Print - Microsoft Announces RSS Support in Longhorn, IE 7

Microsoft announced today that it plans to support Really Simple Syndication (RSS) technology in Longhorn, the upcoming next-generation Windows OS, and in Microsoft Internet Explorer (IE) 7.0, the standalone browser upgrade that will ship later this year. RSS lets users subscribe to the Web-based content that they enjoy, freeing them from having to manually browse the same sites again and again.

"Like searching, RSS subscriptions are an evolution of Web browsing, not a replacement," Gary Schare, director of strategic product management in the Windows Division, told me earlier this week. "We're making a major RSS investment in Longhorn and will integrate the technology throughout the OS."

Longhorn will feature RSS technologies in three key areas. First, the IE 7.0 Web browser in Longhorn will make it easy to discover RSS feeds (i.e., Web sites that offer syndicated, or subscription-based, versions of their content), then view and subscribe to those feeds. Second, Microsoft will add pervasive APIs directly to Longhorn so that developers can take advantage of RSS in their own applications. Third, the company will create a new set of RSS extensions, called Simple List Extensions, that will make it easier for Web sites to publish as RSS feeds lists such as music playlists or top 10 lists.

IE 7.0's RSS features seem to be similar to the RSS support that Apple Computer built into its Safari Web browser in Mac OS X Tiger, which Apple released in April. When you navigate to a Web site that includes an RSS feed, you'll see an illuminated icon in the toolbar. Click that icon, and the RSS feed will be displayed in the browser using "pretty views," Schare told me. You can then subscribe to the feed, which will add the subscription to a Common Feed List that's similar to but separate from IE's Favorites list.

Longhorn will also support programming APIs that make RSS content available to any application. Today, Microsoft will demonstrate a simple application that connects Microsoft Office Outlook to RSS feeds, providing continuously updated calendar items. Although Schare was careful not to confirm this prediction, it seems likely that the next version of Outlook, which will ship next year as part of Office 12, will support this functionality natively.

Microsoft's set of RSS extensions will be released freely through the Creative Commons License, the same specification under which the RSS standard was released. The extensions are necessary, Microsoft says, because RSS is natively designed to support only time-based data. The Simple List Extensions let RSS be used in other scenarios, such as ordered information that might appear in a list.

"We salute Microsoft's decision to license its Simple List Extensions via Creative Commons, which offers creators a way to both protect their work and to encourage broad uses of them," said Lawrence Lessig, a professor of law at Stanford Law School and the founder of Creative Commons. "Microsoft's flexibility with its intellectual property will positively impact a wide range of content publishers and the RSS community as a whole."

Schare told me that the version of IE 7.0 that ships this year for Windows Server 2003 and Windows XP users will support the RSS discover/view/subscribe functionality but not the APIs that let developers interact with RSS-based data. IE 7.0 Beta 1 is still on track for "this summer," Schare said, although the initial public release will be "pretty basic," featuring only the fundamental plumbing that the browser needs. Designed for developers, IE 7.0 Beta 1 won't feature much end user "sex appeal," Schare said. Instead, the beta 2 release, expected later in 2005, will be more interesting to a broad range of consumers.

It's about time, paul. As great as firefox is, it has problems, and a lot of people still use MSIE. I'm glad Microsoft finally got up and decided to do something about their outdated browser.

yeah, when Apple announced Safari RSS plans.. Paul was predictably unimpressed... Now about a year later, when MS starts talking about a product already in the hands of Mac owners, Paul gets really stoked.. What am I missing...?

"IE 7.0's RSS features seem to be similar to the RSS support that Apple Computer built into its Safari Web browser in Mac OS X Tiger, which Apple released in April. " What a shock. I think I'm going to die from that shock.

Where does he get excited? It seems more like he's just reporting what other people in the industry have said.

I dont get the hype over RSS, I've tried it and it just isnt worth all the hype people to it and all the time webmasters put into it to get feeds online. When I'm browsing websites I want to actally see the site, not a summary of it's contents, that's why I'm using a web browser to look at sites and not DOS.

Welecome to to the 21st centurty IE! We missed you for a long time. "yeah, when Apple announced Safari RSS plans.. Paul was predictably unimpressed... Now about a year later, when MS starts talking about a product already in the hands of Mac owners, Paul gets really stoked.. What am I missing...?" You may be right, but this is WINInfo, emphasizing the WIN, as in WINdows. I doubt that that ThinkSecret or Apple Insider get too excited about the announcement of MS features that Apple does not have yet.

