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by Ross at 12:04PM (EST) on February 14, 2004 | Permanent Link

John Robb on Atom: "...it would have been easier to have a single standard, but we are now stuck with two....What a bloody mess."

[via John Robb's Weblog]

There are no syndication standards today. That's the problem. There are a bunch of formats and a bunch of people dickering over whose attempt at a standard is the "best". This is why moving the discussion to a forum devote to the development of standards is so important. Developing a syndication and publishing specification inside the IETF will result in one standard and a bunch of "also-rans". Today, we have a bunch of contenders - RSS 2, RSS 1, ATOM .3 etc. and this is where the failure lies.

The mess comes in when selfish interests fail to implement the eventual standard and we end up with a bunch of trailing syndication formats in use.

I, for one, welcome our standards facilitating IETF masters.

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Comments

Re: Robb on Atom

by Bret Fausett on Sat 14 Feb 2004 03:21 PM EST | Profile | Permanent Link

One potential problem I see though is that RSS was developed outside the IETF by people who (it seems to me) aren't usual participants in the IETF. So you have a standards process going forward that may well ignore the existing work.

Re: Robb on Atom

by Ross on Sat 14 Feb 2004 06:25 PM EST | Profile | Permanent Link

I might possibly be concerned if we were talking about something more obscure, but the various formats are well enough known that they can't be ignored. Whether or not and how much they will be used in the final product is anyone's guess. I suppose it would depend on the composition of the working group. That's where it gets fascinating.

Re: Robb on Atom

by rick3528 on Sat 14 Feb 2004 11:49 PM EST | Profile | Permanent Link

I sometimes think that you expert bloggers are off on the early innovators path too far. I for one do not understand RRS (really stupid syndication) I have not experienced this 'thing' as of yet and feel left out. help me understand as I am an idiot. How does RRS apply to my customers and how does it help me sell blogs? I can read a lot of content by using it? how? help? My boat is adrift.