“The Photocasting feature in Apple’s updated iPhoto application violates numerous internet standards, according to several dignitaries from the RSS community,” Tom Sanders reports for vnunet.com. “‘Photocasting centres around a single undocumented extension element in a namespace that does not need to be declared,’ stated Mark Pilgrim, a software developer who conducted a number of tests in an effort to document the feature. ‘IPhoto 6 does not understand the first thing about HTTP, the first thing about XML, or the first thing about RSS.'”
“Photocasting allows Mac users to share photos with friends and family. The feature will automatically upload the photos to a server and publish an RSS feed. Other users subscribe to those feeds through iPhoto or a feed reader, allowing them to automatically receive updates when new photos are posted,” Sanders reports. Apple chief executive Steve Jobs claimed at the unveiling of the application last week that the feature adheres to the RSS standard. ‘We use industry standard RSS so that anyone can subscribe. You do not even need a Mac,’ he told delegates at the Macworld conference in San Francisco. But early tests showed that the feature fails to work with some feed readers because it deviates from common RSS practices. ‘It’s pretty bad. There are lots of errors, the date formats are wrong, and there are elements that are not in RSS that are not in a namespace,’ said Dave Winer, who is considered the creator of RSS.”
Full article here.
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Related MacDailyNews articles:
Apple blasted by RSS community leaders for ‘proprietary’ iTunes Podcast implementation – July 05, 2005
Heh heh, Dave Winer. What a name. And now he’s whining about Apple’s new products.
Seriously though, I would hope that Apple would adhere to standards on these new products to help them to work seamlessly with other products. It always bugged me when Microshit would make HTML that didn’t adhere to HTML standards.
Dear Steve,
Please fix this.
Best regards, PeaPod
Oh, quit complaining, you know its awesome…you are just complaining because you dont have the majesty which is Mac
Come on Apple. Sort this out and leave the non-standards nonsense to Redmond.
PeaPod:
Update coming soon.
Best Regards, Steve
Thanks Steve!
See. That was easy. A fix is on the way.
Winer is one whose name fits, especially when it comes to Apple. He was whining pretty bad about Podcast feeds as well. But when it comes down to it, Dave H said it best: ignoring language standards established for this sort of thing is a level of arrogance typical of Microsoft. Not getting date formats right, if true, is just plain stupidity. As for non-standard elements — if Apple found RSS insufficient for its needs wrt Photocasting, then again there are well-established ways of documenting these elements, in particular identifying those non-standard elements with a namespace and pointing at a publicly-available DTD or Schema. If Apple isn’t doing this … well, again, it’s either ignorance or arrogance.
From the article:
“It ignores 95 per cent of RSS and Atom and gets most of the remaining five per cent wrong.”
Now that is incredibly uncharacteristic of Apple.
The article also said:
“”Assuming that [Apple’s] intentions are good, and they’re not trying to kill RSS, why don’t they put some of us under [a non-disclosure agreement] and let us help them get the bugs out before they ship”
Actually, a good point!
However the same article also states:
“Strictly speaking Apple is not doing anything wrong. RSS is not an official standard governed by a standards body, and anybody can make changes and introduce new elements and extensions.”
Go figure…
Tom Sanders wrote: “several dignitaries from the RSS community”
Why do I picture a dozen guys living in their mom’s basement who all look like Hurley from Lost?
Par for the course with Apple. Some fatal flaw.
I’m repeating myself, but nobody’s listening. Apple behaves more and more like Microsoft every single day.
Why do I think somebody’s going to get a pink slip?
Typical corporate behavior. Don’t fix it until somebody complains loudly enough. Apple wanted to basically lock you in to iPhoto.
“Why do I picture a dozen guys living in their mom’s basement who all look like Hurley from Lost?”
I was thinking the same thing…
This isn’t cool… i hope it gets fixed
Even though i love the Photocasting feature of the new iPhoto, i wish it adhered to industry standards for RSS…this is something that MS would pull…not Apple
Hopefully a fix is in the works.
The Steve should just create a new competing “standard” with basic RSS compatibility and enhanced features enabled by Apple’s proprietary standard. Then when the Apple standard takes off and becomes the new (better) de-facto, make up with the Whiners and merge into a new “RSS 2.0”.
If you own the standards, you own the industry.
Rock on SJ!
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Sucks.
MacMania: “If you own the standards, you own the industry.”
Tell that to Sony Beta video recorders….
Remember folks the name of the game is “Capitalism”. And capitalism is a contact sport.
If you don’t want to get hurt, stay on the sidelines or at least wear your cup.
bad carma apple! this is the way MS fu_ks up 🙁
and what’s with you people bashing someone for pointing out that apple does somthing wrong? can’t you accept that the world’s greatest company can screw things up once in a while?
Ah, Ka-Ching, I hope your not comparing the massively successful iPod to Betamax. Of course not; that would be pretty fsking stupid and you wouldn’t do that.
Rock on Steve!
Emil, not wanting to be a spell-check Nazi, but I think carma is with a “K”.
I agree with Dave H:
“Come on Apple. Sort this out and leave the non-standards nonsense to Redmond.”
A mac Addict- http://cg5addictmacpage.blogspot.com/
Don’t like it, don’t use it. And bite my a$$.
Bah. Its not a critical flaw, or a serious problem, just a software update in the future.
I’m with Dave H:
“Come on Apple. Sort this out and leave the non-standards nonsense to Redmond.”
Don’t just jump to conclusions guys! Just because you read it on the net doesn’t make it true.
