Surfpack Review
In my search for a RSS Reader that meets my needs, I came across Surfpack.
Surfpack is sort of like My Yahoo but for your desktop. It displays within a browser, either IE or Firefox. This is good since it avoids having to have a third application open (email, browser, reader). It essentially runs off its own little localhost web server on the desktop.
Surfpack uses modules. Most modules are essentially feeds of one sort or another. However, there is a slate of items like weather and quote of the day which can be included on a page as well.
Feeds are presented in a newspaper-like three column format. Each feed can be set to display all the items included with the feed. Each feed can display headlines only, or set to display the full text of each feed entry. This latter feature can be set for only one entry in the feed, multiple entries or all entries. Most Readers whether desktop or online, are ugly. Surfpack comes with a standard skin look and feel that is very pleasant to look at.
Surfpack installs a large variety of feeds to choose from. Adding individual feeds from other sources is a snap. While Surfpack mainly supports RSS and Atom feeds, it also has support for HTML, Javascript, and XML feeds.
Feeds can be read in two ways. First, clicking on the headline opens up the permalink for that post. Second, Surfpack can open up a simply reader that displays the contents of the feed in a very readable font. Of course, to read the rest of a given article, one must click to the permalink. This isn’t Surfpack’s fault, it all depends on what the feed creator offers.
Does Surfpack meet my needs for an RSS Reader?
It is very easy to navigate and organize. Pages can be organized by subject matter which makes it nice. I think I prefer the pages over folders concept. Most Readers provide a folder tree as the means to organize feeds. It is ugly and can be overwhelming.
Surfpack does not integrate with an email client. However, since it is displayed within a browser, that compensates adequately.
Surfpack is not integrated with an online aggregator. This makes the argument for using My Yahoo over Surfpack even stronger.
Surfpack is not based on .NET. No other programs to install or eat up memory.
Surfpack is $30. $30 paid one time, beats a subscription model of $20 a year (Feeddemon/NewsGator).
As far as I can tell the support community is small. This will grow as people begin to use surf pack more.
I plan on purchasing Surfpack and using it at home. I will see how it goes from there.
Why use Surfpack?
1) Aesthetically pleasing way to read feeds
2) Excellent organization capabilities
3) Eases readability of feeds
Why use Surfpack over My Yahoo? Good question especially since Yahoo is free and online and accessible from any computer.
1) For the paranoid crowd, no large corporation is seeing what feeds you have added to your pages.
2) For the paranoid crowd again, no registration is required. Everything is installed on the desktop, it belongs in your control.
3) For the non-paranoid, aesthetically pleasing way to read feeds.
4) Great way to organize ALL web based content in one place on your desktop.
See Update.
Posted by Paul Flyer on Friday, May 27th, 2005 in RSS Solutions
