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Platform and Device Independence

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I had a chat with a non-techie about the iPad and newspapers.

With his iPad, he has finally moved off of printed newspapers. He reads several newspapers a day, all via the iPad. But never via websites. He uses iPad Apps, he doesn't like browsing for newspapers. (Also he said the USA Today is the best-working newspaper "app"). He wishes that more newspapers and magazines had an app.

The conversation reminded me of one of the core tenets of Feed.Us's conception: content independence. We believe that content should be independent from platform and device. In a nutshell, this means that content should be stored in a central location and then be able to be "fed" to devices and platforms.

Devices and Platforms are always changing and evolving. And it's very hard to keep up. And it seems like right now, publishers need to have content tailored for a variety, like: websites (php, .net, rails etc), mobile devices (iPhones, iPad, Android "apps" and HTML5 mobile sites). Then there's the Kindle and PDF delivery. Soon Facebook's new "Pages" will emerge as a separate publishing platform.

Publishers should NOT have separate depositories for each device. Content should reside in one central location and be able used and reused and accessed and disseminated to any platform and any device. And as new ones come along, content can be easily adapted.

Independence is a good thing.