RSS-DEV Working Group
Encyclopedia
The RSS-DEV Working Group was the outgrowth of a fork
in RSS
format development. The private, non-commercial working group
began with a dozen members in three countries, and was chaired by Rael Dornfest
, researcher and developer of the Meerkat RSS-reader software.
circa March 1999, at which point the acronym implied RDF Site Summary. The functionality was remarkably different from what is now known as RSS, or Really Simple Syndication. The former simply provided a website summary, while the latter was designed for syndication. July 1999 saw the release of RSS-0.91, an improvement on its predecessor; the latter was XML
-based, as opposed to the use of RDF
(or Resource Description Framework) by the earlier version, which was then deprecated by Netscape. The new version also provided support for DTD
, allowing for additional HTML
-like functionality.
released its own RSS-0.91, circa June 2000. Unlike the Netscape version, this variant had no support for DTD. A team of developers, which would become members of the core development team of the RSS-DEV Working Group, broke away from the project. This group released its own set of specifications called RSS-1.0, on December 6, 2000.
RSS-1.0 marked a return to the use of the Netscape-deprecated RSS-0.90; the group also created its own interpretation of the RSS acronym — RDF Site Summary. This version, which was developed in parallel to the UserLand version, was incompatible with all other versions.
Fork (software development)
In software engineering, a project fork happens when developers take a legal copy of source code from one software package and start independent development on it, creating a distinct piece of software...
in RSS
RSS (file format)
RSS is a family of web feed formats used to publish frequently updated works—such as blog entries, news headlines, audio, and video—in a standardized format...
format development. The private, non-commercial working group
Working group
A working group is an interdisciplinary collaboration of researchers working on new research activities that would be difficult to develop under traditional funding mechanisms . The lifespan of the WG can last anywhere between a few months and several years...
began with a dozen members in three countries, and was chaired by Rael Dornfest
Rael Dornfest
Rael Dornfest is an American computer programmer and author. He is an engineer at Twitter. He was Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Values of N, creator of "I Want Sandy" and "Stikkit: Little Yellow Notes that Think." Previously, he was Chief Technology Officer at O'Reilly Media. He began...
, researcher and developer of the Meerkat RSS-reader software.
History
RSS-0.90 was released by NetscapeNetscape
Netscape Communications is a US computer services company, best known for Netscape Navigator, its web browser. When it was an independent company, its headquarters were in Mountain View, California...
circa March 1999, at which point the acronym implied RDF Site Summary. The functionality was remarkably different from what is now known as RSS, or Really Simple Syndication. The former simply provided a website summary, while the latter was designed for syndication. July 1999 saw the release of RSS-0.91, an improvement on its predecessor; the latter was XML
XML
Extensible Markup Language is a set of rules for encoding documents in machine-readable form. It is defined in the XML 1.0 Specification produced by the W3C, and several other related specifications, all gratis open standards....
-based, as opposed to the use of RDF
Resource Description Framework
The Resource Description Framework is a family of World Wide Web Consortium specifications originally designed as a metadata data model...
(or Resource Description Framework) by the earlier version, which was then deprecated by Netscape. The new version also provided support for DTD
Document Type Definition
Document Type Definition is a set of markup declarations that define a document type for SGML-family markup languages...
, allowing for additional HTML
HTML
HyperText Markup Language is the predominant markup language for web pages. HTML elements are the basic building-blocks of webpages....
-like functionality.
Development fork
The following year, UserLand SoftwareUserLand Software
UserLand Software is a US software company founded by Dave Winer in 1988. UserLand sells Web content management and blogging software packages and services.-Company History:Dave Winer founded the company in 1988 after leaving Symantec in the spring of 1988...
released its own RSS-0.91, circa June 2000. Unlike the Netscape version, this variant had no support for DTD. A team of developers, which would become members of the core development team of the RSS-DEV Working Group, broke away from the project. This group released its own set of specifications called RSS-1.0, on December 6, 2000.
RSS-1.0 marked a return to the use of the Netscape-deprecated RSS-0.90; the group also created its own interpretation of the RSS acronym — RDF Site Summary. This version, which was developed in parallel to the UserLand version, was incompatible with all other versions.
Members
- Gabe Beged-Dov, JFinity Systems LLC
- Dan Brickley, ILRT
- Rael DornfestRael DornfestRael Dornfest is an American computer programmer and author. He is an engineer at Twitter. He was Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Values of N, creator of "I Want Sandy" and "Stikkit: Little Yellow Notes that Think." Previously, he was Chief Technology Officer at O'Reilly Media. He began...
, O'Reilly & Associates - Ian Davis, Calaba, Ltd.
- Leigh Dodds, xmlhack
- Jonathan Eisenzopf, Whirlwind Interactive
- David Galbraith, Moreover.com
- R.V. GuhaRamanathan V. GuhaRamanathan V. Guha is an Indian computer scientist. He graduated with B.Tech from Indian Institute of Technology Madras, MS from University of California Berkeley and...
, guha.com - Ken MacLeod, (Independent)
- Eric Miller, Online Computer Library Center, Inc.OCLCOCLC Online Computer Library Center, Inc. is "a nonprofit, membership, computer library service and research organization dedicated to the public purposes of furthering access to the world’s information and reducing information costs"...
- Aaron SwartzAaron SwartzAaron Swartz is an American programmer, writer, political organizer and Internet activist. He is best known in programming circles for co-authoring the RSS 1.0 specification...
, The Info Network - Eric van der Vlist, Dyomedea
- Kevin Burton, Spinn3r.com