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New NetNewsWire sync option isn't for everyone

31.07.2009
NewsGator's (NNW from here on out) was a sad event for me. Despite a number of intriguing new features, there are a few key changes in NNW that mean I'm now looking for a suitable replacement.

You may be thinking this is a rant about the new space for advertisements in NNW, but that's not the case. NNW is a terrific product, and the company is well within its rights to make money off the product. A future paid version of NNW will support ad-free viewing, for those who find the ads offensive. This is interesting, as it's basically full-circle back to where NNW was a few years ago. (It's unknown whether those people who bought a paid version of NNW in the past will be granted any sort of discount on the new ad-free version.)

The main reason I'm now looking to replace NetNewsWire is that, going forward, syncing across multiple Macs will only be possible via . In the present version, sync was available via NewsGator or MobileMe (.Mac); after testing both services, I settled on syncing via MobileMe.

NewsGator has decided to get out of the sync business, so it's obvious why support for that sync method has gone away. But why too must MobileMe sync vanish? Millions of Mac users have accounts, which makes the removal of MobileMe sync from NNW hard to understand. The cynic in me would think it was purely monetary--unlike Google Reader, there's no money to be made with MobileMe sync.

I know Google Reader is very popular, but that doesn't mean everyone wants to use it--people like me, for instance, would rather not. I have no desire to have Google involved in syncing my newsfeeds. It's not that there's anything embarrassing in there (OK, you got me; yes, I have the BoingBoing feed in my subscription list), but that I'd just rather not have Google involved in processing my feeds.

Why not? No particular reason other than I can't think of a good reason why Google be involved. As such, I'd rather leave the company out of the loop. With MobileMe sync, my data resides on my iDisk, and I know exactly where it is--I can even, if I wish, connect to my iDisk and easily delete it. I also know Apple's not really in the business of making money off of people's data (iTunes' Genius feature notwithstanding), so Apple has little reason to have an interest in my feeds.