Really Shocking Snatch???????

The news doing rounds over the web is that Microsoft has applied for patent over RSS protocol and file format. I you have your jaws hitting the ground with a thud! mind you are not the first one. I searched over the Internet for the contribution of Microsoft for the creation or development of RSS format, but to put it simple, their contribution has been almost ZERO, except for a trivial Channel Definition Format, part of Internet Explorer 4.0, which never saw light. Apart from that in 2005 nov, they have proposed Simple Sharing Extensions for RSS feeds. Ironically SSE was put under Creative Commons License.

Anyway the news will rather be a shock to the Bloggers all around the world and the millions of the websites using RSS feeds. Think if you have to fill Microsoft's pocket everytime you read my blog! Now that's not all, though unconfirmed I heard that the US Patent and Trademark Office, has already granted Microsoft the patent. Though the USPTO website database does not show any such thing. This could create further issues as the equally populer Atom protocol (blogger.com also supports Atom) and the RSS have many in common. So the patent will Atom infringing Microsoft patent.But Atom has the option to patent their own protocol, which would make both the protocols mutually infriging, so the only option I see is to keep RSS copywright open. There is so much prior art in this issue and I don't think USPTO could ever find it easy to allow this to be patented.

I found Tim Bray who was deeply involved in Atom, quoting in somewhere in the Internet,

"It will be interesting to see if the USPTO shows any evidence of having overcome the problems that resulted in their track record of obliviousness to prior art"

For now, once again Microsoft is stepping up the gear and getting into the forbidden zone, hope they don't find themselves in trouble, or rather put millions of websites and blogosphere into a fix either.
In the meanwhile I will give you a one final shock
Check this link out
codevalley