| © Jim Edwards - All Rights reserved | | | | Available from FeedDemon sets the standard for |
| -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- | | | | RSS readers in a market that Microsoft has yet to |
| When you think of software and personal computers | | | | even address with any of its software products. |
| (PCs), you think Microsoft. | | | | I'll make a daring prediction here: watch for Microsoft |
| The global software giant dominates the PC market in | | | | or another large player to purchase FeedDemon |
| both penetration and pocketbook. | | | | rather than try to reinvent the wheel and build a |
| It seems you can't go a single day without seeing at | | | | product brand themselves. |
| least one news story and several advertisements for | | | | ** FireFox Web Browser ** |
| Microsoft or a Microsoft product. | | | | Security problems always seem to plague the |
| But that doesn't mean Microsoft dominates in every | | | | Microsoft Internet Explorer (IE) Web browser. |
| corner of the market; in fact, as the software | | | | In fact, last year the problem got so bad, it forced |
| behemoth gets bigger, numerous niche software | | | | Microsoft to release one of the largest free software |
| offerings spring up to fill in the gaps left in Microsoft's | | | | upgrades (Service Pack 2) in the history of computing. |
| wake. | | | | According to both and Webside Story, two of the |
| As you'll see, a couple of these niche software | | | | Web's leading Web analytics companies, Microsoft's IE |
| programs have managed to either beat Microsoft to | | | | market share has dipped below 90%. |
| the punch, or even steal market share away from the | | | | See actual stats from WebSide Story Here: |
| seemingly invincible company. | | | | In response to serious security threats to Internet |
| ** FeedDemon ** | | | | Explorer, an upstart browser named FireFox from |
| FeedDemon software ($29.95) enables you to | | | | Mozilla.org took off like a rocket ship in late 2004. |
| subscribe to and read RSS Feeds (Real Simple | | | | Available free from FireFox offers not only a |
| Syndication). | | | | full-featured Web browser without the security |
| RSS has emerged as the preferred way to share | | | | problems, but also a number of features not available |
| news and other content with subscribers across the | | | | on Internet Explorer. |
| Internet without the use of email. | | | | Probably the most popular feature Firefox offers over |
| The advantage to subscribers: as news, blogs, or other | | | | IE is "Tabbed Browsing," which enables you to open |
| content updates somewhere online, subscribers | | | | multiple Web pages without opening multiple windows. |
| receive virtually instant notification just by opening up | | | | Firefox also limits harmful Active-X controls and |
| their reader. | | | | pop-up windows. |
| This represents a huge time savings since subscribers | | | | Firefox tends towards a less forgiving attitude on |
| can receive updates without surfing individual sites to | | | | HTML coding and may display some Web pages |
| chase down stories or wading through piles of spam | | | | awkwardly, where IE displays most pages as the |
| to find the content they actually want. | | | | designer intended. |
| The advantage to publishers: no worrying about | | | | Despite this, Firefox makes an excellent browser and |
| whether email notifications, news releases, or blog | | | | Microsoft should take heed that market dominance |
| updates made it past the spam filters or unreliable mail | | | | doesn't last forever once consumers see a viable |
| servers. | | | | alternative. |
| Though many free RSS reader software packages | | | | And the lesson in all of this for all you would-be |
| exist (just do a search on for "free rss reader"), | | | | entrepreneurs out there with the next great idea? |
| FeedDemon offers an unmatched suite of tools that | | | | It doesn't matter how big or small your organization, it |
| enable serious RSS subscribers the power and | | | | always comes back to a simple formula: Meet the |
| flexibility to mix and match feeds, including the new | | | | needs and solve the problems of a specific niche |
| "POD Casting" craze where content providers | | | | audience better than the next guy and you'll be the |
| syndicate audio content (MP3) over the web. | | | | winner! |