NetNewsWire is a

free and open-source Free and open-source software (FOSS) is a term used to refer to groups of software consisting of both free software and open-source software where anyone is freely licensed to use, copy, study, and change the software in any way, and the source ...

news aggregator In computing, a news aggregator, also termed a feed aggregator, feed reader, news reader, RSS reader or simply an aggregator, is client software or a web application that aggregates syndicated web content such as online newspapers, blogs, po ...

for

macOS macOS (; previously OS X and originally Mac OS X) is a Unix operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc. since 2001. It is the primary operating system for Apple's Mac computers. Within the market of desktop and lap ...

and

iOS iOS (formerly iPhone OS) is a mobile operating system created and developed by Apple Inc. exclusively for its hardware. It is the operating system that powers many of the company's mobile devices, including the iPhone; the term also includes ...

. It was introduced by Brent and Sheila Simmons on July 12, 2002, under their company Ranchero Software.

History

NetNewsWire was developed by Brent and Sheila Simmons for their company Ranchero Software. It was introduced on July 12, 2002, with ''NetNewsWire Lite'', a free version missing some advanced features of the (then commercial) version, introduced some weeks later. Version 1.0 was released on February 11, 2003, and version 2.0 was released in May 2005. At that time it included custom feed views, custom downloading and opening of

podcast A podcast is a program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. For example, an episodic series of digital audio or video files that a user can download to a personal device to listen to at a time of their choosin ...

s, synchronization of feeds and feed status between computers,

Bloglines Bloglines was a web-based news aggregator for reading syndicated feeds using the RSS and Atom formats. Users could subscribe to the syndicated feeds for free using a web browser. Bloglines offered an application programming interface that maint ...

support, and a built-in tabbed browser. In October 2005, NewsGator bought NetNewsWire, bringing their NewsGator Online RSS synchronization service to the Mac. Brent Simmons was hired by NewsGator to continue developing the software. NetNewsWire 3.0 was released on June 5, 2007. The version added Spotlight indexing of news items, integration with

iCal Calendar is a personal calendar app made by Apple Inc. that runs on both the macOS desktop operating system and the iOS mobile operating system. It offers online cloud backup of calendars using Apple's iCloud service, or can synchronize with ...

iPhoto iPhoto is a discontinued digital photograph manipulation software application developed by Apple Inc. It was included with every Macintosh personal computer from 2002 to 2015, when it was replaced with Apple's Photos application. Originally so ...

Address Book An address book or a name and address book is a book, or a database used for storing entries called contacts. Each contact entry usually consists of a few standard fields (for example: first name, last name, company name, address, telephone num ...

, and VoodooPad,

Growl Growling is a low, guttural vocalization produced by predatory animals; producing ''growls''. Growling or growl may also refer to: Sounds * Death growl, the dominant singing style in death metal music * Stomach growl, or borborygmus, noise produ ...

support, a new user interface, performance enhancements, and more. The application was originally

shareware Shareware is a type of proprietary software that is initially shared by the owner for trial use at little or no cost. Often the software has limited functionality or incomplete documentation until the user sends payment to the software developer ...

, but became free with the release of NetNewsWire 3.1 on January 10, 2008. NetNewsWire Lite was discontinued at the same time. NetNewsWire 3.2 moved to an advertisement-supported model with the option to purchase the application to remove ads. An iOS version of NetNewsWire with support for the iPhone,

iPod Touch The iPod Touch (stylized as iPod touch) is a discontinued line of iOS-based mobile devices designed and marketed by Apple Inc. with a touchscreen-controlled user interface. As with other iPod models, the iPod Touch can be used as a music pl ...

and later for the

iPad The iPad is a brand of iOS and iPadOS-based tablet computers that are developed by Apple Inc., Apple Inc. The iPad was conceived before the related iPhone but the iPhone was developed and released first. Speculation about the development, ...

was released on the first day of the

App Store An App Store (or app marketplace) is a type of digital distribution platform for computer software called applications, often in a mobile context. Apps provide a specific set of functions which, by definition, do not include the running of the c ...

