Re: Can someone explain what's so great about RSS?

On 7/31/05, Joe Stump <joe@joestump.net> wrote: > I liken RSS to email for webpages. First off, it's WAY easier to sub/ > unsub from RSS feeds than it is mailing lists. Also, I can aggregate > my feeds. For instance, I can have Slashdot and CNN Technology news > all in the same "inbox" on my aggregator. > > Also, there is an "ecapsulation" (I think that's the tag) that allows > you to attach other media to posts, which is being used for > podcasting. That way when a new podcast shows up in the feed it's > automagically downloaded into iTunes and then onto my iPod. > > Basically, I don't have check 15 websites each morning. I open my > aggregator, check my inbox and THEN click through if I feel like > reading the whole story (if it doesn't show up in my aggregator). > Perhaps I simply haven't seen the right programs. What is a good aggregator that can keep track of new things and allow me to read them at any time? I can understand a bit from the website maintainer's perspective as mailing lists can be troublesome, but I personally like my e-mail just fine. It keeps track of what I've seen and not, I can get news, bug reports, and CVS commit information all in one place, and it's *push* instead of *pull*....for real. One thing that I really don't get is that with RSS you end up downloading the same thing multiple times. You get the same news over and over with sometimes a new entry or 2. With "podcasting" (argh) doesn't this mean you'll be downloading the same content over and over? And hence the website has increased traffic and bandwidth requirements. > > > On Jul 31, 2005, at 2:21 PM, Lee Braiden wrote: > > > On Sunday 31 July 2005 22:14, Justin Patrin wrote: > > > >> I've been seeing RSS gaining more and more popularity over the last > >> years and I simply do not understand why. Why is RSS so great? What > >> does it do that is so great and wonderful? The only thing it seems to > >> have over anything else is that it's using XMLwith a standardized > >> format. Other than that, RSS seems to me to be not any more useful > >> than, say, a daily e-mail with news (or whatever) from whatever > >> you're > >> getting the RSS from. > >> > > > > It's not the implementation of the technology that's great; it's the > > technology itself, the fact that RSS has become the de-facto > > standard, and > > that as a new, almost-standardised technology, it's USEFUL in terms of > > aggregators, saving people time, and bringing them more information > > in an > > easier way. Might seem simple, but that's how progress happens. > > > > -- > > Lee Braiden > > http://www.DigitalUnleashed.com > > > > -- > PEAR General Mailing List (http://pear.php.net/) > To unsubscribe, visit: http://www.php.net/unsub.php > > -- Justin Patrin