RSS: Not The Second Coming
on 02.05.06, 08:35am in software • comments (2)
[Scoble] Dave Winer has an interesting post on how RSS can break through. I think the thesis is wrong. It already HAS broken through.
Bzzz. Wrong. I humbly disagree.
RSS has only broken through as the latest-acronym-to-overload-software ranks (see Furrygoat’s Law).
Ask an average user on the street (I’ll use my dad as an example), and he’ll give you a blank stare when you ask about RSS. Then ask him about iPod, and he’ll go on for 20 minutes how it’s changed how he’s listened to music.
The only thing RSS has done is provide a content delivery system with a formalized namespace. Let’s stop focusing on the buzzword bingo of RSS and start building great software that gives great experiences to users. If it happens to use RSS, great, but lets stop thinking RSS is the greatest thing since the trackwheel mouse.
mbg (February 5, 2006 @ 9:57 am)
I agree. Most of the people I talk to don’t know what RSS is, and I work in IT!
Even a lot of people who know what blogs are don’t know what RSS is.
Dave Nicoll (February 6, 2006 @ 6:07 am)
Well said. It’s all too easy to believe your own hype when you’re sat in the middle of it all. Like “mbg” said, most of the people I know don’t have a clue about RSS.