Date: Thu, 14 Dec 2000 10:56:45 -0800 (PST)
To: lwn@lwn.net
Subject: RSS 1.0 Released by International Working Group

For Immediate Release
December 14, 2000

Further Information Contact
Ellen Maremont Silver
O'Reilly Network
(707)829-6514
silver@oreilly.com
http://www.oreillynet.com/

RSS 1.0 Released by International Working Group 
XML Application Lets Web Sites Syndicate Metadata and Content 

Sebastopol, CA--An international group of developers has released RDF
Site Summary (RSS) 1.0, an XML-based application enabling Web sites to
describe and syndicate site content and metadata.

RSS lets Web content providers keep their readers current with
rapidly-changing news, discussion, and other events of interest on
their Web sites and sites of related interest. Because RSS is
multipurpose, lightweight, and extensible, RSS developers expect it to
be widely adopted by other Web developers. This is the first update to
RSS since Netscape released version 0.91 in July,1999.

RSS 1.0's most important accomplishment is extensibility via modules
based on XML-Namespace technology. This lets content providers plug
functionality into a basic syndication platform, saving time and
effort, and ensuring compatibility.

The RSS 1.0 Working Group is the core development team, with 12 members
in three countries. The Working Group is chaired by Rael Dornfest,
researcher and developer at the O'Reilly Network. Dornfest noted that
use of development and implementation of RSS 1.0 has been strong for
several months. "RSS 1.0-compliant tools, libraries, articles, and
feeds already have been springing up and evolving," Dornfest said.

Dornfest is also the creator of Meerkat, a Web-based RSS reader
designed to keep developers on top of rapidly-changing technology
news.

"RSS 1.0 is great news for anyone involved in managing the flow of
information, either on the Internet or within the enterprise,"
explained Edd Dumbill, Managing Editor of XML.com. "Developers can take
advantage of a large existing tool base, and at the same time use the
new specification's extensibility to accommodate their particular
requirements. This is a big step forward for interoperability of data
on the Web."

EXAMPLES OF RSS-BASED SERVICES 

Meerkat: a technical content syndicator drawing news and analysis from
more than 200 channels. (http://meerkat.oreillynet.com)

Moreover.com: "scrapes", cleans and categorizes Web pages, repacking
the data into outgoing syndicated feeds. (http://moreover.com)

My Netscape Network: the original RSS site, now a general-purpose,
customizable portal. (http://my.netscape.com)

My.Userland: aggregator of content focused on the Weblog community.
(http://my.userland.com)

XMLtree: registrar for XML (including RSS) content.
(http://www.xmltree.com)

FOR MORE INFORMATION 

RSS 1.0 Specification Proposal  
http://purl.org/rss/1.0/

RSS-DEV Working Group
http://www.egroups.com/group/rss-dev/

O'Reilly Network's RSS DevCenter offers feature articles, tools, audio
roundtables with RSS developers, and more.
http://www.oreillynet.com/rss/

RSS Info, News and information on the RSS format
http://www.blogspace.com/rss/

Writing RSS 1.0 by Rael Dornfest
http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/network/2000/08/25/magazine/rss_tut.html

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