RSS feeds and how to use them

RSS feeds and how to use them

You know sometimes I think it's funny/weird how few people know about or use RSS feeds... I couldn't do without them now. I guess it's same for those who have Tivo's and now roll their eyes at people who have yet to be hooked. (I'm close to getting my CFO to agree to getting a DVP from our cable company... so close...)

(You may think my wife/CFO is very controlling and that I'm a wimp? Then either you're not married or your wife is better at hiding her true power... :)

(BTW, I AM the king of my Castle, damn it!)

(and I have my wife's permission to say that :| )

My reader (www.bloglines.com) and the feeds I watch have completely changed my online behavior. I used to have a number of Favorites in difference folders (Daily, Weekly, Monthly) that I'd scan through. I'd visually scan each site, looking for new stuff. Wash-rinse-repeat. At most I'd be able to do 20-40 sites in a sitting before my brain would fill.

Now in one sitting I can check the new news and information from over 1000 sites/blogs.

I'm now also watching/reading news from sites that I never visited before, because it's so much easier and efficient. Before it would take minutes if I added a new site to my Daily list and memory space to remember what's new or not. Now it takes less than seconds since I don't get any news from these sites that isn't new.

Also I find myself skipping sites that don't have RSS/ATOM feeds... I guess I'm becoming a Feed Snob. :)

Now the question is why don't more people use RSS feeds? Would having a RSS reader built into, as a standard part of, IE or Outlook help? I bet it would. I know other browsers are adding RSS readers, how long before MS adds the capability?

I think MS is going to have to weigh in before RSS really goes mainstream (mainstream = Wife and Parents comfortably finding, subscribing and reading RSS feeds).