NewsGator Online Services is now free. Given the competitive pressure of Bloglines, I think the price reduction was inevitable. NewsGator couldn’t continue to charge a premium price for a product insufficiently better than the free alternative.

I was once a believer in the integration of email and RSS and purchased a copy of NewsGator over a year ago. But my practical experience has soured, the deluge of RSS through my email archive has proven unmanageable, and searching my email archive has proven less effective than searching the internet.

I switched to Bloglines several months ago, as Read Anywhere became my top requirement in a newsreader. Both NewsGator and Radio Userland fell by the wayside in that switch. But a free NewsGator Online could lure me back.

I just wish that I knew how Bloglines and NewsGator were planning on making money. I’d like to hitch my wagon to a horse with some bottom.