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Windows RSS Platform

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Hello, Walter from the land of IE Program Managers here. You might have seen or read about the RSS functionality in the user interface of IE7 Beta 2 Preview. There is a bit more to it then just letting users subscribe and read feeds from the IE7 user interface. The RSS functionality in IE7 is "powered" by the Windows RSS Platform. The Windows RSS Platform API encapsulates 3 main components: Common Feed List, Feed Synchronization Engine, and Feed Store.

The RSS functionality in IE7 is built on top of these components. While we previously announced that the Windows RSS Platform would be available for Windows Vista, we are extremely pleased to announce that the Windows RSS Platform will also be available as part of Internet Explorer 7 for Windows XP SP2, Windows Server 2003 SP1 and Windows XP 64-bit.

The Windows RSS Platform is available to any application. The idea is that applications can utilize the Windows RSS Platform to become RSS enabled without having to re-implement basic RSS building blocks. This can significantly reduce the time and effort application developers have to invest in order to integrate RSS into their programs.

That’s all great, but what does that mean? And why is a Windows RSS Platform a good idea? Glad I asked ;) Let me tell you about that.

Like many of you, I’ve been running several RSS applications (aggregators, pod casters, etc…) for some time and am subscribed to close to 100 feeds. Each time I start using another RSS application I play the "game" of OPML export and import. This quickly becomes a hassle, especially when I lose track of feeds because I subscribed to or deleted feeds in different applications and hence my feed lists are no longer in sync.

This is where the Common Feed List of the Windows RSS Platform can help. Multiple applications can read, add, or delete from the Common Feed List and hence are "sharing" the user’s list of subscribed feeds. IE7 is one such application. When you discover and subscribe to feeds in IE7, it adds them to the Common Feed List and the new subscription is available to other applications. Not only can the user benefit from multiple applications using the Common Feed List, but we expect that over time, online services will provide tools that synchronize the Common Feed List with their services. This will allow roaming of the user’s subscription list not only between applications, but also between computers.

But wait, there’s more!

I mentioned two other components above: Feed Synchronization Engine and Feed Store. Together with the Common Feed List, these components allow application developers to include support for RSS feeds without having to becomes an expert in RSS formats, synchronization schedules, enclosure downloads – or even XML(!).

Here’s what the Windows RSS Platform provides for developers:

  • Support for every major RSS and Atom format, as well as many popular extensions.
  • Background scheduled updates.
  • Support for server-friendly technologies like conditional GETs and RFC 3229 for feeds.
  • Bandwidth-friendly enclosure downloads using Background Intelligent Transfer Service (BITS).
  • API exposing a simple object model for feeds as well as direct access to the raw XML stream.

All of this functionality is available as shared technology as part of IE7 on Windows Vista and down-level. As a developer, including RSS support in your application can be amazingly easy.

I’m sure that many of you are interested in more details of the API, features, and implementation. Over the next few weeks we will post about those on the RSS team blog. Head on over and leave us your comments and questions.

 - Walter

Comments

  • Anonymous
    February 01, 2006
    Last night I was reading the MSDN page about the Rss Platform API (FeedManager etc).

    It didn't say anything about a managed API, however.

    Will we see a .NET assembly for talking to the Rss Platform any time soon?

  • Anonymous
    February 01, 2006
    One problem I see with this is spyware/adware or other apps with a less than play-nice attitude poluting your feed list with all kind of garbage.

    What's being done to prevent this?

  • Anonymous
    February 01, 2006
    @Sven

    How is that a problem specific to the RSS features? Spyware can do everything a normal application can do, including things much worse than spamming the RSS feed list.

    Cheers, Fogger

  • Anonymous
    February 01, 2006
    feature request, passport sign in option to be able to take my feeds anywhere there is a ie7 browser.

  • Anonymous
    February 01, 2006
    feature request, passport sign in option to be able to take my feeds anywhere there is a ie7 browser.

  • Anonymous
    February 01, 2006
    What about feeds that require login-credentials (like GMail)? Trusting IE to use those credentials appropriately is one thing. Trusting any app on my computer to do the same is another.

