I am currently attending Gnomedex in Seattle where there are many product announcements happening. The big announcement of the morning is Microsoft’s integration of RSS into Longhorn at the platform level. Dean Hachamovitch, general manager of Internet Explorer, admitted Microsoft is “trying to get on the Cluetrain.”
Microsoft’s marketing message for its RSS integration is “Browse. Search. Subscribe!” They distributed jackets to all Gnomedex attendees and expect to see this message at PDC in September and other marketing venues. RSS is again being used as a generic term encompassing all feed formats including RDF and Atom.
Dean demonstrated Internet Explorer 7 and its built-in feed reader. Internet Explorer 7 includes an RSS button in the navigation bar when it discovers feed content in the HTML. A user clicks on the orange RSS and is able to view the RSS feed rendered in the browser. Clicking a plus button adds the feed to a common feed list Microsoft has opened up to developers as CommonFeedList. CommonFeedList provides support for feed elements at the platform level and opens up different API calls to store and retrieve feed data from the OS.
Microsoft demonstrated enclosure support for ICS imports into Outlook calendar, a screensaver utilizing a feed with graphic enclosures, and an application to browse Amazon wishlists. Microsoft’s RSS extensions will be licensed under a Creative Commons license.
Channel 9 has a video with more information and three demonstrations. Reporters were supposedly briefed on the new features and the embargo lifts at noon. The Internet Explorer blog is supposed to have a post up soon. The Microsoft team is soliciting feedback on their RSS efforts at teamrss@microsoft.com