Download/HomepageAnawave Software’s "Gravity" is an excellent newsreader. It can send email and launch URLs in addition to a full complement of sorting, filtering, and culling tools for newsgroup messages. Do you need to block nutcase ravings? Gravity has a "Bozo Bin" just for them. Gravity’s advanced "rules" functions allow great flexibility, too. You can decode binary files automatically, erase cross-postings (a coveted "anti-spam" feature) and alert yourself to important postings with specific keywords. You can make up your own rules by sorting Gravity’s predetermined conditions. You can arrange the screen to suit your tastes, append postings to existing files as well as save in separate files, and forward messages via email. Nice. Powerful, intuitive, inexpensive, and well-designed. They even have an online tutorial to get you started.
So why should you think twice about buying Gravity? Because Forte Software has an even better product for the same price: Agent. It does all the same things as Gravity, is equally well designed and flexible, and does full email, both send AND receive. There may be features in the rules/filters area that would make you prefer Gravity, but overall, Forte is ahead on this one. Even if you’re satisfied with send-only email, and particularly if you don’t use many rules or filters, Forte still wins with their free newsreader called (inevitably) "Free Agent".
Keep an eye on Anawave, however; they publish good software and they can’t help but be aware of Agent. This may be one of those cases where we can all sit back and wait for two good groups of designers to battle it out until they come up with the ultimate product. (We can all use Free Agent for free in the meantime.)
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