Just about any web browser should be able to take a News:// link and open a completely guifed news client on it. IE, if you haven't tried the Mozilla nttp client lately, it blows any http based web discusison out of the water in terms of usability and speed.
Different tools, different uses. We use netnews extensively in the R&I beta programs in conjunction with weblogs, discussion forums and mailing lists. Thunderbird is a great client (check my UA) but we are talking about wrenches, saws, hammers and screwdrivers respectively.
I think its important to be creative with customer communications based on the data that you are trying to gather. I've had a number of offline responses on this note from people who hate the WDRP blog, people who love it, people who wonder why we don't just use NNTP for everything and other people who can't be bothered with any of it and rely on their account manager for the salient details. Everyone has different needs - there are no magic technology bullets...
-- Regards,
-rwr
"In the modern world the intelligence of public opinion is the one indispensable condition for social progress."
- Charles W. Eliot (1834 - 1926)
