As it was widely predicted, Microsoft is integrating RSS support in the next version of its Internet Explorer, and perhaps even more important, it's making it an integral part of its long-awaited Longhorn operating system.

Before we go in to detail about Microsoft's plans, let's take a look at what this means for marketers:

a] By being integrated in IE and other Microsoft software, RSS will achieve mass penetration. For marketers this means that RSS will finally become one of the standard tools of mass communication and content delivery.

b] Marketers will no longer (eventually, of course, when most of the world starts using the latest software versions) need to explain how to get an RSS reader, but will be able to focus only on presenting their business and benefits to the end-user.

c] Broader RSS integration in Microsoft's tools will enable for additional RSS uses, far beyond basic content delivery in the form of stories, podcasts and products. Marketers and developers will be able to deploy rich interaction applications to make communication and business/personal interaction more fluent, easier and more effective.

d] This is now official. Marketers need to start taking the lead and implementing RSS feeds accross all their communicational innitiatives, from PR to direct marketing and sales.

When is it coming?

IE 7 and Longhorn aren't coming until late 2006, but the word is out that the first demo of the next IE is due by the end of Summer.

But what is Microsoft's RSS support all about?

Microsoft's site gives more insight in to precisely how Longhorn and IE will support RSS. Here's a rough overview ...

a] IE will automatically discover feeds on sites and allow users to immediately subscribe, as well as read them via IE.

b] All user's feeds will be stored in a single location, in order to allow the user to manipulate all of his feeds from one central spot, and use all of those feeds accross multiple applications. The user will be able to add feeds to this central spot through a variety of RSS-enabled applications.

c] Application developers will be able to access the common feed list and process the feeds if needed. Microsoft itself gives an example of a great use for this:

"For example, a business user about to attend a conference could subscribe to the conference's event calendar. He can then use a Longhorn RSS-enabled calendar application to view the events in the RSS feed from within his calendar app."

d] Microsoft also developed an extention to the RSS format, which allows for ordered lists.

"1. The extensions enhance RSS to capture information critical to representing lists such as ordering of items. By using these extensions, applications can recognize that a feed is more than just a feed ? it is a list and the client should apply different rules with respect to changes (e.g. handled changes in the list, such as an item moved up or down or got removed from the list altogether).

2. The extensions allow publishers to embed useful information about the list itself. For example, an online retailer can supply additional information about each item in a wishlist such as price, sales rank, average customer rating and type of merchandise. The extensions provide a general mechanism for declaring that these additional properties are useful pivots for sorting and ordering. This allows the user to sort their friend's wish-list by the sales rank of the item or to find the most popular item on the list. "

And another very promising scenario ...

"In another case, a user might want to be kept up to date with the top 10 singles on a music site.

--> The music site would publish a feed of the Top 10 singles using the Simple List Extensions, which enables them to give hints to the client as to how to show the list correctly.

--> The user subscribes to the list, and is able to ? at any time ? view the ordered list of Top 10 singles.

--> Whenever there is a change in the list, he can be notified. The client will be able to show the correct order at all times, and can even give him some filtering controls so that he filter what he's seeing to only the Rock songs.

--> If the user chooses to buy a song, links in the item can take him straight to a site where he can purchase it immediately."

There's much more to all of this, so I suggest you do take a couple of minutes and read the "basic" article at Microsoft.

Additional Coverage and Links

Longhorn loves RSS!
The "official" post on Microsoft's IE blog.

Microsoft: RSS, Longhorn and Gnomedex 5.0 Trip Report: Dean Hachamovitch on Longhorn, IE 7 and RSS
Two great step-by-step overviews of Microsoft's RSS presentation at Gnomedex.

More reactions on Microsoft's RSS announcements
A list of reactions from the blogosphere to the announcement.

WIndows Does RSS
An excellent overview of the Microsoft RSS initiative.