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| | Excerpt from: Into the MyST | | | November 01, 2003 | | Although the writing was on the wall, saying goodbye to RSS newsreaders may be premature. | |
For more than two
years we've been discussing the likelihood that Windows and other tools
(specifically Microsoft Office) would eventually integrate RSS consumption
capabilities, and it's starting to happen. It was inevitable; RSS has so much
momentum and it provides useful solutions for many information
problems.
Looks like Bill
Gates has RSS in his cross hairs. Longhorn is going to have integrated RSS
support (no surprise here). So, get ready to uninstall all your third party RSS
readers and have 95% of user-based RSS traffic come from Microsoft products.
rssweblogsinc.com
Where does that
leave most RSS newsreaders? Well, they were somewhat commoditized long before
Microsoft got into the act, and whether Microsoft has RSS in its
crosshairs of not, is irrelevant. If Microsoft didn't integrate RSS, a slew of
third party firms would have; and NewsGator was the first to innovate
on this idea. The bigger question - what will enterprises do with this new
capability?
In Outlook (with
NewsGator) we're already enjoying the benefits of integrating email with
RSS feeds - even secure feeds with granular permissions are possible today
(i.e., items are fed to users based on what they are permitted to see
in the feed). If the past is any indication of how Microsoft will impact an idea
that has proven itself useful and demanded, the future for independent RSS
readers is probably going to change. One way for newsreaders to keep their users
and possibly earn revenues is to differentiate dramatically and partner with
content and technology platform providers. | | |
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