A very interesting piece on News.com today asking: Is there life after the browser?. It takes a look at the need to do things over the internet which browsers can't deal with. Perhaps it shouldn't really be called life after the browser, more outside the browser, because web browsers will - I suspect - be around for a wee while yet.
But it's clear that the net's early adopters are moving away from the web browser for some tasks. And that creates big issues for everyone, especially if it catches on in the net's mainstream. Let's take, for example, one out-of-browser experience: reading RSS feeds using programs like the excellent Netnewswire. This is a program that takes a bare-bones feed from all your favourite weblogs and arranges the contents in a neat, orderly way. The rise of RSS has happened very quickly - in the space of just a few months, most people who read this weblog have moved to doing so via RSS rather than through a web browser, doubtless because it's a much easier, faster way to keep up with a selection of frequently-updated news sites and weblogs.
But that creates a whole bunch of issues for publishers of content: it means, already, there's a ratings war going on for the eyeballs of RSS-using readers, for instance, but I'd wonder how many new media owners are really aware of it. RSS is not destined to remain an obscure technology for long, either: it could be the best way - medium term - to deliver to PDAs, tablet PCs, mobile phones, as well as some desktop users. Banner ads over RSS, anyone?
