Some guy announces "RSS 3"
I don't know what to make of this yet. An elaborate website has been set up describing a project to create an RSS 3, complete with message board and "official blog" and a detailed description of the plans for the project. The site has been posted about on Slashdot and The Register. Sounds pretty good, right?
The problem is, the site (and the Slashdot posting) was created entirely by one person, Jonathan Avidan. So I contacted him to find out who he is and what his credentials are, and he appears to have none. He doesn't work for a company that might implement the spec. He has zero experience in any project related to RSS. As far as I can tell, apart from the RSS 3.0 site, he has no connection to RSS whatsoever.
So maybe he's trying to create a rallying point for other people to get involved? Well no, since he doesn't appear to have contacted anyone in the industry to find out what they think. And it doesn't look he's planning an open process or a community effort to make RSS 3, since he will be editing the whole thing and defining the process and hosting it. It just looks like a personal project that's gotten way out of hand.
So, unless he gets some industry heavyweights involved, my prediction is that the site will be forgotten about within a week. Yet another bizarre footnote in the history of RSS.
-- Graham, August 19th, 2005 12:06 PM.