Google spurns RSS for rising blog format | CNET News.com: “‘A good way to provide feedback to the Google people is to switch away from them,’ Winer wrote on his site, citing a blogger who had suggested RSS supporters bolt from Blogger. ‘Let them make the connection that the day they started playing unfair, is the day the users started moving away.'”
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Dave, I’ve read your musings for quite some time… from my PointCast days, and then on at Diffusion (where I worked and whose server software you used to distribute your newsletter for some time). And I must say… I think you’ve lost it here. The people who use Blogger, by and large, are unlikely to care and are unlikey to participate in a revolt. That’s true because:
– Of who they are (not hard core techies, but people satisfied with a hosted solution)
– Their data is logged in Blogger (with no easy way to export content)
– Vendors like you have failed to provide a compelling alternative to the mainstream, non-techie audience
If you want to break Google’s lock-in on Blogger users, you’re going to need to do a lot more then simply firing off a call to arms. If you want their users, you best be prepared to fight for them.
Ultimately, I, and most other people, couldn’t give a rats ass about RSS vs. Atom, provided that my needs are met; as a consumer app, it should be transparent to me.
P.S. I’m writing and hosting this through Blogger and will feed it to friends via Atom. I’d be nice to have RSS too, but not enough that I’d pay for it or ask my readers to. Still want me as a customer?