NewsGator is going to stop charging money for the popular -- and terrific -- NetNewsWire RSS reader for the Mac and FeedDemon for Windows, as well as its other services, including the Web-based RSS reader, and NewsGator Go for Windows Mobile and the BlackBerry. Greg Reinacker, founder and CTO of NewsGator Technologies, says the company is freeing its consumer services to build demand for its enterprise products.

First, we’ve found that when we go into an enterprise to sell NewsGator Enterprise Server (NGES) and Social Sites, there are already a ton of people using one of our desktop apps already. The more folks are already using them, the easier it is to sell our server products - especially since these client apps can sync with NGES directly.

Also, they want to collect "attention data" -- a fancy-shmancy way of saying they want to find out what people are looking at -- and use it to improve their overall product lines.

Brent Simmons, author of NetNewsWire, says:

... for me personally, this is a dream come true. Every developer wants to be able to work on the software they love, make a living at it, and give it to the world for free.

Usually you get to pick two out of three—if you’re lucky. Me, I get all three.

Via Daring Fireball