Via Globe and Mail Jack Kapica reports. Mr Kapica compares RSS to 1995’s heavily hyped PointCast push product / technology and shosw how RSS feeds and RSS Readers are different and address the potential benefits of the earlier hype.
To summarize story so far : RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication or Rich Site Summary or RDF Site Summary , depending on whom you talk to. Its based on XML RSS readers don’t take over your computer like PointCast did. RSS reader are pull not push. Unlike PointCast, RSS feeds and Readers are based on open standards not proprietary technology. It’s don’t require a signed contracts to add a feed to a blog or news web site. this allow a much larger number of sources. And there is a large choice of RSS feed Readers available that work on different OS’s , some of which integrate with outlook email or are standalone, or you can write your own (Like me).