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10 Biggest Microsoft Surprises of 2005
IZ Reloaded writes "The Microsoft Watch has a top 10 list of the biggest Microsoft surprises of the year. Among the surprises are Internet Explorer rising from the dead, Microsoft gets RSS and Microsoft Office team blogging. From Microsoft Watch: MS 'gets' RSS: While some folks were less than overjoyed that Microsoft was tinkering with the "little orange RSS box," Microsoft ended up looking like a company with a clue when it came to outlining its company-wide RSS strategy in 2005. RSS support will be built into not just Internet Explorer 7.0, but also Outlook 12 and Windows Vista itself. Almost all Microsoft blogs and sites have RSS feeds these days. RSS is gospel in Redmond these days."
RSS is gospel in Redmond these days
It must be a bit bittersweet, given that RSS is basically a sloppier version of Microsoft's "push" technology CDF, which was introduced with Internet Explorer 4.0.
1. IE is resurrected
2. RSS
3. Win FS
4. Ray Ozzie 2 Microsoft move
5. MS laughs at the EC
6. No major vendor app purchase
7. MS Security Sucks - Whats the suprise?
8. Office embraces XML, developers blog, and etcetera
9. Marketers are given free reighn - Whats the suprise?
10. Hailstorm (.Net) is reintroduced
RSS can be handy for stock watchers. You can subscribe to an RSS feed for each company you track by entering their symbol on Yahoo Finance, and clicking the RSS button. An application like RSSReader (which is free) will pull all of the headlines together. It saves a ton of time when you want to read each stock's daily news.
I get it... I use RSS all day, every day. I use it to feed me headlines from the news sites that I used to constantly check on. I also get updates from other sites that I don't frequent as much, but want to be informed of changes. It is a neat, simple technology. Added bonus is the lack of ads, and most WiFi networks that charge (like in airports) do not block the RSS port, so I can get my headlines and a brief story snippet for free.
My
No, seriously - what the heck is 'Live' supposed to mean? Any ideas?
I think they're trying to use it as a synonym for things that are both 'current' and 'interactive' (yeah, I realize that doesn't help too much). It seems that everything that they are branding as 'live' is dynamic content that can change frequently, such as stock quotes, weather, news, email, instant messenging. Essentially, it boils down to anything that can be put on the internet, which again doesn't help clarify the situation. You asked for ideas, and from what I've seen, that's as close as I can get.
Be a real patriot: Question authority. Think for yourself. Formulate your own conclusions.
most WiFi networks that charge (like in airports)
Can't say i've run into many airports that charge, then again I mostly fly in the midwest and east coast... but FYI unless I'm missing something RSS=XML; runs on port 80 (thats the same as HTML...)
-everphilski-
I either run a .BAT file which opens several webpages, or "open each bookmark in this bookmark folder in a separate tab".
Sure. I can also calculate using a pen and paper, it doesn't mean it isn't useful to have a computer be able to peform them for me.
The thing to remember is that RSS is an interface. As such it needn't, in fact, oughtn't do very much. It just has to be standardized. Since it is standardized and does just enough for the job, it can be used to bolt together information services, albeit in a limited way. This is what allows you to subscribe to podcasts in software other than iTunes, or for that matter the same rss feed that iTunes uses to update your podcast create a slashbox in your slashdot or a content box yahoo home page.
If everything was done by creating batch files to cache unstructured HTML pages, this wouldn't be possible.
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I guess, for me, this "begs" the question of: Why can't I just get links of new podcasts sent to me in a daily email? Why do I need another program to experience information when email+web browser have been enough?
Well, it's hard to come up with something Really Simple and that does everything you'd want it to do. Clearly a more powerful semantic webby kind of thing would be better, but good enough soon enough is a highly reliable horse if you're a betting man.
Furthremore, it seems an RSS reader is tied to a specific computer, despite the fact that I roam.......
Well, that's your application's fault, isn't it? Simplicity helps the most when it forces assumptions out of the interface, and bad when it foces them into the interface. In this case RSS makes no assumptions at all over how it is consumed, either directly by your computer or by a server on your behalf. The counterexamples are, of course, My Yahoo or Google's new personalized home page. The proces and present the RSS feeds for you remotely, you just log on.
The closest thing I use is Gmail's "Web clips". Seeing slashdot headlines up there is useful. But I can't imagine running an RSS client...
Well, I think the problem is expecting too much of the technology. You can't imagine running and RSS client because RSS on its own doesn't do anything you need. It's just an interface. However you can build applications using RSS that do things that are useful to you. My Yahoo and Google Personalized Home are essentially customizable hybrids of magazines, alamanac, search service, and PIM.
Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
A lot of people are going to get owned by this in the next few days / week, especially with so many people out of the office until next week...
see SANS / ISC for more info.
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Uh, your aggregator is caching the RSS files. You're just looking at old news. ;)
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