January 2006
OPML 1.1, Clouds and SSE
If you read this old post you can see that at one time OPML 1.1 was going to be released and it was going to have a cloud element.
Because Dave Winer had to take a break because of health issues and the fact that Intsant Outlining used Instant Messaging instead, the new release never came to be.
Now we seem to be at a time when OPML sharing is about to explode and perhaps SSE will be a part of that. But SSE doesn’t help the “polling” issues caused by wanting immediate notification of remote changes.
And not every application will be able to or want to incorporate Instant Messaging, so the question is whether polling each other’s OPMl files is the best we can do.
Scratch that. We are not looking for the best, but we do want to incorporate good ideas that can be easily implemented.
I’m on the fence here.
I think using clouds would greatly help the bright future that remote OPML sharing has in store for us.
But I also think it is equally a good idea for RSS and has been available since 2.0, and I don’t off hand know of one service that uses it.
Just think of how much more services that are notified of change immediately can do for as opposed to having to poll at intervals of an hour or more.
I doubt it will make it’s way back into OPMl, but I think it’s worth considering.
We plan on sharing alot of OPMl. Clouds could really enrich that experience and save bandwidth to boot.
bonustag: whathehellisallthisabout
: )
The future of VC’s
ROPE .3 uhhh .4
Some updates. (also note I was writing .02 before, but the version in the code was .2, so that’s what we are sticking with)
Version .4 - You must now also be an Admin. Still working on a non-essential bug revealed in .3 , trying to record the link_owner correctly.
Version .3 - Uhh… Please go to .4
Remote OPML Enabler Wordpress Plugin update
Version .02 - You must now be sending legit Wordpress credentials. There must be a Wordpress user with the same credentials as thos stored in the OPML editor. Added some better error handling too.
Treat site users like family
How did the web change business enough that it is more likely for an engineer to create a successful online business than for an MBA or Entertainment/Media mogul.
Of course, I have no proof that the contention above is true.
Engineers fail silently all the time. MBA’s raise capital, so their failures get a little more notoriety.
Nevertheless, many of the notable success stories on the web were not begun by business experts, but technologists, and this makes sense, given the technological nature of the web.
But one thing occurs to me and it resides in the philosophical treatment of the user of any particular site or web service.
These users will ultimately make a service popular, and then perhaps profitable.
It seems to me that experts in media and experts in business often fail on the web because they see the site user as a customer or a consumer (information or economic), whereas the engineer sees the site user as just that, a user of a service. That is, to an engineer, the site user is another cog in the wheel. If they are unhappy or cause friction, the engine will cease.
The business expert says, “We understand, that’s all part CRM(customer relationship management) and customer-service in general.”
No.
Success online isn’t about improving customer-service, it’s about removing that space between the customer or site-user and the service, company, and individuals involved altogether.
Let’s call this community assimilation.
This is about relationships and how we treat them. In some families, if an in-law sticks around long enough, they are not percieved much differently than any other family member.
But they are not granted this treatment simply by tying the knot. It happens naturally over time.
The point is, that customer service is a lot like formally accepting a in-law into the family.
Community assimilation only occurs when site user is granted equal status as all other stakeholders, including the company employees.
These new family members must be treated on the same level as all family members or they will leave.
Oh, they may not divorce you. They are still registered and you may even see them once in a while.
But in their and your hearts, you know they aren’t true members of your online family.
And a relationship like that is worthless to both the business and the engineer.
West Wing update
Dave Winer thinks Santos is going to win.
Remote OPML enabler
If editing and hosting your Blogroll or OPML files from a remote location sounds interesting to you and you are a wordpress user, here is plugin.
SSE Update
There is a new update on SSE on the Microsoft RSS Blog.
Jack mention’s yours truly and the experimental two-way feed site SkinnyFarm which I created.
Thankfully, he left out any mention of the site bugs.
It’s funny, I didn’t think anyone was paying attention (besides a few cool people who’ve emailed me). Certainly not anyone at Microsoft.
I’m excited to see what changes they have made.
I really believe that use of the SSE extension will become the norm rather than the exception. But that prediction also relies on that fact that RSS usage hasn’t nearly hit the upcurve of the hockey stick.
We ain’t seen nothin yet.
Calling all Jerry’s Kids
back to back, chicken shack, son of a gun , better change your act
Some Jerry factoids and a photo of him in good health (I’m not joking)
What problem reading lists solve
Dave Winer says “I don’t know why I didn’t see this before, but reading lists solve a huge problem we’ve been struggling with, in an open way not controlled by any vendor.”
My guess on what he is talking about is this:
Reading lists allow us to keep our subscription lists in sync across varied computers and feedreaders.
Well, that’s something I’m working on anyway, and it might please Steve Gillmor, who’s been asking for that for a while and I’m using my favorite RSS complement, SSE. Dave might have something bigger in mind, even though I think this is pretty big.