. It included syncing of unread articles with the desktop version. NetNewsWire Lite 4.0 was introduced on March 3, 2011, on the

Mac App Store The App Store (also known as the Mac App Store) is a digital distribution platform for macOS apps, often referred to as Mac apps, created and maintained by Apple Inc. The platform was announced on October 20, 2010, at Apple's "Back to the Mac" ...

. While it misses several of the advanced features included in NetNewsWire 3.2, it includes a completely rewritten codebase which was used in the iOS version of the app and for NetNewsWire 4.0 which was released as shareware. On June 3, 2011, the acquisition of NetNewsWire by Black Pixel was announced. For two years development had been apparently stalled, with a gap in updates from 2011 through the release of the version 4 Open Beta. On June 24, 2013, NetNewsWire 4.0 was announced and released as an open beta by Black Pixel. This announcement also brought news that the product would be a commercial product with no free component (though the beta would be free to use through the final release). The final release of NetNewsWire 4.0 occurred on September 3, 2015. In 2017 support of JSON Feed was added into the code base. On August 31, 2018, Black Pixel announced that they had returned the NetNewsWire

intellectual property Intellectual property (IP) is a category of property that includes intangible creations of the human intellect. There are many types of intellectual property, and some countries recognize more than others. The best-known types are patents, c ...

to Brent Simmons. On September 1, 2018, Brent Simmons released NetNewsWire 5.0d1. It was a renamed version of his open source Mac RSS reader, "Evergreen". Almost a year later, NetNewsWire 5.0 was released on August 26, 2019 as an open source application. On December 22, 2019, Brent Simmons started a public beta for the NetNewsWire iOS app which was distributed through

TestFlight TestFlight is an online service for over-the-air installation and testing of mobile applications, currently owned by Apple Inc and only offered to developers within the iOS Developer Program.

. The iOS version of NetNewsWire 5.0 was released March 9, 2020. On March 27, 2021, Brent Simmons released NetNewsWire 6.0 for macOS along with a public beta for iOS which, again, was distributed through

. On June 22, 2021, Brent Simmons released NetNewsWire 6.0 for iOS.

Reception

NetNewsWire was well regarded by many users and reviewers. According to

FeedBurner FeedBurner is a web feed management service primarily for monetizing RSS feeds, primarily by inserting targeted advertisements into them. It was founded in 2004 and acquired by Google in 2007. Services Services provided to publishers include traf ...

, NetNewsWire was the most popular desktop newsreader on all platforms in 2005. The software received a ''

Macworld ''Macworld'' is a website dedicated to products and software of Apple Inc., published by Foundry, a subsidiary of IDG Inc. It started life as a print magazine in 1984 and had the largest audited circulation (both total and newsstand) of Macin ...

'' Editor's Choice Award in 2003 and 2005 and maintained a 4.8 out of five stars rating among reviewers at VersionTracker (now

CNET ''CNET'' (short for "Computer Network") is an American media website that publishes reviews, news, articles, blogs, podcasts, and videos on technology and consumer electronics globally. ''CNET'' originally produced content for radio and telev ...

). '' Ars Technica'' called NetNewsWire's built-in browser "hands-down the best of any Mac newsreader," and Walter Mossberg, technology columnist for ''

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...

'', said that NetNewsWire is his favorite for the Mac. NetNewsWire 5.0 was also received well. MacStories praised the RSS reader's search engine and general stability, but lamented that some advanced features and customization options had not made it into the release, calling 5.0 "a solid foundation for the future".

Gizmodo ''Gizmodo'' ( ) is a design, technology, science and science fiction website. It was originally launched as part of the Gawker Media network run by Nick Denton, and runs on the Kinja platform. ''Gizmodo'' also includes the subsite ''io9'', whic ...

wrote that NetNewsWire 5.0 was off to a promising start, but agreed that it lacked some of the features that might be expected by a power user.

References

External links

* {{Aggregators Atom (Web standard) MacOS Internet software Software based on WebKit News aggregator software 2002 software Formerly proprietary software

History

Reception

See also

References

External links