Editing RSS (section)

== History ==
{{update section|date=October 2013}}
{{Main article|History of web syndication technology}}
The RSS formats were preceded by several attempts at [[web syndication]] that did not achieve widespread popularity. The basic idea of restructuring information about websites goes back to as early as 1995, when [[Ramanathan V. Guha]] and others in [[Apple Inc.|Apple]]'s [[Apple Advanced Technology Group|Advanced Technology Group]] developed the [[Meta Content Framework]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://news.cnet.com/2100-1001-203893.html |title=W3C takes first step toward RDF spec |author=Lash, Alex |date=October 3, 1997 |access-date=February 16, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110809151456/http://news.cnet.com/2100-1001-203893.html |archive-date=August 9, 2011}}</ref>

[[Resource Description Framework|RDF]] Site Summary, the first version of RSS, was created by [[Dan Libby]], Ramanathan V. Guha, and [[Eckart Walther]] at [[Netscape]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://twobithistory.org/2018/12/18/rss.html |title=The Rise and Demise of RSS |author=Target, Sinclair |date=December 18, 2018}}</ref> It was released in March 1999 for use on the My.Netscape.Com portal.<ref>{{Cite news| last = Hines| first = Matt| title = Netscape Broadens Portal Content Strategy| work = Newsbytes| date = March 15, 1999}}</ref> This version became known as RSS 0.9.<ref name="Netscape Communications">{{cite web |url=http://my.netscape.com/publish/help/quickstart.html |title=My Netscape Network: Quick Start |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20001208063100/http://my.netscape.com/publish/help/quickstart.html |archive-date=December 8, 2000 |publisher=[[Netscape Communications]] |access-date=October 31, 2006 }}</ref> In July 1999, Dan Libby of Netscape produced a new version, RSS 0.91,<ref name="Libby, Dan-1999">{{cite web
 | url= http://my.netscape.com/publish/formats/rss-spec-0.91.html
 | title=RSS 0.91 Spec, revision 3 | author=Libby, Dan
 | date=July 10, 1999 |publisher=[[Netscape|Netscape ttem]]
 | access-date=February 14, 2007
| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20001204093600/http://my.netscape.com/publish/formats/rss-spec-0.91.html
 | archive-date= December 4, 2000 }}</ref> which simplified the format by removing RDF elements and incorporating elements from [[Dave Winer]]'s news syndication format.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.rssboard.org/rss-history | title=RSS History | author=RSS Advisory Board | date=June 7, 2007 | access-date=September 4, 2007 | archive-date=September 15, 2007 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070915195153/http://www.rssboard.org/rss-history | url-status=live }}</ref> Libby also renamed the format from RDF to RSS or '''Rich Site Summary''' and outlined further development of the format in a "futures document".<ref>{{cite web
 | url=http://my.netscape.com/publish/help/futures.html
 | title=MNN Future Directions |archive-date=December 4, 2000
| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20001204123600/http://my.netscape.com/publish/help/futures.html
 | publisher=[[Netscape Communications]]
 | access-date=October 31, 2006 }}</ref>

This would be Netscape's last participation in RSS development for eight years. As RSS was being embraced by web publishers who wanted their feeds to be used on My.Netscape.Com and other early RSS portals, Netscape dropped RSS support from My.Netscape.Com in April 2001 during new owner [[AOL]]'s restructuring of the company, also removing documentation and tools that supported the format.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.webreference.com/authoring/languages/xml/rss/1/ |title=The Evolution of RSS |author=Andrew King |date=April 13, 2003 |access-date=January 17, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070119031128/http://www.webreference.com/authoring/languages/xml/rss/1/ |archive-date=January 19, 2007 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Two parties emerged to fill the void, with neither Netscape's help nor approval: The [[RSS-DEV Working Group]] and Dave Winer, whose [[UserLand Software]] had published some of the first publishing tools outside Netscape that could read and write RSS.

