I know YOU know … but when will they?

I am sure that you have heard of RSS and that you have probably even used it today (more than twice??), you may have even developed some RSS content.  If you have seen it, used it and/or built you … You Know!  You can see what is going on here.  When you look at it, RSS is such a powerful technology it gave Firefox (a faster moving software company) the ability to compete against a monumental giant.
Yeah I know, the tabbed browsing … faster loading pages … standards based support … the security aspects; sure those are all valid points.  Combine those with what I find to be the easiest way to distribute the power of RSS.

Seen this icon before:  

This icon (which IE7 has remarkably adopted to display its "live bookmark" content) will help push RSS to the masses.  The people who _don't_ know.

If you read less than 10 websites on a regular basis then maybe you don't need it.

If you read less than 10 websites on a regular basis then … you are boring … step aside and get in line.

Seriously, though there is a TON of information out there and it is impossible to keep up with it.  RSS gives you what I feel, the only way to truly discover new information on a regular basis.

I have been interviewing some smart people recently and I am utterly amazed at the number of those smart people who know nothing about RSS.  Only 1 of the last 7 people that I have interviewed for various TECH positions at a Web based CMS solution knew what RSS was.  Yes, Web based!

Getting this type of technology (which dates back to 1999) to the masses is critical.  The more people that know what a news reader is (My reader is Sage – more on the Firefox Extensions), the better.

If you don't know … then ask … we want to help. 

Has anyone been paying attention lately?

Ok, so I have been in a shell for a few years, gliding around entrenched in my work and traveling. I pop my head up for a minute and all of the sudden there is this software revolution going on! What the heck.

For the past 4 years I have been working for a Web based CMS written in ColdFusion. Since our product has been around for so long (since 1999) our architecture supports pretty old technology. When new stuff comes out I usually read about, fool around with it and the watch it pass by. I am amazed at what is available and what is still being built. It seems if you want you can find an application to manage your shoe collection. It's amazing.

Well I have been reading a lot more (a lot of the sites listed to the right) and I am psyched! I feel much like I did back in '96 when I realized the power of web applications and started building them. It was a ton of fun building, architecting, testing (yeah right).

It seems that there is a rejuvination of that spirit. Just read TechCrunch, SolutionWatch and the Read/Write Web. If you don't get pumped about the software that is available your dead or boring. Some of my new favorites:

- Zillow
- Google Calendar
- Box.net (a bit scary but cool)
- Google Earth
- Anything IPod Related

Will this increse in software development produce the same type of tech fever that was created in the mid 90's? Without a doubt. We have a ton of smart people out there who have been studying the social aspects surrounding our increased use of the Internet. With the renewal in VC funding in the past few years, it is only a matter of time before applications become more main stream.