Ever since we first shipped NewsGator Enterprise Server back in 2005, I’ve had this blog post in the back of my mind. We never had an easy way for folks to actually take a look at the product, and kick the tires for themselves. We had demos, webinars, conferences, and all that…but you couldn’t actually download it and try it for yourself, without buying it (or entering a trial agreement).

Well today, all that changes. You can now download a free 20-user version of NewsGator Enterprise Server, install it, and use it!

Why would we do such a crazy thing? We want more people to see it. More feedback. More visibility. This product has been extremely successful – our customer list reads like a who’s who of the Fortune 500 – but it’s been primarily deployed in larger installations. But what about smaller companies, or individual departments within companies? This will hopefully remove the barriers involved in trying out these technologies. And in the latter case, we’re confident it will lead to larger sales as the deployment grows beyond the initial 20 users.

But for those first 20 folks, it’s free! As in beer.

There’s only one catch, and it’s not really a catch. Regular paying customers get dedicated support from our enterprise support team…but if you download the free version, FAQs and community support will be via the forums. That should be ok, though – we really don’t think you’re going to have many problems. One caveat, though – this is a server product, and the installation process will ask you questions about your Active Directory or LDAP configuration and such. If you don’t think you can answer those questions, you might want to find someone to help you install it.

In case you can’t tell, I’m totally excited about this. But enough of me rambling…here is the NewsGator Enterprise Server product site, technical requirements, and the download page. (you’ll have to fill out a form to download, but don’t worry, it’s short.)