  • Anonymous
    February 01, 2006
    So why Microsoft is not building a Windows Live RSS something, with syncronization to a smart client? BTW, there is no notification for unread posts in IE7?

  • Anonymous
    February 01, 2006
    Thanks for making the RSS platform available on XP/2003 as well. It doesn't surprise me at all that you made that decision. Otherwise, you'd have to have two separate code paths for IE's RSS features: one that was build on the RSS platform APIs (Vista) and one that would do it all itself (XP). No reason to have two codebases when one will do. Good move.

  • Anonymous
    February 01, 2006
    Have just got the IE7 beta - I've only ever used RSS in Firefox, and IE seems incredibly clumsy in comparison - not that Firefox is perfect.

    The whole interface feels very clumsy and ugly to me. I like the thumbnailed tabs view though

  • Anonymous
    February 01, 2006
    I made a comment about ie7 not 'getting' RSS on the newsgroup yesterday, but now I see that more is going on than appears. Will the final version of ie7 take full advanage of the windows rss platform? will aggregation be built in? will unread post notifications show up?

    thanks for setting the record strait.

  • Anonymous
    February 01, 2006
    I think it's great! I'm definetly using this in my next app to syndicate update notifications.

    @ Mr.Dale-
    It seems if MS tries to copy, people call them copycats. It would also seem if they don't copy, innovation becomes clumsiness? I think it all depends on what you're used to; Firefox's RSS handling didn't sit well with me, but I can stomach IE7's.

  • Anonymous
    February 01, 2006
    Feature request: I like the Quick Tabs - neat feature, and the RSS part isn't bad as well. As a longtime Firefox RSS user, I'd like the option to quickly display the headlines (minus the summary of the post). In Firefox - I can easily scan my RSS feeds - but with IE7 - it takes much longer.

  • Anonymous
    February 01, 2006
    feature request: Can we have the feed come up just like in Sage? I would love to have that as a feature on the final.

  • Anonymous
    February 01, 2006
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    February 01, 2006
    Will there be any visual cues with the RSS list that lets you know about new feeds, like in safari? Also the Favorites panel is annoying how it covers content; I do not find this efficient. Also why can’t I move any toolbars, I'm forced to use a drop down menu which requires too many clicks. Another thing as a designer the jaggies on the back and forward buttons are gross around the edge of the circles. The mix of colors is horrendous and bubbly glass is overdone and out of place.

  • Anonymous
    February 01, 2006
    In FireFox, I can add an RSS feed to the Links area, so that I can just click the feed icon and all the latest headlines dropdown right off the Links toolbar. IE7 should do this too.

    I actually tested this in IE7B2, and when I hover the feed over the Links toolbar, the insertion point displays, but dropping the feed icon does nothing.

  • Anonymous
    February 01, 2006
    Stephen Smith,

    Can you elaborate as to why you think the IE RSS interface is 'clumsy'? Your point as it stands is not constructive.

    Andrew

  • Anonymous
    February 01, 2006
    Walter, having every managed app that wants to use the Feed API create an interop assembly is wasteful. Why not at least release a primary interop assembly (PIA) as Office did even with Office XP so that official interop assemblies exist that everyone can use. The types are registered along with the usual COM registration so that when IDEs like Visual Studio are asked to create interop assemblies they use the PIAs instead. If installed into the GAC the ref count is increased rather than a new assembly being installed and taking up space.

  • Anonymous
    February 01, 2006
    Will this platform also work on a network?
    Let's say I want my colleagues to alway have specific feeds on their list, can I somehow manage this on a Windows Server 2003?

    That is so they just get specific work related feeds from the server and at the same time have their own feeds locally on their own accounts.

    Would be a nice feature to have.

  • Anonymous
    February 01, 2006
    I like the new beta and am a avid RSS/blog reader currently using newsgator is there anyway that I can import my current feeds using OPML just to get me started instead of having to visit the 100+ subscribed sites again? Thank you

  • Anonymous
    February 01, 2006
    And what about .net API?

