Kleenex, Xerox, RSS…

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 officially entered the realm of Commodity. It’s a digital Kleenex, a virtual Xerox. Some say “Coke” when they really want a Pepsi.

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 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.

• Winer - Responding to Scoble
• Trying to get into the user’s shoes about RSS and feeds
• About that RSS branding Robert…
• The RSS Crisis
• Microsoft Monitor - Out with the Name Blame
• TechBlog - What’s wrong with RSS
• Torres Talking - Others and RSS naming

If you really feel like playing the “Feeds vs. RSS” blame-game, Microsoft didn’t start that ball rolling… Amy Gahran did two years ago: What Are Webfeeds (RSS), and Why Should You Care (written on 10/18/2003). FWIW, I think Amy is one of the smartest women on the Web today.