RSS Round Up and the Rich Internet

RSS Round Up and the Rich Internet | The Universal Desktop | ZDNet.com

As much as I like these two concepts, the combination for the leverage of both utilizations is yet to be seen.

RIA can be achieved by AJAX or some solutions like Flex. It is an inevitable trend that web based applications have to be more user friendly. As a matter of fact, I think user friendliness will become a key factor of investment in sharpening the competitive edge of a service. (Just like we invest in sales and helpdesk staff now).

RSS is a real technology for each individuals to interact with the web: to cite others’ blogs, to post replies easily, to backtrack ping others’ passages to increase the hyperlink relationship, and to keep yourself constantly updated about what’s going on. I don’t know if domestic users can understand the concept but I do think it will take some time. And in the area of IT, when things take time it can become uncertain.

Both My Yahoo and MS Live.com are doing similar RIA things as personal portals with RSS capabilities. From an absolute user point of view I would like everything about me to be on the same desktop instead of checking from different portals, so I would rather check emails using Outlook Express or Outlook. There being the case I usually use client side RSS readers too. I may want to have online calendar stuffs, but I am concerned about the security issue of personal information. So to gain popularity for a product all the way, the problem is in fact not a technical one.