At long last, Ranchero software has released version 2.0 public beta of NetNewsWire, packed with new features and bound to make a lot of existing NNW users very happy.

And not least because it’s a free upgrade from any 1.x version.

Also because, in developing the new version, Brent Simmons took the logical step of addressing the most common requests sent to him by users. People have asked for stuff, and he’s set out to provide it.

Hence a built-in browser, with tabs; items that can be flagged, and will be stored locally until unflagged or otherwise deleted; smart lists of feeds, customized to your whim; and a search system. There’s lots more as well. Those other RSS readers now have some catching up of their own to do.

Simmons makes a point of saying that he didn’t want NNW to get bloated, and all credit to him for that. Everyone dislikes bloated applications.

So the new NNW is strictly an aggregator, and the weblog editor element has been stripped out into an entirely separate new application, MarsEdit. This makes a lot of sense, not just in terms of de-bloating NNW, but more simply to plan for the future. Both news aggregation and weblog editing will no doubt warp and change a whole lot more in the next few years; by creating two new applications, Ranchero allows both of them more room to grow and mature.

Tried it out yet? What do you make of it?