So, the mighty Google has yet another beta product/service – an RSS reader, called Google Reader, somewhat predictably. Looks alright I guess – but for me it can’t get close to the FeedDemon/Newsgator Online/Newsgator for Outlook combination that I use now.

I’ve been a fan of FeedDemon since well, before it came out (glyFX did the icons, so I got to see the evolution of what is a very cool design). When Nick Bradbury announced that his company had been acquired by Newsgator, I wasn’t totally convinced it was a great idea, but it’s turned out really well. I have my master feed list stored in my Newsgator Online account, and then I have profiles with different feeds for each of my “locations” – which are FeedDemon on my (rather neglected) desktop PC, FeedDemon on my TabletPC, and Newsgator for Outlook at work. I can mark an item read in one location and when I connect at another, it’s read there too. I can also use Newsgator Online as a web-based reader when I’m stuck somewhere with just web access. I can’t think of a better solution, although I still use FeedDemon more often than the others as the app is just so supremely usable.

Recently Newsgator announced that they’ve acquired NetNewsWire which I understand is the reader of choice for a lot of Mac users – so it seems they’re really planning on owning the RSS reader space (and doing a great job so far).

On a side note, Nick Bradbury’s had some health issues lately, so as a long time fan of his work here’s hoping he makes a full recovery and is back to coding his amazingly usable interfaces really soon. Also I read he’s a Glenn Danzig fan, which I also am – although I think I’m the only one in Australia! Get well soon Nick!