The developer preview of OS X 10.5 “Leopard” includes an integrated feed syndication platform with Bonjour integration according to a message board posting from a WWDC attendee. The software was distributed to all conference attendees and should be available on your favorite file-sharing network shortly.
A new framework is included for publishing and subscribing to RSS and Atom feeds, including complete RSS parsing and generation. Local feeds can be shared over Bonjour zero-configuration sharing and discovery.
The new framework would provide an easy interface for Mac developers to include feed syndication features inside their products and share user data across applications. Bonjour integration could create a grid network of feed subscribers, allowing a user to grab the latest BoingBoing entry or NPR podcast from their local network instead of initiating a new external network request.
I talked about this with Stuart Cheshire months after they release ZeroConf a long time ago in a galaxy far far away.
I think his comment was “yeah, you could do that”.
Anyway. This would only really have much of an advantage at a conference and only if you trust people publishing on the local network.
This could be used as a security vuln for RSS aggregators that exec javascript.
Unfortunately there isn’t a standard for distributing hashcodes from HTTP to re-validate the content.
Kevin
Would have a big benefit on corporate networks, consolidating requests and helping local groups better share subscriptions.
Apple is known for having, well, a casual relationship with syndication standards. I wonder if they are planning to write valid RSS/Atom so that other systems can interoperate…
Yeah, this sounds like it could be nice if Apple implements it well, and it could be an unmitigated disaster if they don’t. Perhaps I’m just being a pessimist, but based on past history with Apple and syndication, I’m betting on the latter.
That said, I definitely approve of the concept of pulling the feed from the local network in order to save bandwidth as long as it can be demonstrated that the local network really is providing the exact same content. Which, as Kevin said, could be very difficult. Alternatively, if you are able to restrict the sharing of subscriptions to only trusted computers by default, that might be adequate.
Oh come on, Dewitt, you’re not even trying! Niall hands you the perfect opportunity to diss Apple, and the best link you can come up with is a weak-ass Winer rant? I can think of plenty of better links for a phrase like “Apple’s casual relationship with syndication standards.”
Meanwhile, Bob wrote: “Perhaps I’m just being a pessimist…”
You’re not a pessimist, Bob; you’re a cynic.
CYNIC, n.
A blackguard whose faulty vision sees things as they are, not as they ought to be. Hence the custom among the Scythians of plucking out a cynic’s eyes to improve his vision.