Winer published a modified version of the RSS 0.91 specification on the UserLand website, covering how it was being used in his company's products, and claimed copyright to the document.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://backend.userland.com/rss091#copyrightAndDisclaimer |title=RSS 0.91: Copyright and Disclaimer |author=Winer, Dave |date=June 4, 2000 |publisher=UserLand Software |access-date=October 31, 2006 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061110001520/http://backend.userland.com/rss091#copyrightAndDisclaimer |archive-date=November 10, 2006 }}</ref> A few months later, UserLand filed a U.S. trademark registration for RSS, but failed to respond to a [[USPTO]] trademark examiner's request and the request was rejected in December 2001.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://tarr.uspto.gov/servlet/tarr?regser=serial&entry=78025336 |title='RSS' Trademark Latest Status Info |author=U.S. Patent & Trademark Office |access-date=September 4, 2007 |archive-date=August 16, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070816233807/http://tarr.uspto.gov/servlet/tarr?regser=serial&entry=78025336 |url-status=live }}</ref>

The RSS-DEV Working Group, a project whose members included [[Aaron Swartz]],<ref>{{Cite web|date=January 14, 2013|title=RSS Creator Aaron Swartz Dead at 26|url=https://www.harvardmagazine.com/2013/01/rss-creator-aaron-swartz-dead-at-26|access-date=June 29, 2021|website=Harvard Magazine|language=en|archive-date=June 29, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210629135531/https://www.harvardmagazine.com/2013/01/rss-creator-aaron-swartz-dead-at-26|url-status=live}}</ref> Guha and representatives of [[O'Reilly Media]] and [[Moreover Technologies|Moreover]], produced RSS 1.0 in December 2000.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://web.resource.org/rss/1.0/spec |title=RDF Site Summary (RSS) 1.0 |author=RSS-DEV Working Group |date=December 9, 2000 |access-date=October 31, 2006 |archive-date=January 12, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130112212715/http://web.resource.org/rss/1.0/spec |url-status=live }}</ref> This new version, which reclaimed the name RDF Site Summary from RSS 0.9, reintroduced support for RDF and added [[XML namespace]]s support, adopting elements from standard metadata vocabularies such as [[Dublin Core]].

In December 2000, Winer released RSS 0.92<ref>{{cite web |url=http://backend.userland.com/rss092 |title=RSS 0.92 Specification |author=Winer, Dave |date=December 25, 2000 |publisher=UserLand Software |access-date=October 31, 2006 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110131184230/http://backend.userland.com/rss092 |archive-date=January 31, 2011 }}</ref>
a minor set of changes aside from the introduction of the enclosure element, which permitted audio files to be carried in RSS feeds and helped spark [[podcast]]ing. He also released drafts of RSS 0.93 and RSS 0.94 that were subsequently withdrawn.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://backend.userland.com/rss093 |title=RSS 0.93 Specification |author=Winer, Dave |date=April 20, 2001 |publisher=UserLand Software |access-date=October 31, 2006 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061102171227/http://backend.userland.com/rss093 |archive-date=November 2, 2006 }}</ref>

In September 2002, Winer released a major new version of the format, RSS 2.0, that redubbed its initials Really Simple Syndication. RSS 2.0 removed the ''type'' attribute added in the RSS 0.94 draft and added support for namespaces. To preserve backward compatibility with RSS 0.92, namespace support applies only to other content included within an RSS 2.0 feed, not the RSS 2.0 elements themselves.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/rss/toplevelNamespace.html |title=Top-level namespaces |author=Harvard Law |date=April 14, 2007 |access-date=August 3, 2009 |archive-date=June 5, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110605164517/http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/rss/toplevelNamespace.html |url-status=live }}</ref> (Although other standards such as [[Atom (standard)|Atom]] attempt to correct this limitation, RSS feeds are not aggregated with other content often enough to shift the popularity from RSS to other formats having full namespace support.)

Because neither Winer nor the RSS-DEV Working Group had Netscape's involvement, they could not make an official claim on the RSS name or format. This has fueled ongoing controversy{{Specify|date=September 2016}} in the syndication development community as to which entity was the proper publisher of RSS.

