Well, an Internet era, at least (compressed time and all that).
I’ve been a FeedDemon user since 2001 (or so), even paying for the reader before it became part of the NewsGator group. After an extended (and a little frustrating, at times) experience with Outlook as my feed reader, I am abandoning FeedDemon and in search of another reader.
I am keen for your suggestions as to how I should find my feeds in the future.
Here’s what was cool about FeedDemon:
- Sync, sync and sync. I read feeds on multiple systems (a lot). Items are be marked ‘read’ on exit, so no wasted time when logging onto another machine.
- NewsGator Mobile. My feeds, right in the palm of my hand. A spiffy means to mark items for future reference (clippings), so I could refer back to the content in which I was interested.
- An independent, autonomous interface (see my Outlook bullets below).
Here’s what’s cool about Outlook as a feed reader:
- Built in (if you’re an Outlook user). Your feeds are just there.
- Autoarchive: I keep some feeds forever (besides my own). I can save them locally for future reference.
- Search. Really quick search, when seeking specific content.
So, why didn’t I stay with Outlook as a feed reader, choosing to return to FeedDemon? Well:
- Sync, sync and sync. While everything was synchronized, I had no control over when items would sync. If I found myself racing for a plane and wanted to just sync my Inbox, Outlook would try to synchronize everything, which took too much time in a pinch.
- View Article link. There is a link at the bottom of each post (short or long format) that connects you to the originating page to acquire the entire article in a web browser. For an unknown (to me) reason, the metadata ‘View Article’ shows up as the reference post title, which requires a number of extra steps to paste the title therein. Would be wonderful if the title of the article came with the right-click or select operation.
But: do I have gripes about Feeddemon? Yes:
- A MouseOver on the title of an article in the preview window shows the proper URL, but a ‘copy shortcut’ operation only captures the URL (and not the title). A click-and-drag operation selects the entire title captures the URL and an internal-to-FeedDemon link that marks the article as ‘read’. Convenient for the application, not so much for the blogger. I wrote Nick on this on two occasions.
- NewsGator has moved to a less-web-friendly partnership, which now requires me to sign up for Google Reader.
I am not a Google Reader guy; and the last thing I need is to keep track of another login. What the hell?
I bring this up as I got this email a few weeks ago; and email that prompts me to make an change: The End of NewsGator Sync: What it Means for FeedDemon Customers. Note that I will (and be very vocal about) abandon FeedDemon and wrangle with the PTBs in Office to achieve the functionality I seek. I am an Outlook guy (again).
Sorry, Nick. I do not need the overhead.