Kleenex, Xerox, and RSS

TrackBack — Tue, 16 Aug 2005 16:15:00 GMT

Seems to be a mighty storm brewin' - a bit more powerful than a Nor'easter, too. Been a long time comin'. It's RSS, it's feeds, it's XML - it's all of the above. As an ex-English major, I'm torn. Does "Atom" really mean RSS? Does RDF really equal RSS 1.0? How many licks does it take to get to the center of a Tootsie Roll Tootsie Pop? The world may never know, but methinks RSS has now officially entered the realm of commodity. It's a digital Kleenex, a virtual Xerox. <br>
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One guy screams: "RSS!" Another gal screams: "Feeds!" Another guy screams: "RDF!" Another gal screams: "Atom!" Joe & Judy Consumer scream: "I don't care!" It wasn't bad enough that we had to convince the world that syndication was a good thing? Here's the real problem: most of these arguments *ARE* correct. If I was forced to choose between one label or the other, I'd likely choose RSS. I hand out cute li'l RSS pins and cute li'l RSS t-shirts all the time - but I don't really care if a feed is Atom, RDF, RSS, or Bligmorp... so long as it works within my aggregator.<ul><li><A HREF="http://www.stallman.org/archives/2005-may-aug.html">Richard Stallman</A></li><li><A HREF="http://archive.scripting.com/2005/08/14#respondingToScoble">Winer - Responding to Scoble</A></li><li><A HREF="http://radio.weblogs.com/0001011/2005/08/15.html#a10846">Trying to get into the user's shoes about RSS and feeds</A></li><li><A HREF="http://msmvps.com/bradley/archive/2005/08/13/62652.aspx">About that RSS branding Robert...</A></li><li><A HREF="http://blogs.zdnet.com/Gillmor/?p=140">The RSS Crisis</A></li><li><A HREF="http://www.microsoftmonitor.com/archives/009849.html">Microsoft Monitor- Out with the Name Blame</A></li><li><A HREF="http://blogs.chron.com/techblog/archives/2005/08/whats_wrong_wit.html">TechBlog- What's wrong with RSS -</A></li><li><A HREF="http://spaces.msn.com/members/mike/Blog/cns!1pG4qKNdtRA5Nl-UhvZI_1rQ!3356.entry">Torres Talking - Others and RSS naming</A></li></ul>Some say "Coke" when they really want a Pepsi.

RSS vs XML icon vs reality

TrackBack — Mon, 15 Aug 2005 14:18:00 GMT

There is a debate (discussion?) going on between

re: About that RSS branding Robert...

bradley — Mon, 15 Aug 2005 07:32:00 GMT

You are *so* right.

The icon should be the feed - have a separate "What is RSS!?" link for explanations.

I spend a good minute scratching my head wondering why Newsgator didn't "get" that it was a feed before I clicked the link.