Shrook is now freeware
So a few months ago I went a bit crazy and declared war on Brent Simmons and NetNewsWire. It's taken me a while to work out what to do and to put all the pieces in place, but this is what I'm doing: I'm making the full version of Shrook freeware.
This isn't a temporary promotion and this isn't a sign of abandoning Shrook. I just want as many people as possible to be using it, because it is better than NetNewsWire and NewsFire and everything else out there. Shrook fans (that's you) can now recommend it to their friends without requiring them to spend money.
Thank you to everyone who did register Shrook. Your investment isn't lost - you get free shrook.com access from now until two years after the date you registered.
You can download Shrook from the product page.
-- Graham, April 24th, 2006 8:13 PM.
Answers
Hey, I thought it was worth the money before it went free, so my nose won't get bent out of shape for everyone else getting it for free. I've tried the others, even for a little while, and Shrook just felt like the more natural interface for me. Looking forward to the continued improvements.
AJ-- AJ Alfieri-Crispin, April 25th, 2006 1:26 AM.
Hi, I was happy paying for Shrook beforehand too. I think I bought it at a time when the NNW didn't have syncing, but I would still buy it now because of the interface. I tried NNW and just didn't feel comfortable using it. Pulp Fiction was better, but the Mail-style interface still didn't feel quite right. Shrook did and I bought after only a short period of trialing.This is why I get a bit worried when I see "the UI will lose the four column and brushed-metal nonsense, it'll have tabbed everything". i'm not sure how serious you are about that, and brushed-metal 'nonsense' can go if you want, but the four column business is part of Shrook's appeal to me, especially when I'm using Shrook on a widescreen machine.
Anyhow, I hope Shrook goes from strength to strength - I'm sure you will eat into NNW now you've made the step to freeware.
-- Richard Rutter, April 25th, 2006 7:00 AM.
Good on you, Graham. I'm glad to have paid for Shrook when I had the chance, and even more glad to now be able to recommend it far and wide as freeware. Keep up the great work.-- Thomas Kriese, April 25th, 2006 4:52 PM.
Is Shrook better than NewsMac Pro?-- Rishabh, April 25th, 2006 8:33 PM.
Shrook 1.x used to be seriously better than NNW 1.x. It was light, with the right per feed options, and many little touches that are still missing in NNW as of 2.1. I still am a registered user and a fan of the version.However, with v2.x Graham made some UI design decisions that work against my brain's flow. The visual and workflow elegance and simplicity of v.1 are lost. Now, if he's really going to do everything he says he is--"Synchronization and shrook.com will be less sucky, the UI will lose the four column and brushed-metal nonsense, it'll have tabbed everything, a built-in browser, and an army of fans."--I'll give it another try.
NNW 2.x is my feed reader, it has been for long now. Every few months, I give Shrook another try, but I can't spend more than a couple of feed refresh sessions in it.
Here's to a back-to-the-basics v3.
http://www.timbru.com/
-- Gabriel Radic, April 26th, 2006 9:12 AM.
Hey, congrats on the decision. I'm checking it out now.It didn't import my folder feed groups at all, so I'm going to try putting the OPML file through NNW first and try again. (I'm using Vienna)
-- Paul, May 11th, 2006 4:03 AM.
and yeah, another vote for keeping the four-column view.-- Paul, May 11th, 2006 4:05 AM.
Why pay a subscription to read news when the competition is free for access to the same news-groups and may even be better according to the reviewers?I do not mind paying for a good software product, but I do have a problem with a product that I paid for now going to a subscription model. What's this news about Shrook being free when there is a charge to use it on a monthly or yearly basis after our 'subscription' expires?
I see no advantage to Shrook.Com. Yahoo offers the same news gathering capability for free. So does Google.
-- Chuck, May 29th, 2006 5:21 AM.