RSS (Really Simple Syndication) is a lightweight XML format designed for sharing headlines and other frequently updated Web content. You can think of it as a distributable "What's New" for a website. RSS is the optimal way to track all the sites you read (that have RSS feeds), quickly seeing what new items have been posted since your last visit, and getting an overview look at headlines and excerpts before jumping over to the detailed pages or documents.

RSS has been around since 1999. Most of the news and community sites you might read (news.com, bbc, fox, slashdot, wired, etc.) have RSS feeds.

And, SoftPLC brings RSS technology to you as well!

1. RSS is an unspammable medium. Users do not have to share their e-mail address with anybody

2. Viruses (or worms) are not spread through an RSS channel.

3. You, the user, are in full control of your subscription (entirely). How many times have you tried to get removed from a mailing list that you never signed up for?

4. Instant organization. Instead of setting up dozens of complex rules to define which e-mails go to which folder, better-crafted news aggregators have been designed to keep the “information overload” at a minimum.

5. RSS was crafted with repurposing in mind. Why should that matter? Services are already indexing content that’s being pushed through RSS. There is no similar (just as comprehensive) search engine for published e-mail newsletters. Ever try to link to an e-mail newsletter?

RSS feeds can be read using software (called an RSS reader, feed reader, or aggregator), which can be web-based, desktop-based, or mobile-device-based. A standardized XML file format allows the information to be published once and viewed by many different programs. The user subscribes to a feed by entering into the reader the feed's URI or by clicking a feed icon in a web browser that initiates the subscription process. The RSS reader checks the user's subscribed feeds regularly for new work, downloads any updates that it finds, and provides a user interface to monitor and read the feeds. RSS allows users to avoid manually inspecting all of the websites they are interested in, and instead subscribe to websites such that all new content is pushed onto their browsers when it becomes available.

A variety of RSS Readers are available for different platforms. Some popular feed readers include Amphetadesk (Windows, Linux, Mac), FeedReader (Windows), and NewsGator (Windows - integrates with Outlook). There are also a number of web-based feed readers available - My Yahoo, Bloglines, and Google Reader are popular web-based feed readers.

http://softplc.com/blog/blogs/xmlsrv/rss2.php?blog=2