FeedSync

Synchronization for the Web

Steven Lees, Microsoftsteven.lees@microsoft.com

April 24, 2008

Mercy Corps AfghanistanMercy Corps AfghanistanNeeded data sharing for their community Needed data sharing for their community development projects and securitydevelopment projects and security

FeedSync

• Multi-master• Same result at all endpoints (eventually)• Protocol independent• Lightweight• Extensible• Preserves conflicting data• We’d like to see lots of implementations– Creative Commons– Microsoft Open Specification Promise

Other ways to sync

• Typical uses today are point-to-point– iTunes to iPod– Phone/PDA to PC– rsync

• New wave of sync tools are domain specific– SugarSync– DropBox– FolderShare

• Could all use FeedSync to talk to each other

Sample Feed<rss version="2.0">

<channel> <title>To Do List</title> <description>A list of items to do</description> <link> http://example.com/partial.xml </link> <item>

<title>Buy groceries</title> <description>Get milk, eggs, butter and bread</description>

</item> </channel>

</rss>

Sample FeedSync Feed<rss version="2.0">

<channel> <title>To Do List</title> <description>A list of items to do</description> <link> http://example.com/partial.xml </link> <item>

<title>Buy groceries</title> <description>Get milk, eggs, butter and bread</description> <sx:sync id="item_1_myapp_2005-05-21T11:43:33Z" updates="3">

<sx:history sequence="1" when="2005-05-21T09:43:33Z" by="REO1750"/> </sx:sync>

</item> </channel>

</rss>

• People, not devices

• Sync opens up more cooperative solutions

Kunduz

http://feedsync.mslivelabs.com

Kabul

SMS

• People, not devices

• Common data formats

• Build a great developer ecosystem