See, first people complain about the “spec”, saying that they can’t really validate their feeds against it. Then Dave Winer releases an OPML validator. Great, now we can all make sure that our OPML files work with HIS tool.

Now, imagine that Microsoft came up with a feed format, and only they knew how to validate it? Imagine the outcry that would rise from the online world.

Maybe if the “spec” was an actual Spec, capital “S” and all, we wouldn’t have to rely on a central authority figure to validate our OPML?