Atom Bomb
As announced yesterday, The IETF has finally upgraded the Atom 1.0 specification to a “proposed standard.”
So what does this mean? If you’re an insomniac, you might consider reading the IETF Internet Standards Process. Otherwise, here’s the low-down.
- Proposed Standard. This is entry-level maturity, the same which Atom 1.0 has just attained. A standard at this level is reasonably stable and has obvious issues taken care of. Mind you, it is considered a standard at this point, so early adopters can run with Atom 1.0 and confidently describe themselves as standards-based.
- Draft Standard. The proposed standard has been kicked around for awhile, is quite stable, and at least two different codebases have developed an implementation. (For Atom, the last bit will be simple.)
- Internet Standard. The golden ring of standards, at least in IETF land. In short, “a specification for which significant implementation and successful operational experience has been obtained may be elevated to the Internet Standard level.”
So why does any of this matter? The recent RSS Wars have shown what a tricky business it is to support RSS these days. Since RSS is not an official standard protected by a governing body, companies are feeling free to come along and alter it for their own proprietary reasons. (Apple and Microsoft are the two most recent offenders on this front.) There are already too many versions of RSS out there, say detractors, and there is nobody to protect it.
The Atom working group, for better or for worse, decided to dodge this whole mess by going through the IETF process to make Atom an official standard. Even if you prefer the ease of RSS generation, having a stable standard to implement is fairly compelling. Time will tell if it is compelling enough to make Atom a standard that is actually used.
