RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication. It is a new and easy method of distributing content on the Internet. Email marketers use RSS syndication in order to avoid getting tangled with increasingly jittery spam filters. Most RSS feeds are linked to blogs, newsletters, and some websites. Just like NNTP newsgroups in the old days, reading RSS feeds requires special software.

Actually RSS is not a single format but a collection of formats used for data sharing on the web. It is used regularly to keep track of content updates in places like blogs, news feeds, and even podcasts. People who use RSS have to install special browsers that are referred to as aggregators (unless using sites like KickRSS). These aggregators collect data from the RSS feeds that a user has subscribed to. This is like getting news and updates delivered to you instead of having to visit websites and blogs to check if they have been updated.

The term RSS has different meanings depending on the version being used.
• RDF Site Summary is RSS version 0.9 and 1.0
• Rich Site Summary is RSS version 0.91 and 1.0
• Really Simple Syndication is RSS version 2.0, the latest version being used.

All the various RSS formats are basically written in XML. All RSS information is delivered via an XML file that is called the RSS feed, webfeed, RSS channel, or RSS stream.
RSS ready programs can be found for many operating systems. Most of the aggregators or other client side readers are compiled as stand-alone applications or they will be add-ons for popular web browsers and email clients. Of course, you can always get a browser that has built in capabilities for RSS feeds. There are some conversion programs as well that can be used to convert the RSS feed into a usenet article that can be read by a NNTP reader.

If you do not wish to use special software or web browsers with RSS capabilities then you will have to read RSS feeds online through websites like KickRSS, NewsGator and YourLiveWire. Websites like these are basically web-based aggregators and feed readers. Web based aggregators are also capable of grouping various RSS feeds based on their content. So if you are collecting 27 feeds and 8 are related to sports, the aggregator will typically “bunch” the 8 sports feeds together for your convenience.

Atom
Despite all these advantages there were some problems with the RSS format and since the RSS 2.0 format was dormant for a long time a new syndication format was started in June 2003 and this was called Atom. The Internet Engineering Task Force formally designated this new format as specification RFC 4287 in 2005. Since this is a fairly new form of syndication the precise protocols for the Atom publishing are still a work-in-progress though several leading blog and news sites have already included it in their interface.

While Atom was started with the intention of solving all the issues and concerns related to the two RSS formats, the web community is still divided on the relative merits of these two forms of syndication. Those who support the Atom development claim that it is a lot simpler as it relies on standard XML and is also powerful as it can handle many different types of content without any trouble and finally that it is defined through a meaningful specification. Those who do not support Atom claim that it is not doing anything new and the development of a new syndication protocol is needlessly confusing the entire syndication community.

RSS branches
The two RSS branches that were mentioned earlier are as follows.
• The first branch comprises of the RDF or the RSS version 1 branch and this branch includes the following.
• RSS 0.90 was the Netscape RSS version and was also referred to as the RDF Site Summary. This was a very early draft of the RDF protocol that did not match the final RDF recommendation.
• RSS 1.0 was an open protocol developed by the RSS-DEV working group and it too represented the RDF Site Summary but it matched the final RDF recommendation and hence was incompatible with RSS 0.90
• RSS 1.1 is also an open protocol that will eventually replace RSS 1.0. The trouble is that RSS 1.1 is neither endorsed nor supported by the RSS-DEV working group or anyone else for that matter and this has halted all developments bringing RSS to a hopefully temporary standstill.

• The RSS version 2 branch includes the following versions.
• RSS 0.91 is the basic RSS version issued by Netscape and also the one supported by Dave Winer of Userland Software. This version is now called Rich Site Summary and this had nothing in common with RDF though it was easier to use.
• RSS 0.92-0.94 are all enhancements to version 0.91. These versions are inter-compatible but again they are not compatible with 0.90. In fact, these versions did not even use the acronym RSS in order to separate themselves.
• RSS 2.0.1 is internally referred to as simply 2.0. This version was put into a freeze state but was updated without changing the version. This is the version that popularized the term Really Simple Syndication.
Both branches are good at backward-compatibility though there are some issues with the RDF version 0.90. What will be a relief to all users is that most aggregators and feed readers will handle all these variations equally well.

A good feature with both branches is the “extension” mechanism. For instance the RSS 2 branch came up with the idea of enclosures that spread like wildfire among the podcasting community and iTunes owners as well. The same feature is now available in the RSS 1 branch as well.

There are still some minor issues left that can occasionally create problems for publishers as well as readers. However, most of these problems have been established through several software iterations and it does not take users too long to understand how to deal with them. This means that even if these RSS problems are not fixed both the publishers and the readers are already working around these minor obstacles.