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Here’s a point update, perhaps the last v3.x.x that will ship, for the Mac that addresses some longstanding issues and keeps the feeds flowing. This is a maintenance release and doesn’t contain new features, but it likely heralds the beginning of a new chapter for this popular RSS newsreader franchise.

NewsGator has released NetNewsWire 3.2.15 (blog, download), which likely be the last version v3.x.x release.

Here’s the new stuff:

• Fixed at least one cause of a bug where syncing could appear to get stuck. (It would sometimes start but not finish and the indicator would keep spinning.)
• Fixed a bug where synced feeds wouldn’t get Growl notifications.
• Fixed a bug where synced feeds that are suspended would get refreshed anyway.
• Fixed a bug downloading enclosures for synced feeds.
• Stop button now works for syncing in the Activity window.
• Fixed a bug logging into Google Reader where it could lock up the UI.

Last week, I took a look at NewsGator’s just released NetNewsWire Lite 4 (review) and found it too “lite” to be usable. Now, with most of the loose version 3.x.x ends tied up, I imagine the other version 4 shoe will drop and that’s probably going to mean paying for the missing usability.

What NewsGator does next is important. I think they’ve got the best Mac-iPhone-iPad RSS newsreader franchise, but how they price NetNewsWire 4 for Mac, perhaps creating an attractive bundle price for all three platforms, is critical.

Here’s hoping NewsGator takes Steve Jobs ‘price it low, go for volume’ mantra to heart…