Sam Ruby's Log Format Roadmap Wiki has generated some great comments there and elsewhere. The Roadmap proposes a fresh start and new API for the "Anatomy of a Well Formed Log Entry" to be used for archiving and syndicating weblogs. We see great benefit in an open, extensible, vender-neutral implementation. A few high-profile voices agree: Mark Pilgrim, Shirley E. Kaiser, Tim Bray, Aaron Swartz.
However, we've yet to hear anyone tell us what's technically wrong with RSS 2.0, and we're reluctant to join a primarily political battle, though we'll acknowledge that a vender-neutral specification is preferred. To many, vender-neutrality is the whole point. Mike Champion argues convincingly that we need a specification "not dominated by any person, company, or ideology," one that is "explicit enough so that someone other than the spec authors can determine whether an instance is in compliance or not." It's hard not to agree.
Mark Pilgrim marks as a flame the following comment on his site:
Perhaps people are just fed up of having to deal with [Dave Winer], fed up with his attitude, and fed up with the whole damn mess that is RSS.
Yet we're not so sure that this isn't exactly why so many people have been eager to support a new format when a technically adequate specification (RSS 2.0) exists.
All this is to say that we'll be watching Sam's Wiki closely. For the record, we like the name Pie.