Creating a feed syndication platform at Microsoft

Starting next week I will join Microsoft’s Windows Live division to create a new product team around syndication technologies such as RSS and Atom. I will help build a feed syndication platform leveraged by Microsoft products and developers all around the world. I am excited to construct a team and product from scratch focused on scalability and connecting syndication clients and their users wherever they may exist: desktop, mobile, media center, gaming console, widget, gadget, and more. Live.com is the new default home page for users of the Internet Explorer 7 and the Windows Vista operating system. Live.com will be…

Windows RSS platform

The Windows RSS platform is included in Internet Explorer 7 and Windows Vista, both due out later this year. The platform exposes feed and list data to all Windows applications via a common API, manages enclosure downloads, and applies common security settings to feed data and downloads. Common Feed List Windows XP and Windows Vista users will soon be using Internet Explorer 7 as their default browser. They may notice a glowing orange button on their toolbar, click it, and start subscribing to feeds exposed on the page. A subscribed feed is added to the Common Feed List, a centralized…

Windows Live Messenger new features

Microsoft unveiled some new Windows Live Messenger features during Bill Gates’ keynote tonight at CES. My favorite new feature is Messenger activities prompted by a chat bot. Activities Microsoft showed off a chat bot that allowed a user to ask questions about TV programming. One possible response from the bot is a link to a list of shows playing that night, The link opens up directly inside the chat window in an activities pane, allowing the user to browse the content and ask the bot a few more questions. The bot is learning about the individual user and his…

Simple Sharing Extensions for NetNewsWire

I created a Simple Sharing Extensions exporter for NetNewsWire followed links as a proof of concept. The OPML SSE exporter is written in AppleScript. It iterates through each subscription feed and its items, outputting every feed and the descriptive data about the items you have opened in a browser. If you are a Mac user with NetNewsWire installed you can download the AppleScript or view some of the outputted OPML. Example output <outline type=”feed” text=”Greg Reinacker” htmlUrl=”http://www.rassoc.com/gregr/weblog” description=”Greg Reinacker: Greg Reinacker’s Weblog” xmlUrl=”http://www.rassoc.com/gregr/weblog/rss.aspx”> <outline type=”item” text=”NewsGator acquires NetNewsWire” htmlUrl=”http://www.rassoc.com/gregr/weblog/archive.aspx?post=783″ created=”Tue, 4 Oct 2005 01:27:16 GMT” /> <sx:sync id=”http://www.rassoc.com/gregr/weblog/archive.aspx?post=783″ version=”1″> <sx:history…

Microsoft announces Simple Sharing Extensions

Ray Ozzie announced Simple Sharing Extensions for RSS and OPML this morning. Ray explains on his weblog the need to synchronize data such as contacts, calendaring, and read status on a wide range of devices across multiple profiles such as personal, family, and professional. The new namespace is the first extension of OPML I know of. Ray mentions there “nothing to announce right now in terms of which [Microsoft] products will support the spec, when, and for what purpose, but people are experimenting with it and are intrigued.” The acronym “SSE” makes me think of Intel’s Streaming SIMD Extensions processor…

Ray Ozzie is blogging again

Ray Ozzie, CTO of Microsoft and leader of Microsoft’s service business, is now blogging on MSN Spaces. MSN Spaces is one of the many Microsoft services receiving an overhaul as part of Windows Live. Ray’s former company, Groove, was one of the first companies to introduce a blogging policy. Groove’s policy has guided the policy of other companies in the many years since it was first introduced. I had to point to a copy of Ray’s previous blog at the Internet Archive because all of his previous blog entries now redirect to his Spaces blog homepage. Please don’t lose the…

Outlook 12 RSS support in latest beta

The latest version of Office, 12.0.3111.1010, has hit the peer-to-peer networks and developer Alexander Gorlach has posted his first impressions and detailed screenshots of the subscription and reading interface. Microsoft throttles the feed update rate and respects the TTL element. Users can override this update limit which could be pretty scary as RSS updates are currently integrated with the standard send/receive function along with e-mail and most e-mail is checked every 5 minutes or so. Outlook 12 also supports the ability to download all enclosures for a subscription, regardless of the file type. Enclosures can deliver some nasty payloads to…

MSN.com testing new site

MSN has a new beta version of its homepage online with a cleaner look and easy to find links to other areas of MSN. The site does not look too great on Safari or Firefox but the site should be of interest as it will likely become the default homepage for millions of users. Tags: msn…

Full text of Microsoft executive memos about service offerings

Dave Winer just posted the full text of memos sent by Microsoft’s Bill Gates and Ray Ozzie to Microsoft executives announcing the company’s new services strategy. Both executives are very frank about Microsoft’s failure to properly capitalize on the latest online trends, including many technologies pioneered by Microsoft. Ray Ozzie encourages updates in MSN and Windows Update to “better serve a broad range of highly-influential early adopters.” The entire plan is not yet complete, but corporate executives are working towards a December 15 deadline to outline next steps and product revisions. Thanks Dave for tracking down these documents and taking…

Microsoft Office Live

Microsoft Office Live is a set of small business services built around a Microsoft’s Sharepoint technologies. The new site combines bCentral with Sharepoint for free web hosting, e-mail, and group sharing online. Microsoft will also offer subscription plans with less or no advertising and access to over 20 additional online business applications. Anyone can now sign up for a domain name, setup their own website, and have a professional e-mail address. You can design your site using Microsoft templates directly from their web page. You can signup for up to 5 e-mail addresses at your-domain.com with 2 GB of…