Dave Burke - Goodbye NewsGator, Hello RSS Bandit

Goodbye NewsGator, Hello RSS Bandit

I should have known better not to upgrade my old version of Newsgator to 2.5, but since I was able to rediscover RSS Bandit, things turned out okay in the end.

I shouldn't have upgraded to NG 2.5 because my existing version of Newsgator (2.0.3?) did the job. There were regular memory problems requiring me to restart Outlook, but that wasn't a major inconvenience. I wasn't crazy about buying into the new NG subscription model, but I can certainly understand how it applies to Newsgator's Outlook and accompanying Online services model. Since I'm a stationary kind of nerd who works at home I would rarely if ever need to have my subscriptions synchronized on more than one computer.

From the start, NG 2.5 was just a bad experience. News retrieval took quite a bit longer than it did before, even after I turned off the synchronization option. I never retrieved a post I entered on my blog earlier today, even though I changed the settings to retrieve all posts in Outlook, not just new posts. And when I did change any settings in the Newsgator setup, I enjoyed one of the two jewels you see below. I love it, "If you are having problems using Newsgator, please contact NewsGator Support." I'm thinking multiple error popups is a clue that this message may be a bit redundant.

Enter RSS Bandit. I've been poking around the source a bit and impressed as heck with the sophistication of the RSS Bandit feature set, now at version 1.3.0.29. I'm thinking what a dolt I was for having access to the source code of this excellent .NET Windows application for so long and not using it every day to become familiar with it from a user's perspective. Disgusted with my "Newsgator upgrade" I transfered all of my feeds to RSS Bandit and began using it as my new RSS reader. From the budding .NET Windows developer perspective, I found myself several times thinking, "I wonder how they did that? Sweet!"

Yeah, sometimes things just work out, even when you do stuff you know you shouldn't have. I'm only sorry it took me so long.

Comments (8) | Post RSS RSS comment feed

Posted on 8/17/2005 3:32:00 PM by Dave Burke
Categories: Everyday
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8/18/2005 12:57:19 PM Permalink

Dave - You had the EXACT same exp I had. NGOE 2.5 just trashed my readings... I finally gave up and tried RSSBandit. Everything was great... until I started seeing some of my feeds get mixed up (see "Heather" and "MajorNelson" reference: http://feeds.feedburner.com/AndrewConnell?m=330).

Then Spence suggested FeedDemon. Since you had NGOE, you got the extended subscription (I assume) until 2007 like the rest of us who were grandfathered in, which means you can use the beta version.. and later RTM version when it's released by NewsGator. After using it for a few days, I was sold. I've now been using it for a little over 2 weeks and can say that I've never seen a better aggregator... love it! I summed up my experiences here (http://feeds.feedburner.com/AndrewConnell?m=333). NGOE and RSSBandit are now off my machine.

AC |

8/18/2005 5:56:02 PM Permalink

Andrew, I already know about your experience with NG and Feedburner. I've been reading your blog for quite a while now. I know, I know. I was going to go with Feedburner (in part because of your review), but I was so over NewsGator that I didn't go with it solely because of its relationship with NG. And to be honest, the main reason I went with RSS Bandit as my main reader is for the user experience and the "aha!" moments I look forward to investigating the source, and even customizing Bandit to meet my own preferences.

You're right about the 2007 subscription timetable, so I may yet give Feedburner a spin. But I'm such a code hound, I'll probably stay with RSS Bandit just for the Nerd Factor.

Great hearing from you, AC. Thanks for the input.

daveburke |

8/18/2005 6:43:06 PM Permalink

Dave- I was hoping you were still a reader Totally understand your deal with NG and wanting to sever all experiences with 'em. I too liked RSSBandit for the same reasons, but I'm just so overloaded that I don't have time to tinker with the source and when I saw the two feeds get mixed up, and then heard about another person who had the same issue, I jumped... no time to mess with that .

8/18/2005 11:20:20 PM Permalink

AC, You're obviously more realistic than I am on having time to tinker with the source.  There's always hope I'll find the time to work with the source, so I'll stick with the delusion for now.

I don't mean to badmouth NewsGator and dismiss FeedDemon just because it was purchased by Newsgator Technologies, Inc.  I haven't had a single problem with NG for two years until I went to 2.5.  Greg built an excellent product.  From the screenshots and online info FeedDemon looks like a sweet reader.  I should give it a go on your recommendation alone, but having the RSS Bandit source and using it every day I just have to think I'm going to be able to get in there, learn a bit and eventually add to the stack, kind of like I did with CS and dotText before that.

So the feeds go mixed up, eh?  I'll keep an eye out for it.  Then again, I subscribed to DotNetJunkies/weblogs for over a year, so I'm used to screwed-up feeds.

I really appreciated your thoughts.  I'll let you know personally when my "I LOVE FEEDDEMON!" post is online.

8/19/2005 7:00:16 AM Permalink

Dave,

Have you tried Omea Reader http://www.jetbrains.com/omea/download/eap.html. It's another application written in .net.

Ali Aghareza |

8/19/2005 7:42:41 AM Permalink

Ali, I tried it several months ago.  I know you like it.  If I remember correctly I didn't need a lot of the features.

Interestingly enough, I went to the Omea site to refresh myself with it and instead of providing me another license so I could re-evaluate it, they said, "sorry.  you already were given a temporary license."  They should have been smart enough to know that six months elapsed since I received my last temp license and I surely wasn't using Omea illegally with a 30-day license.  They should have calculated the 6-months and responded, "Hm, this guy wants another look, maybe he'll buy this time."

I've been reading too many Seth Godin books probably, but I won't buy from stupid businessmen.

Thanks for your comment!  Hey, btw, where in the heck were you a few weeks ago on a certain Monday night?

9/21/2005 3:00:19 AM Permalink

Hey Dave, How ya digging RSS Bandit now you've had time to get over the honeymoon? Still lovin it?

Tim Haines |

9/21/2005 7:23:31 AM Permalink

Timster, I like it fine.  My objective in learning more about Windows Forms development by using a .NET (w/source availability) day after day was a good one.  There are certain functions not native to Outlook from my Newsgator experience, like undelete (ctrl-Z) for the post to reappear, but RSSBandit works perfectly fine for my 100 or so feeds.

There are things I'd like to change, but would have to get off my butt and get in there and figure out how to change them.  There's a setting with each feed "Mark all items Read on exiting feed."  This is cleared by default, so I have to change it for every feed.  That's something I should be able to fix myself.

No operational errors or feed corruption I noticed.  And looking at my task manager app list, RSSBandit is taking up only 34MBs.  MUCH better than Newsgator ballooning Outlook to several hundred megabytes.

Always an honor when the Timster visits.  Have a good one!

Dave Burke : Freelance .NET Web Developer specializing in Online Communities

Goodbye NewsGator, Hello RSS Bandit

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