One product of that contentious debate was the creation of an alternative syndication format, Atom, that began in June 2003.<ref>{{cite web
|url=http://news.cnet.com/Battle-of-the-blog/2009-1032_3-5059006.html
|title=Dispute exposes bitter power struggle behind Web logs
|publisher=news.cnet.com
|date=August 4, 2003
|access-date=August 6, 2008
|last=Festa
|first=Paul
|quote=The conflict centers on something called Really Simple Syndication (RSS), a technology widely used to syndicate blogs and other Web content. The dispute pits Harvard Law School fellow Dave Winer, the blogging pioneer who is the key gatekeeper of RSS, against advocates of a different format.
|archive-date=August 6, 2009
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090806234534/http://news.cnet.com/Battle-of-the-blog/2009-1032_3-5059006.html
|url-status=live
}}</ref> The Atom syndication format, whose creation was in part motivated by a desire to get a clean start free of the issues surrounding RSS, has been adopted as [[IETF]] Proposed Standard {{IETF RFC|4287}}.

In July 2003, Winer and UserLand Software assigned the copyright of the RSS 2.0 specification to Harvard's [[Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society]], where he had just begun a term as a visiting fellow.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.rssboard.org/advisory-board-notes |title=Advisory Board Notes |date=July 18, 2003 |publisher=[[RSS Advisory Board]] |access-date=September 4, 2007 |archive-date=September 27, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927051743/http://www.rssboard.org/advisory-board-notes |url-status=live }}</ref> At the same time, Winer launched the [[RSS Advisory Board]] with [[Brent Simmons]] and [[Jon Udell]], a group whose purpose was to maintain and publish the specification and answer questions about the format.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.scripting.com/2003/07/18.html#rss20News |title=RSS 2.0 News |publisher=[[Dave Winer]] |date=July 18, 2003 |website=Scripting News |access-date=September 4, 2007 |archive-date=August 22, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070822014007/http://www.scripting.com/2003/07/18.html#rss20News |url-status=live }}</ref>

In September 2004, Stephen Horlander created the now ubiquitous [[Web feed#Feed icon|RSS icon]] ([[File:Feed-icon.svg|16px|text-bottom]]) for use in the [[Mozilla]] [[Firefox]] [[Web browser|browser]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.squarefree.com/burningedge/2004/09/26/2004-09-26-branch-builds/ |date=September 26, 2004 |website=The Burning Edge |title=2004-09-26 Branch builds|access-date=October 6, 2014|archive-date=October 9, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141009071447/http://www.squarefree.com/burningedge/2004/09/26/2004-09-26-branch-builds/|url-status=live}}</ref>

In December 2005, the Microsoft Internet Explorer team<ref name="Microsoft RSS Blog-2005"/> and
[[Microsoft Outlook]] team<ref>"[https://web.archive.org/web/20051217102644/http://blogs.msdn.com/michael_affronti/archive/2005/12/15/504316.aspx RSS icon goodness]", blog post by Michael A. Affronti of Microsoft (Outlook Program Manager), December 15, 2005</ref> announced on their blogs that they were adopting Firefox's RSS icon. In February 2006, [[Opera Software]] followed suit.<ref>{{cite web|title=Making love to the new feed icon|url=http://my.opera.com/desktopteam/blog/show.dml/146296|publisher=Opera Desktop Team|access-date=July 4, 2010|date=February 16, 2006|archive-date=April 17, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100417170259/http://my.opera.com/desktopteam/blog/show.dml/146296|url-status=dead |author=trond }}</ref> This effectively made the orange square with white radio waves the industry standard for RSS and Atom feeds, replacing the large variety of icons and text that had been used previously to identify syndication data.

In January 2006, [[Rogers Cadenhead]] relaunched the RSS Advisory Board without Dave Winer's participation, with a stated desire to continue the development of the RSS format and resolve ambiguities. In June 2007, the board revised their version of the specification to confirm that namespaces may extend core elements with namespace attributes, as Microsoft has done in Internet Explorer 7. According to their view, a difference of interpretation left publishers unsure of whether this was permitted or forbidden.