Business Services Industry

You Software Enters Dynamic RSS Market with Free Public Preview of RSS Reader for Microsoft Outlook

Business Wire, Feb 10, 2005

PORTLAND, Ore. -- You Subscribe: RSS news reader uses background processing and Internet Explorer plug-in to bring up-to-the-minute headlines from Websites and blogs directly into Microsoft Outlook

You Software, Inc., the award-winning publisher of value-add productivity software, is inviting Microsoft Outlook users to participate in a public preview program for You Subscribe: RSS, a new RSS news reader utility. You Subscribe: RSS brings up-to-the-minute headlines from Websites and blogs directly into Microsoft Outlook folders. The public preview version of You Subscribe: RSS 0.82 is available for free download at http://www.yousoftware.com/subscribe.> You Subscribe: RSS uses an efficient software engine that works in the background to gather, process, organize and store RSS feeds whether Outlook is online, offline or completely closed. With background processing news feeds are instantly pulled into Outlook. There is no waiting for feeds to load every time you launch Outlook. The engine keeps track of RSS subscription preferences and data and keeps RSS accounts synchronized and up to date. It takes care of the business logic of downloading subscription files and updating an RSS feed database.

"You Subscribe: RSS is our first step in unveiling technology, tools, platform support, infrastructure and services designed to help the millions of people who live in Outlook find, organize and get more from the news that matters to them," said Craig Barnes, You Software founder and CEO.

Tools that streamline information and news gathering

Version 0.8 of You Subscribe: RSS includes tools that streamline information and news gathering from Websites and blogs.

--Fast access to feeds every time Outlook is launched. Background processing gathers, organizes and stores RSS feeds whether Outlook is running or not.

--Preview and pick feeds effortlessly. You Subscribe: RSS includes an organized collection of the most popular newsfeeds and blogs. With the preview capability users can explore a feed before deciding to subscribe. Feed subscriptions can be added by simply selecting from the list or by easily adding feeds manually.

--Add newsfeed subscriptions from a Microsoft Internet Explorer toolbar. You Subscribe: RSS includes a plug-in for Internet Explorer that scans Web pages automatically to find newsfeeds. When feeds are discovered the toolbar icon glows with the familiar "RSS orange" color. When the icon is clicked a comprehensive list of available feeds appears in a window making it easy to select and add new feed subscriptions.

--Painless switching from Newsgator and IntraVnews. Easily import Web- and disk-based OPML subscription files from Newsgator and IntraVnews.

--Easy-to-read headlines and news summaries. Cleanly designed headlines, news summaries with links are presented in an Outlook preview window.

More functionality will be added to You Subscribe: RSS as it moves from public preview version 0.8 to release 1.0. These are a few of the additional features that are planned for version 1.0.

--Search for feeds in Outlook without opening browser. Search for news from Websites and blogs using popular search engines, including: Blogdigger, Daypop, Feedster, Wired news, Yahoo! News, Moreover and MSN Search (beta).

--You Today Desktop. A clean, well-organized desktop in Outlook will display selected news headlines and summaries.

--News Toaster Pop-Up Headlines. Stay on top of breaking news with alerts including headlines that discretely appear on your desktop whether or not Outlook is running. Click on the headline and get the news instantly.

--Turn emails into blog content with a click. Easily post email content to a blog from Outlook.

Preview users can stay up to date with new features through an RSS news feed from You Software. You Software is planning to release You Subscribe: RSS 1.0 in the first quarter of 2005. Pricing has not been finalized. You can download You Subscribe: RSS 0.82 and participate in the public preview by visiting http://www.yousoftware.com/subscribe.> Driving More Value Through the Microsoft Office Platform

Today email, information filtering, collaboration, and connecting to business processes drive professional and corporate worker productivity. With 400 million users, Microsoft Outlook is the standard platform for these tasks. You Software is focused on providing new ideas, new software technologies, new features and services that help these workers quickly realize more value from their investment in the Microsoft Office system.

You Subscribe: RSS is the second value-add product developed by You Software for Outlook users. In August 2004 You Software introduced You Perform, a collection of productivity enhancing tools that work within Outlook to help users efficiently manage their inbox, streamline communications and contact management, and easily manage their calendars remotely.

About You Software

You Software is a venture-backed developer and publisher of personal and network value-add productivity software designed to make the millions of people who use Microsoft Outlook more productive by helping them find and organize content and streamline communication on any device they chose.