most of its support goes through the community forums anyway and that will continue.
NewsGator acquired NetNewsWire in 2005, and hired Simmons on to continue developing of the product.
NetNewsWire 3.1 adds tabbed browsing; the ability to search your news items with a standard Apple search widget–as in Mail and other applications; you can download podcasts and enclosures, and sends podcasts to iTunes with your choice of genre and playlist; and compatibility with Mac OS X Leopard, among other things.