THERE IS NO RSS STANDARD!
I dare anyone to show me where there is one.
More than likely Apple made a mistake in their XML coding in the new iPhoto. But to say they’re violating a non-existant standard is flat out wrong. Let’s see if the problems are fixed in the .1 release.
All the whiners need to hear Apple’s side of the story before casting judgement.
Besides, who cares so long as it works?
Hey, you mac people know that new feature that works perfectly and allows users a new way to share photos in a completely novel and extraordinary way?
Weeeeell, sorry – some geek is not happy with the code. You’ll have to forego any further innovation until the Alliance of the Unlaid gives its blessing.
MacMania said:
“The Steve should just create a new competing “standard” with basic RSS compatibility and enhanced features enabled by Apple’s proprietary standard. Then when the Apple standard takes off and becomes the new (better) de-facto, make up with the Whiners and merge into a new “RSS 2.0″.”
Shades of Microsoft, Batman! Apple afficianados can’t handle the power of being in the majority?
Oops.
We’ll fix it. No worries. Just some Whine with my cheese.
Steve
Is it innovation that makes the others rethink current RSS features and they can imporve upon it??? Or is it they can’t take Apple’s innovation and modify it because it’s proprietary to Apple??? This is where I am confused. Is what Apple has done an improvement – i.e. better? Is it more innovative? Is it a bad thing because they didn’t think of it. I read “agreed upon standards” – is this because that’s how it’s always been done standards and I’m pissed you changed it or “that’s how it’s always been done and it’s more efficient the old way”
Mmm,not really on topic, but I just learned that iPhoto 06 allows us to use external files instead of the iPhoto library. That is such a Good Thing™, I can barely believe it.
This glitch is REALLY SERIOUS. There is NO way Apple can fix this UTTER MESS! The world is ENDING!
Glitch noted, let Apple fix it. Change your diapers, people.
If they WERE like MS they would have done this on purpose and not just neglected the issue. And they wouldn’t fix the issue. But Apple will. It’s a BUG not a CONSPIRACY… and it was one that could easily be avoided, guess what? It can easily be fixed and will be.
Does this actually affect YOU? Probably not. So try to survive the next few weeks until it is corrected. Alcohol may help.
Standards–
Q: How many iPhoto engineers does it take to change a lightbulb?
A: Not many, they just declare “Dark” the new standard.
If this is true, and they also blasted the iTunes RSS as well, I do not have a problem with Apple possibly engineering something better; but Apple should not advertise it as RSS if it is not RSS. Standards are made for a reason.!!!
Fix it fast. Not only fix it. Apologize to the RSS community. The RSS community will give much love if it is fixed quickly, and will gain some killer PR points, Steve.
This is a repeat of the howls when Apple added podcasting to iTunes. Same script, same characters. There were also reports that Apple assertively and quickly worked with RSS pros (as reported on http://www.daringfireball.net) to address their concerns. To you critical toxic toads: Photocasting is totally uncharted waters. Give Apple a chance to do the right thing — as the company has amply done in the past.
PC Apologist:
This isn’t Apple behaving like M$.
For one thing, Apple just extended an existing technology to do something it had never been intended to do (i.e.: Apple invented something- M$ has never done that).
And secondly, Apple isn’t preventing others from using their techniques nor is Apple copyrighting the phrase “photocasting.” Apple just extended the usefulness of RSS. They did it without claiming anything to be proprietary. The RSS geeks should kiss Apple’s ass.
This is the polar opposite of M$. Purchase an F’n clue.
From what I can tell, Apple’s Photocasting RSS contains at least one incorrectly formatted element: the date string is formatted wrong and RSS readers usually want it via RFC 822 method. If they’re going to change the way they write stuff like this then they shouldn’t haven’t said it was “industy standard” RSS. It’s fine if Apple creates custom XML namespaces into RSS (like iTunes podcasts) because other RSS readers ignore that stuff usually, but in this case, Photocast RSS feeds just break on typical RSS readers. Not cool. Hopefully they’ll fix iPhoto to use RFC 822 formatting for dates if they want to continue using RSS.
Steve tell me it isn’t so.
Does this mean all my iPhoto porncasts won’t auto update?
progeny, that’s a riot! ROTFLMAO! As for whoever wrote this:
Fix it fast. Not only fix it. Apologize to the RSS community. The RSS community will give much love if it is fixed quickly, and will gain some killer PR points, Steve.
Oh please. Apologize? For what? For trying something new that isn’t perfect its first time out? And the concept of “much love” and “killer PR” on a scale so infinitesimal as to be unnoticed is a laugher. Some of you end-of-the-programming-world-as-we-know-it types are pathetic.
Just call it “Apple Simple Syndication” (ASS) and be done w/ it.
First Apple spies on us through iTunes Music Store and now they have hijacked the RSS. WTF?
That’s it! After using Mac since 1984, I’m switching to Windows!
Rock on Monkey Boy and Bill!
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As far as I can tell, Apple did add new stuff (including repeating old stuff in a new way) but it followed the RSS conventions for adding new stuff. So I don’t see what’s the big deal.
In any case, vnunet.com is rabidly anti-mac. They carry every story that points out an Apple flaw (true or exaggerated) but almost never any story that praises Apple. So anything that is referenced from there, I take with many many grains of salt.
Clueless idiots. Whatever Apple does is innovation for these morons. Even if they release a bug into production, these guys would go – ‘Ah, what a great bug, only apple is capable of such great innovative bugs’.