IE's Failings Point Way to RSS 

"Opinion: When Microsoft abandoned Internet Explorer development to concentrate on fixing the browser's security vulnerabilities, it opened the door to the emerging RSS revolution. ....

Pluck's Trojan horse strategy underlines the profoundly disruptive nature of the RSS transformation. The synchronization genie, once out of the bottle, will act as an accelerant for RSS client market share as a percentage of overall browser usage. At some point, perhaps as early as Inauguration Day, IE—and the Web—will be subsumed by the RSS platform. " [eWeek, via Scripting News]

One of the major catalysts of the RSS revolution was the introduction of Bloglines. Free and web-based, it's far and away the best choice for newbies, and it's easy to center a class or tutorial around it. What innovations will we see in the next six months that will be the next great leap? And will your library be able to participate in the revolution?

I am happy to report that my home library will be. More when I can show it!

Fear of RSS

"However, whether or not to use RSS on your site should no longer be an option. I believe it has become a necessity if you wish to compete with others in your industry....

For many users today, bookmarks have become useless since we have too many of them. Bookmarks allow for information overload just as easily as RSS does, but the difference is that RSS allows updates through all that information overload. A bookmark gets hidden, but if you update your site then the RSS feed will reflect that and tell the reader its time to view the content....

With the plethora of sites around fighting for the mindshare of your readers becomes essential. Why lessen your chances by not including a RSS feed? That opens the gates for everyone else to increase their readership. RSS feeds create more opportunities and the advantages outweigh the disadvantages." [BusinessLogs, via del.icio.us/tag/rss]