Gary Santoro commented on my last post.
Echo is a poorly conceived syndication format.
You obviously don't see the potential for abuse, but that doesn't mean the potential for abuse isn't there. To many of us, it's pretty obvious.
As I've written elsewhere, "Echo" is such a poor proposal, such an obvious screw job, it's almost humorous.
We RSS supporters are mixing in history and economics with logic. Maybe that's why you don't understand the logic, because it's also about the history and economics of the IT industry.
Gary, you're right - I obviously don't see the potential for abuse. Please help me to understand. What exactly is this "abuse" you are referring to? Why exactly is it a "poor proposal"? What do you mean by "poorly conceived syndication format"? Your argument is vague and ambigious; I can see why you like RSS so much.
The RSS specification itself is poor. Many others have gone into detail on why on a technical perspective, and I won't rehash that here. Dave himself admits in the specification that "RSS is by no means a perfect format, but it is very popular and widely supported."
What makes it successful is that it's built on XML, a widely accessible standard. RSS is easily supported because it's XML. Even changes in the format from version to version are easily handled, because at the end of the day it's just an XML format.
There are many non-technical things that are wrong with RSS as well. pubDate shouldn't be optional. Element usage and meaning shouldn't be ambigious, as it is with guid and link and so on.
There is no doubt in my mind that we need a new format for syndication. There's only one problem:
... the RSS spec is, for all practical purposes, frozen at version 2.0.1. We anticipate possible 2.0.2 or 2.0.3 versions, etc. only for the purpose of clarifying the specification, not for adding new features to the format. Subsequent work should happen in modules, using namespaces, and in completely new syndication formats, with new names.
(Emphasis mine). Dave and company are not going to make the necessary improvements, so someone has. The people involved in the new format are only following his advice. New syndication format, new name.
I think you're missing the point of XML. Steve obviously gets it. The assumptions you're making based on the "history and economics of the IT industry" don't necessarily still hold when you're talking about XML.