October 21, 2004 -- (WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) -- According to research and analysis firm Netcraft (netcraft.com), recent statements from Microsoft (microsoft.com) blogging evangelist Robert Scoble have sparked discussion among bloggers, publishers and software authors about how to refine the ways Web servers and newsreaders exchange syndication data. RSS is an XML format for syndicating Web content, allowing RSS publishers to easily deliver news to readers.
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Scoble reportedly said Microsoft had altered its RSS feeds to reduce server load, citing the extremely fast rate at which bandwidth was being used up by RSS. His statements however, were later corrected by Microsoft's Sara Williams, who said the changes were made for the sake of operational efficiency and not for reasons related to bandwidth usage.
According to Netcraft, bandwidth problems are driven by the way desktop RSS clients update feeds. The default setting on many newsreaders is to refresh headlines every hour, regardless of whether the content has changed or not. Some publishers say the traffic that results is comparable to an hour-long distributed denial of service attack.
Netcraft said discussion of Microsoft's RSS issues focused on the need to improve handling of RSS feeds. One developer said newsreader developers should be encouraged to support features of RSS that allow greater control over the timing of feed retrieval. Another developer brought up the importance of having more sophisticated traffic management tools.
