Sam Ruby has posted slides for Atom (hint: the slide are the link at the very top). Atom is a new syndication specification that competes with RSS 1.0 and RSS 2.0. Yikes! Still, I think Sam makes a good case why Atom is better. Robert Scoble asks

I still wonder what would happen if Microsoft wrote those same slides? Imagine we take Atom's spec and then demonstrate 20 places we could improve Atom as justification for coming up with a new spec? Where does it end? I don't know. But, how is this not "embrace and extend" only this time Microsoft isn't behind it.

From The Scobleizer Weblog
Referenced Mon Dec 15 2003 15:19:16 GMT-0700

This is a good question and I have a theory. My theory is that because Sam is a real human, speaking with a real voice, we don't see it as an attempt by IBM to shove something down our throats for their own good. Rather we see it as a thoughtful attempt by a respected member of the community, who happens to work for IBM, to make improvements.

That said, I'm undecided. While I can clearly see the technical benefits to Atom, organizations like the Utah Legislature are just taking the first baby steps to using RSS and things like this scare them off. I don't want them scared off; I want to see RSS feeds for everything they do.

Sure, with the right content management tools, generating syndication feeds in multiple flavors isn't a big deal. I'll let you in on a little secret: a lot of the RSS feeds you see aren't generated by flexible content management systems. Others, like the feed for this blog are generated by software from organizations that have a horse in the race.