NewsGator Online, one of the first online RSS readers I used back in the day, is being tossed in the deadpool by its parent company in a move that signals its newfound focus on desktop applications and social computing tools for businesses.
Users of the online feed reader are kindly requested to migrate their subscriptions over to Google Reader before August 31, and NewsGator will provide step-by-step instructions and in-product reminders to make sure all goes smoothly.
Speaking of NewsGator’s desktop RSS readers, which include FeedDemon for Windows and NetNewsWire for Macs, they have both been updated to a new version. Users of the software programs are asked to download the updated versions in the next 30 days, and in another testament to the company’s friendly relationship with Mountain View it is mostly touting the new synchronization feature with Google Reader as a selling point. The programs are offered free of charge, but that hasn’t always been the case; in fact they announced they would be waiving the cost of the products in January 2008.
NewsGator’s focus on its paying, enterprise-grade products makes a lot of sense. just yesterday, the company released an announcement about the momentum for its enterprise social networking product Social Sites, which recently hit the milestone of 1 million paying users. Earlier this year, we published an interesting interview conducted with JB Holston, Newsgator’s CEO, in which he explains their focus on enterprise RSS even if they never call it that themselves.
NewsGator has raised $39 million to date , mostly from Mobius Venture Capital and Masthead Venture Partners.