I’ve been a fan of the NetNewsWire/NewsGator Online combination for some time. Along with NewsGator Go! for the Blackberry (the one I got rid of because I couldn’t seem to manage the three emails I get per day, unpopular as I am I found myself spending inordinate amounts of time reading email when I should be working, lack of popularity notwithstanding) the system provided me with the ability to efficiently manage all my feed consumption whether at the desk or on the road. And one leg gone I still loved it – away from the desk (and not on the water) I could just log into NewsGator from any available computer and read my feeds without duplicating efforts thereafter.
Today that system has changed in a significant way, although the process has not. NewsGator just announced that effective August 31, 2009, NewsGator Online will no longer be available as a consumer application. NewsGator Enterprise users will not be affected, but then again they are paying customers. Nevertheless, NewsGator hasn’t left anyone hanging – the rest of us will be able to sync our desktop feed readers with Google Reader – all you have to do is download the latest and greatest app, whether it be NetNewsWire or one of the other platform specific readers NewsGator produces (individual product transition instructions are available here).
For those who are opposed to reading detailed instructions, I’ll give you the short and sweet version for preserving your existing feed subscriptions:
1) Turn off syncing within your existing desktop application
2) Export your subscriptions into an OPML file and save them on your desktop
3) Install new desktop application
4) Import OPML file into new desktop application
5) Set up a Google Reader account
6) Import that OPML file into Google Reader, after hitting Settings and then the Import/Export tab
I’ll update this post with instructions on how to set up syncing between your Google Reader account and your new NewsGator-provided desktop RSS reader after I do it myself. Until then, happy installing, signing up, reading…whatever.
EDITOR’S NOTE: the instructions above were garnered from previous technical know-how, meaning I either need to hit the river really soon to wring some overwork-ed geekiness out, or you’re just plain silly to listen to me in the first place. I’m voting the former.
UPDATE: The good news is that while the instructions above are pretty straightforward, the latest version of NetNewsWire preserves your subscriptions as is (as long as you just drag and drop into your Mac’s Applications folder. And syncing to your Google Reader account (assuming you set one up), can be done either when the new application is first launched, or thereafter from the preferences menu.
The bad news is the new NetNewsWire also contains advertisements, and whether or not you sync to Google Reader and/or provide anonymous attention data to NewsGator the ads persist. They’re obtrusive, and they blow the interface. Unless you’re planning on syncing to Google Reader, I highly recommend you stick with the old version of NetNewsWire and simply turn off syncing. And if you have a copy of the old version, please send it to me too!