"IE 7.0's RSS features seem to be similar to the RSS support that Apple Computer built into its Safari Web browser in Mac OS X Tiger, which Apple released in April. " Everyone thats complaining about this, you missed the big points. "Second, Microsoft will add pervasive APIs directly to Longhorn so that developers can take advantage of RSS in their own applications. Third, the company will create a new set of RSS extensions, called Simple List Extensions, that will make it easier for Web sites to publish as RSS feeds lists such as music playlists or top 10 lists." If you were saying something earlier about IE 7.0, then chances are you don't even understand points two and three, which happen to be what the evolution is all about. They showed demos and scenarios today and it's also being showed off in an interview at Channel 9.

Does this mean that when a new version of a programme is available, like that small app download.com used to have, you will automatically know when it is available and download it.

""yeah, when Apple announced Safari RSS plans.. Paul was predictably unimpressed..." b u l l s h i t. Here's what Paul said on his (Exciting!) Windows! Supersite!: "Apple's Safari Web browser is excellent, offering speedy performance and excellent Web rendering. In Tiger, Safari is updated to include integrated support for Real Simple Syndication (RSS) and Atom feeds, technologies that many blogs now use. When Safari hits an RSS or Atom-backed Web site, like the New York Times, you'll see a new "RSS" button in the Safari address bar (Figure). Click this, and the site's RSS feed is displayed, using a clean Apple-created design that features a right-mounted frame for controlling the amount of information you see and various sorting options. This screen is not otherwise customizable per se, but it is gorgeous and well-designed. RSS feeds can thus be bookmarked like any other Web page, which is exactly the way it should work, when you think about it." Huh. That doesn't sound like he was "unimpressed" at all. Moron.

If you want RSS icon flashing whenever you're in a website that provides RSS you can use Opera 8 (at least). But hey, better late than never. What I'm troubled with is: "We're making a major RSS investment in Longhorn and will integrate the technology throughout the OS." I hope that they remeber why LH's IE will be using least-privileged. :rolleyes:

>>Obligatory "Yawn" Post. Well done. I like your class. I been away for a few days with a family emergency. Thanks for carrying the ball. - Yawn!

I don't think I've seen a larger congregation of misinformed commenters. Go read what happened intead of knee jerking. It's like a nuclear bomb went off in your back yard and you're complaining that the pilot light on the stove isn't that impressive. So what if Safari has RSS. Did you not read anything? Everything on the Windows platform will have RSS and have it in ways that you can't even imagine today. You will look back on your posts 5 years from now and realize this. You're being myopic.

Yawn? Just take one piece of this story - Lessig congratulating Microsoft on this move. This is the guy who architected the MS antitrust case. Microsoft was public enemy number one. And now he's delivering praise? Why do you people eat for breakfast? Stupid pills?

This is very exciting news. I'm particularly interested to see what the developer community can do with this. It seems to me this opens up a world of possibilities. I've got about 100 use cases and business models running through my head right now. I think 10 years from now our interactions with computing devices (PCs, PDAs, phones) will be unrecognizable compared to today. This is paradigm shifting stuff for developers and ultimately users. I just have to chuckle at these "Safari already has RSS" comments. Admit it. You have no idea what what just happened or what this means. Do you?

As a user of Internet Explorer and RSS feed readers I think this is exciting news. Just need a filter for the lowlifes who needs to let everyone know that someone did it before. WHO CARES?

The first implementation of any technology is almost never the best, be it hardware or software. There is always a way to make it better, or expand on the original concept. For this reason, I don't see the point that the Apple people are trying to make. Being first to the market with anything just means you're going to be the first to be one-uped.

Huh. That doesn't sound like he was "unimpressed" at all. Moron. ---------- No. You have to go to the actualy annoucement and introduction of Tiger, etc. They started talking about the new features in Tiger... Paul described the new iChat as "they have videoconferencing now" which is retarded..Because of course the videoconferencing on iChat is gorgeous.. H.264 is what makes it so... Widgets were annouced.. Paul tore that to ****, because of Konfab.. (notice a trend here?) and then he casually mentioned that Apple had nothing interesting in store for Safari.. that an RSS update was minor and unimpressive.. Do you honestly think he would have dissed H.264 and then gone on to applaud Safari for RSS feeds?!?! Come on..