I have to admit I'm not sure how I'll react to the next version of RSS Bandit but I'm honestly curious to find out.  Not a sentiment you hear much so let me explain...

I used RSS Bandit for a long time and was happy with it but eventually Google Reader became good enough and I couldn't pass up the opportunity to access my feeds from anywhere.  So I switched.  Then recently RSS Bandit creator Dare Obasanjo announced he'd be integrating the ability to sync with Google Reader into the next version of RSS Bandit. 

You might be thinking this is a no brain-er at this point and maybe it is.  But there's some hesitation on my part.

The thing is, for me (and I think a lot of other people), feed reading is the first task where I've successfully moved completely to a web based solution.  Sure I use Gmail but for my important e-mail I still use Outlook.  Same with Calendars, Word Processing and everything else.  But Google Reader has become my one and only reader and I'm relatively happy. 

So the questions is: Once you get accustomed to a web interface is there any need for the extra bells and whistles?  I know RSS Bandit has more features but at the same time I've never felt like I was missing out on things because I use Google Reader.  So, as of right now, there really isn't a big draw for me to go back to it.

Which brings us to the macro question of it all: If I, with my love of computer features, don't switch back what does that say for  your average computer user once they make the move to web based? 

I honestly don't know the answers to that question but I think it reflects on the debate between desktop apps and web based ones.  If a good Desktop app can't lure users back to that approach than that is the beginning of the end for them in general.  The web offers a lot of compelling things that desktop apps can't offer so if the desktop can't utterly dominate in its area of strength than what hope does it have for the future?

Now the truth is that this debate will probably become less and less relevant as Flash matures and technologies like Silverlight arise to bridge the gap between the Desktop and the Web.  But right now I think there are a lot of little programmers with niche products trying to decide between continuing on with their existing Desktop approach or moving to a web based development model. 

For those folks I think the question of switching boils down to "will my users miss the desktop model and go with one of my competitors?"  For them I think the question above is a very important one.

I started reading blogs using a software called SharpReader.  It wasn't that bad a reader but after a while it just didn't seem sufficient anymore (I honestly don't remember the exact reasons why I stopped using it)

In the end I just remember thinking the creator of it either wasn't or couldn't be dedicated to keeping it up so I began searching for a new Blog reader that was a little more feature rich and was in active development. 

That led me to RSSBandit.  This post isn't about RSS Bandit so I won't go into it except to say that I was impressed enough to start using it and because of that Dare Obasanjo's blog was added to my reading list.

I've since moved to Google Reader for my blog reading but Dare is still one of the first blogs I look for when checking my feeds.  There are two reasons for that, one of which is easy to describe and the other not so much.

The easy one is just that he's insightful and very good at sharing those insights with his readers.  There are a lot, A LOT of people on the blogosphere who are talking out of their posterior end when they talk about technology but Dare isn't one of those.  He's built actual technology, he's put effort into knowing that technology as well as knowing the business needs that necessitated it in the first place and he speaks about it from that perspective.  I honestly think he's the most authoritative voice out there on many of the topics he speaks on.

Read his posts on either JSON vs XML or Building RESTful Web services (two of my personal favorites) and you'll see what I mean. 

As far as the second reason I like Dare, its hard to find words to say it.  But basically it boils down to him not letting go and being willing to carry the conversation on to a logical conclusion.

What I mean by that is that the blogosphere runs on a flawed philosophy of: I say something, you disagree so you say something and then we both forget about it.  No serious debate has ever taken place in one isolated exchange.  Dare's a guy who will keep the discussion going either by posting several entries or by taking to the other bloggers comments and continuing the conversation there.  That's a trait I really appreciate in a blogger.  It shows someone who is concerned with getting to the truth and not someone who just types to hear himself talk. 

Anyway, for those reasons and many others that I'm forgetting I put Dare Obasanjo at #3 of my Blogroll list.