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RSS and Echo. Well the big companies have finally made their move in the weblog world with Sam Ruby being directed by IBM to take control of an emerging syndication standard.
Why now? Big publishing companies are starting to think about using RSS (really simple syndication) not only to automate the delivery of news to readers but also to automate the
production of news. IBM is very interested in this given their longstanding and extremely lucrative relationship with the WSJ ($500m over the last three years) and other publishers. It would be against their interest to let a simple syndication standard emerge that didn't require lots of IBM iron and software expertise. RSS had to die. Also, if you small vendors or individual contributors think that you are gaining some say or freedom with the development of Echo, think again. The big companies are going to roll right over you as the push this forward over the next couple of years. [
John Robb's Radio Weblog]
I disagree with John on a couple of fronts. Companies find it hard to support and promote something that they have no investment in -- intellectual or capital. Very few people have a substantial investment in RSS when compared the larger business world. When it comes to IBM, they are looking for software and concepts to drive their services business as opposed to hardware. Hardware is considered a "pull-through" byproduct of services. John is right with respect to big companies will roll with this over the next couple of years. The fact that this is happening means that the big software companies recognize that this is an important faucet of web publishing.
Early creators often see their technology destroyed as people assimilate the knowledge embodied in their technology and mold it to their purposes or extract the knowledge and create something new. This is evolution.
