It seems that beyond carrying syndication information, RSS is a very useful and flexible way to get all sorts of application data pushed to a user over time. In the same way that a web browser is a universal canvas upon which limitless services and information can be painted, so (in an albeit much smaller way) an RSS reader/aggregator might also find its place as an inbox for time-related delivery of all sorts of information. This is borne out by the experimental “booktalk” application which uses the RSS infrastructure to deliver information that appears over time.

Application data and RSS is something that Matthew Langham touched upon last December. And of course, this isn’t just hot air, we’re already generating RSS out of SAP R/3 at work for a sales (SD) application.