Unlike the previous rumor I mentioned, this one turns out to be true: NewsGator has acquired NetNewsWire, the leading RSS reader for the Mac. Brent Simmons, NetNewsWire’s creator, has joined us as a product architect.
The addition of NetNewsWire extends NewsGator’s reach to the Mac desktop, enabling synchronization between Windows, the Web, mobile devices and now the Mac.
I’m very excited to be able to work with Brent – he’s a developer I really respect and admire, and we’ve had a number of great email conversations over the past few years. In fact, the first time I emailed Brent, I mentioned that whenever someone asked for a Mac version of FeedDemon, I’d point them to NetNewsWire. He replied that he did the same thing – he pointed Windows users to FeedDemon! More recently we both admitted to copying features from each other, so it’s nice that we can now do this without the guilt :)
Brent, let me officially welcome you on board – I really look forward to working with you.
Update: Here’s what Brent has to say about the acquisition, and here’s Greg Reinacker’s take.
Update 2: JB Holston and Brad Feld give their views on the acquisition.