  • Anonymous
    February 01, 2006
    You just know that every application you install from IE7's release onwards will add a newsfeed to your global feed repository. The polite ones will have a checkbox in the installer alongside "[X] Put Icons Everywhere!", while the impolite ones (which will be most of them) will just do it without asking, meaning that after a few installs the feed list will be just as polluted as the Start Menu Programs folder on your average Windows system.

  • Anonymous
    February 02, 2006
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    February 02, 2006
    Ian -- re OPML import and export: + button between Favorites center and QuickTabs, Import and Export, click next -- feeds are at the bottom

  • Anonymous
    February 02, 2006
    I'm in the 'wait and see' mindset on this issue but I could see a lot of programs using it in bad ways.

    http://blogs.msdn.com/ie/archive/2006/02/01/522481.aspx

  • Anonymous
    February 02, 2006
    The Windows RSS Team made a post on the IE Blog and their own RSS Team Blog about the Windows RSS Platform....

  • Anonymous
    February 02, 2006
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    February 02, 2006
    I'm liking the ability to scrap my other RSS aggregators and use IE. But am I going to be able to mark articles as 'Read', like other feed readers? I don't find a way to do that in beta2.

  • Anonymous
    February 02, 2006
    I'm glad to see that the API is simple and well defined.

    Going forward, is there a preferred mechanism for recognizing two-way dependencies between distinct feeds a/o feed items? For instance if a Blog A, item 1, references Blog B, item 2, and both A & B wish to represent this reference (A:1 -> B:2 ) within their respective feeds - either by incorporating the resource reference internally or by reference to a third meta-feed.

  • Anonymous
    February 02, 2006
    I guess that the Windows RSS Platform won't work the way I asked, which is a shame.

  • Anonymous
    February 02, 2006
    I assume Oulook 12 will also make use of the windows RSS platform?

    Another feature request. I would like to be able to view all of my unread items across all feeds.

  • Anonymous
    February 03, 2006
    PingBack from http://www.nousab.org/index.php/internet-explorer-7-beta-2

  • Anonymous
    February 03, 2006
    Here are a collection of useful links for those people who wants to
    evaluate IE 7 Beta 2 Preview. Take...

  • Anonymous
    February 05, 2006
    PingBack from http://et.cairene.net/2006/02/05/ie7-and-rss/

  • Anonymous
    February 05, 2006
    PingBack from http://www.mengyan.org/blog/archives/2006/02/04/109.html

  • Anonymous
    March 20, 2006
    PingBack from http://afeedisborn.com/ie7-loves-rss/

  • Anonymous
    July 28, 2006
    PingBack from http://www.viveksharma.com/techlog/2006/07/28/script-to-keep-all-your-darned-ie-rss-subscriptions-in-sync-on-all-your-pcs/

  • Anonymous
    September 29, 2006
    At this point in time, I am juggling 3 different machines, which means I need some different tools to...

  • Anonymous
    November 01, 2006
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    January 03, 2007
    I'm really glad that so many sites are delivering their information as RSS feeds. But I do hate the "abstract"

  • Anonymous
    August 06, 2007
    I subscribe to a lot of blogs and reading them all can be a bit of a pain. If you want to see who I read

  • Anonymous
    August 19, 2007
    A lot of people ask me what my RSS feed reader is. They are usually shocked when I say Windows Live Mail.

  • Anonymous
    September 20, 2007
    free myspace music audio codes videos

  • Anonymous
    January 04, 2008
    PingBack from http://birthdays.247blogging.info/?p=1248

  • Anonymous
    January 28, 2008
    Script to keep all your darned IE RSS subscriptions in sync on all your PCs

  • Anonymous
    March 19, 2008
    PingBack from http://desktopcomputerreviewsblog.info/ieblog-windows-rss-platform/

  • Anonymous
    May 29, 2009
    PingBack from http://paidsurveyshub.info/story.php?title=ieblog-windows-rss-platform

  • Anonymous
    May 31, 2009
    PingBack from http://woodtvstand.info/story.php?id=1447