NetNewsWire is a news aggregator for Mac OS X

Mac OS X

Mac OS X is a series of Unix-based operating systems and graphical user interfaces developed, marketed, and sold by Apple Inc. Since 2002, has been included with all new Macintosh computer systems...

 and iOS, and was one of the first desktop RSS

RSS (file format)

RSS is a family of web feed formats used to publish frequently updated works—such as blog entries, news headlines, audio, and video—in a standardized format...

 readers on any platform.

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

Podcast

A podcast is a series of digital media files that are released episodically and often downloaded through web syndication...

s, synchronization of feeds and feed status between computers, Bloglines

Bloglines

Bloglines is a web-based news aggregator for reading syndicated feeds using the RSS and Atom formats. Mark Fletcher, former CEO of ONElist, founded the site in June 2003 and sold it in February 2005 to Ask.com/InterActiveCorp. In 2005, it hosted more than 200 million searchable blog articles. On...

 support, and a built-in tabbed browser.

In October 2005, NewsGator bought Ranchero and NetNewsWire, bringing their NewsGator Online RSS synchronization service to OS X. Brent Simmons was hired by NewsGator to continue developing the software.

NetNewsWire 3.0 was released on June 5, 2007. The version added Spotlight

Spotlight (software)

Spotlight is a system-wide desktop search feature of Apple's Mac OS X operating system. Spotlight is a selection-based search system, which creates a virtual index of all items and files on the system. It is designed to allow the user to quickly locate a wide variety of items on the computer,...

 indexing of news items, integration with iCal

ICal

iCal is a personal calendar application made by Apple Inc. that runs on the Mac OS X operating system. iCal was the first calendar application for Mac OS X to offer support for multiple calendars and the ability to publish/subscribe calendars to WebDAV server....

, iPhoto

IPhoto

iPhoto is a digital photograph manipulation software application developed by Apple Inc. and released with every Macintosh personal computer as part of the iLife suite of digital life management applications...

, Address Book, and VoodooPad, Growl support, a new user interface, performance enhancements, and more.

The application was originally shareware

Shareware

The term shareware is a proprietary software that is provided to users without payment on a trial basis and is often limited by any combination of functionality, availability, or convenience. Shareware is often offered as a download from an Internet website or as a compact disc included with a...

, 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 an option to purchase the application to remove ads.

An iOS version of NetNewsWire with support for the iPhone

IPhone

The iPhone is a line of Internet and multimedia-enabled smartphones marketed by Apple Inc. The first iPhone was unveiled by Steve Jobs, then CEO of Apple, on January 9, 2007, and released on June 29, 2007...

, iPod Touch

IPod Touch

The iPod Touch is a portable media player, personal digital assistant, handheld game console, and Wi-Fi mobile device designed and marketed by Apple Inc. The iPod Touch adds the multi-touch graphical user interface to the iPod line...

 and later for the iPad

IPad

The iPad is a line of tablet computers designed, developed and marketed by Apple Inc., primarily as a platform for audio-visual media including books, periodicals, movies, music, games, and web content. The iPad was introduced on January 27, 2010 by Apple's then-CEO Steve Jobs. Its size and...

 was released on the first day of the App Store. It includes syncing of unread articles with the desktop version.

NetNewsWire Lite 4.0 was introduced on March 3, 2011 on the Mac App Store

Mac App Store

The Mac App Store is a digital distribution platform for Mac OS X applications developed by Apple Inc.. The platform was announced on October 20, 2010 at Apple's "Back to the Mac" event. Apple began accepting app submissions from registered developers on November 3, 2010 in preparation for its launch...

. While it misses several of the advanced features included in NetNewsWire 3.2, it includes a completely rewritten code base. In the future, this will be used in the iOS versions of the app and for NetNewsWire 4.0 which will be shareware again.

On June 3, 2011, the acquisition of NetNewsWire by Black Pixel was announced.

Reception

NetNewsWire is well regarded by many users and reviewers. According to FeedBurner

FeedBurner

FeedBurner is a web feed management provider launched in 2004. FeedBurner was founded by Dick Costolo, Eric Lunt, Steve Olechowski, and Matt Shobe. Costolo, a University of Michigan graduate, became CEO of Twitter in 2010...

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

Macworld

Macworld is a web site and monthly computer magazine dedicated to Apple Macintosh products. It is published by Mac Publishing, which is headquartered in San Francisco, California...

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

VersionTracker

VersionTracker was a website that tracked software releases. It began as a Mac OS software tracker, eventually expanding into Mac OS X, iPhone, Microsoft Windows and Palm OS software....

. Ars Technica

Ars Technica

Ars Technica is a technology news and information website created by Ken Fisher and Jon Stokes in 1998. It publishes news, reviews and guides on issues such as computer hardware and software, science, technology policy, and video games. Ars Technica is known for its features, long articles that go...

calls NetNewsWire's built-in browser "hands-down the best of any Mac newsreader," and Walter Mossberg

Walter Mossberg

Walter S. Mossberg is an American journalist who is the principal technology columnist for The Wall Street Journal.-Early life:...

, technology columnist for The Wall Street Journal

The Wall Street Journal

The Wall Street Journal is an American English-language international daily newspaper. It is published in New York City by Dow Jones & Company, a division of News Corporation, along with the Asian and European editions of the Journal....

, says that NetNewsWire is his favorite for Mac OS X.