Really Simple Syndication

I heard of this term almost 4 years back for the first time. Really Simple Syndication (RSS) has evolved leaps and bounds in a very short period.

What is RSS? "Really Simple Syndication (RSS) is a lightweight XML format designed for sharing headlines and other Web content. Think of it as a distributable "What's New" for your site. Originated by UserLand in 1997 and subsequently used by Netscape to fill channels for Netcenter, RSS has evolved into a popular means of sharing content between sites (including the BBC, CNET, CNN, Disney, Forbes, Motley Fool, Wired, Red Herring, Salon, Slashdot, ZDNet, and more). RSS solves myriad problems webmasters commonly face, such as increasing traffic, and gathering and distributing news. RSS can also be the basis for additional content distribution services." - Source www.webreference.com

I have become so used to it now, that sometimes I wonder what would I do without it. Yahoo! provides a pretty usable RSS aggregator with MyYahoo. But I prefer a destop based aggregator viz. Sauce Reader. Its free for personal use, though still in beta (every other product is running in perpetual beta these days). The earlier version 1.1 was on .net plateform, but synop decided to shift away from .net for some performance issues. I still rate version 1.1 above 2.0 in some respects, perticularily quick link downloads, though there were some memory issues with .net.
Sauce reader feed says - "Sauce Reader 2.0 is a complete rewrite and no longer requires the .NET framework. Using .NET for Sauce Reader v1 we were never able to achieve the level of performance we considered appropriate for a heavily used productivity application. .NET is a compelling and powerful platform, but currently unsuitable for widely adopted client side applications."

Well, I disagree...but then, whatever.