Microsoft today announced the release of its Simple List Extensions specification to RSS under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike license. The extensions will enable content providers to deliver ordered lists – wish-lists, top-ten lists, playlists, etc. – using RSS, keeping the list constantly up-to-date and allowing users to filter, sort, or pivot the list in any way they like. Microsoft will implement these extensions in Longhorn but today Microsoft is making these extensions freely available to the community under a Creative Commons license. The Simple List Extensions specification is very explicit about what these extensions are and how they behave, so developers on any platform or device – Windows, Linux, Mac, Phone, Set-top-box, etc. – are able to most effectively implement list extensions into their RSS-enabled products.

As for what motivated the release, Microsoft has indicated that because the original spec for RSS 2.0 was/is released under a Creative Commons license, it made sense to similarly release this extension under a Creative Commons license so that there is no doubt about their intentions. Microsoft wants to allow anyone to use or build on the extension & Creative Commons is, of course, a natural fit for such desires. List away!!