Friday, April 15, 2005

State of the Union address for RSS

Here is an interesting essay on the state of RSS for the Big Three (Microsoft, Yahoo, and Google) - per Dave Winer over at Scripting News. Now, apparently, some people don't like Dave. I have never met Dave. I have been reading his writings for the past six months, and I have listened to some of his podcasts, though, and I could see how some people might think that Dave is a pompous you know what. However, I like what Dave has to say.  In my opinion, Dave's heart is in the right place. This is the intangible part that is hard to describe.  It is my experience that Dave is working very hard to watch out for all of us.  I 'get' that he is really sincere in shepherding the interests of many of us to provide for an open, free, and public collaboration of the internet. Now, does he also have his own best interests in mind?  You bet!!!  Who doesn't?  As well he should, and so should we each have our own best interests in mind.  However, I have observed Dave being un-selfish about this, and self-aware of his own power and the egoistic limits thereof. I have tracked some of his published works on the web, and I have seen where he acts on his own, but more importantly, on the behalf of the greater good of the internet.  For example: A number of years back, he decided to throw XML-RPC to the powers that pretend to be, and ride the resulting storm through to it's final end.  A courageous act, and one that garnered him a lot of respect in the community. If you read the story, and pay attention to what's being written between the lines, Dave offered up the protocol to the betterment of the web experience everywhere. I encourage you to not pre-judge Dave.  I do encourage you to find out 'who he is'.  Who is really operating under the covers. You might find a real gem, rather than a stone... It is my belief that Dave is sincerely doing his best, give him a break... 3:22:16 PM     comment [] trackback []