Silicon Valley, CA (MAP) — April 1, 2004 — In a surprise move, Dave Winer announced today that he was starting a new company called Netscape Communications, and keeping it alive just long enough to broker a truce with rival Microsoft in what has become known as The Syndication Wars. Under the terms of the deal, the new Netscape will steal back its own RSS format from two splinter groups who hijacked it from the old Netscape, and merge the format with Microsoft’s rival syndication format, called CDF. The combined format will look remarkably like Microsoft’s format, and will be called CDF.
This is the culmination of a realization of a concept of an idea I’ve been having for a few minutes now,
Dave explained. RSS was always a cheap shot on the part of the old Netscape, a way to grind their personal axes against Microsoft and try to put themselves in the center of the syndication arena. It’s no surprise they weren’t very good at that, but I feel I can do better. CDF is the clear winner in the marketplace, and I feel it’s time to put aside our petty differences and do syndication The Microsoft Way.
He added, After all, RSS is just CDF with different tag names.
In March 1997, Microsoft invented a syndication format called CDF. In March 1999, the original Netscape, in a blatantly competitive move, invented their own syndication format, dubbed RSS 0.90. RSS 0.90 was based on a failed technology called RDF, and it failed to take off until Netscape dropped the RDF technology in favor of a simpler format called XML, and created RSS 0.91. This version took off, primarily because it looked simpler than RDF to people who didn’t know any better.
In June 2000, Dave Winer, CEO of rival Userland Software stole the RSS specification, made several incompatible changes, and removed all references to the old Netscape, and released Userland RSS 0.91. In August 2000, another splinter group formed, calling themselves the RSS Working Group
or RSS-DEV
. RSS-DEV stole the RSS specification again, made several incompatible changes, removed all references to Userland, and released RSS 1.0.
Now Dave is taking back what was never his to begin with, and giving it to Microsoft. Microsoft spokesman Robert Scoble, who used to work for Dave while using Microsoft’s products and now works for Microsoft while using Netscape’s products, enthused, This is a good day for syndication. At the end of the day, nobody really cares about wire formats. Well I do, but at the end of the day I’m just an overly-enthusiastic web geek with no social skills.
Microsoft project manager Dare Obasanjo brokered the deal on behalf of Microsoft. These petty religious wars over formats just hurt consumers, and that’s not what Microsoft is about. Microsoft is about helping conusmers consume Microsoft products. People just want applications that work, and that means Microsoft applications.
He then wandered off in search of a Persian cat and a monocle.
When asked about the unprecedented move of resurrecting someone else’s company without their permission, Scoble enthused, Well if anyone can bring back Netscape, it’s Dave. Plus, come on… Microsoft crushing Netscape all over again? What’s not to like? Let’s party like it’s 1999!
A Userland board member, who asked not to be identified, had this to say: BigCo bad. LittleCo good.
But then we threw him a banana and he retreated into a corner and grunted quietly.
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© 2001–9 Mark Pilgrim