Regular readers of this column may recall that I was a long-time MT-NewsWatcher fan before
switching to Thoth earlier this year. At the time, I felt I had to switch right away,
because I wanted to use as many native OS X applications as possible. To Brian Hill’s
credit, Thoth was one of the first fully Carbonized, high-quality shareware applications
available, and it was a pleasure to pay a shareware fee to a developer who jumped on the
OS X train so early. I have enjoyed working with and writing about Thoth, a news client
that has just about every bell, whistle, and feature possible. But just like an old
girlfriend who calls you up for the first time in years, MT-NewsWatcher has reappeared as
a Mac OS X application and recaptured my attention.
It was a pleasure to reacquaint myself with my old friend this week, and I was quickly
reminded why we used to spend so much time together. MT-NewsWatcher has a very clean
interface, it is easy to set up, and it’s easy to use. And best of all, it is still
freeware. The Carbonized release is version 3.2, and it works on under OS X. The previous
version, 3.1, remains available for pre-OS X systems.
MT-NewsWatcher’s interface is the most Mac-like application of any news client I’ve ever
used under OS X. For example, on the first launch, it posts two dialogs asking for basic
settings, including the news server, email address, and email server. It proceeds to fetch
a complete group list, and presents it in a single window, formatted in a sorted,
folder-based hierarchy. Clean, Mac-like simple, and easy enough for novices to understand,
especially those who are already familiar with the Mac. In other words, not only does it
implement the Mac style correctly, most of its features are reasonably discoverable. Easy
discoverability is a key difference between a good Mac application and a truly great one.
Setting up the application is not the only place MT’s Mac-like design shines, especially
under OS X. The application is delivered as a single file; there are no support files,
save a single ReadMe. Group lists are created with a simple New command under the file
menu, the text in the header lists is anti-aliased (which can be disabled if necessary),
and the entire application has gotten the full Aqua treatment.
There are a few glitches as well. Some of the preferences are not really optimized for Mac
OS X, especially with downloading binary files. Not all of the preference glitches are
MT-NewsWatcher problems. Mac OS X does not have a facility within the OS to edit helper
applications. (The only interface for that is inside Internet Explorer’s preference pane.)
Attempting to edit the helper applications will, like most other OS X Internet applications, just open the OS X System Preferences for
iTools. In addition to the
helpers, you will need to reset the default download location to an unlocked folder in the
user’s Home folder. And unless you have the pre-set applications such as uuencode or
Rosetta, reset the Decoder helpers to StuffIt Expander as well.
Overall, I’m happy to get reacquainted with an old friend. I still use Thoth for most
tasks, but MT-NewsWatcher is gaining traction fast. Thoth is still the feature king, and
at present is the only X client that allows offline reading. However, MT has its strengths
too, among them a cleanly designed interface and the ability to show images progressively
during a download. At a little over a megabyte in size, there is room for both on just
about anyone’s hard drive.
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"First Look: MT-NewsWatcher for Mac OS X"
