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