Microsoft's general manager of platform strategy Charles Fitzgerald recently launched his own blog, platformonomics.com. In one of his first posts, From Browse to Search to Susbscribe, he describes the three phases of Internet information management. The phase we're now entering, made possible by technologies like RSS, is based on the subscribe model. From Charles' post:
The subscribe model allows software to act on our behalf and significantly improve consumption. RSS is obviously the first successful taste of the subscribe model (we’ll conveniently forget the whole "Push" episode of the late 20th century). Subscribing doesn’t replace browsing or searching any more than searching replaced browsing. Both will remain common activities with continued growth and innovation. They’re probably how you will find most of the things you subscribe to.
When technologists talk about how powerful RSS is, this is what they're talking about. There's an entire class of real-world business processes that fit the subscribe model which have resisted automation due to the absence of a widely-adopted subscribe technology. That technology now exists in the form of RSS, which with Microsoft's support is set to become not only widely-adopted but ubiquitous.
Now that the technological foundation has been established, we should expect to see a rush of new solutions created to solve long-standing problems. That's what I founded Spanning Partners to do. In the coming weeks I'll be writing more about the problems we're solving for our clients using this new model. In the mean time, if you think your business might benefit from the subscribe model, email me and let's discuss it.
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