The inspiration for my last post was an excellent article by Tom Lee that echoed a lot of my thoughts on the subject.  Here's a quote...

Although I'm tempted to avoid the baggage that comes with it, this trend does fit pretty comfortably into the push/pull paradigm of the late 90s. I have good reason for that reticence: as anyone who's lived through periods of both thin and fat client triumphalism knows, enthusiasm for different technological approaches is cyclical, driven by whatever applications people consider most exciting at the time, and along the way shoehorning a lot of ill-suited apps into the hot paradigm du jour.

But this time the demand for push protocols is more than just a fad. It's also a sign of our increasing technological sophistication. Polling is no longer an option for a lot of reasons, but all of them have to do with computing's ubiquity: there are too many users, too many devices, and no patience for less than immediate performance. Broadcast was fine when technology was just entertainment; pull was fine when technology was just a supplement to our lives. But now it seems that the network is driving our daily activities, and we can't wait around for it to do so.

It really is a great post and I'd suggest everyone head over and read the whole thing.  What I wanted to add, what I don't think Mr. Lee covers enough, is why this is so important. 

I don't think people grasp just how significant syndication is and what a big part it will play in our lives as time goes on. The nascent point here is that our world is becoming more and more computer based and as that happens we will get more and more opportunities to syndicate data. 

I think this will happen in a few parts.  The first part is what we're in the middle of now.  The world will get closer and closer to having "a PC on every desktop".  As that starts to happen you'll see those PCs being used as more than just glorified typewriters.  One of those additional uses will be to broadcast notifications.  From there that communication will be extended to anyone who would be interested in the information.

So lets take the example of a school.  First the teacher and the principal both get a computer.  Then the school realizes the Teacher can use the PC to document sending little Johnny to the Principal's office.  Soon they'll realize that they can use some sort of "Push" messaging to have the computer inform the Principal to expect Johnny when he's sent.  Finally the school will realize that little Johnny's parents might want to know when he's been sent to the Principal's office and that the computer can deliver a message to their desktop just as easily as it did to the Principal's desktop. 

Then we're off to the races...

Remember that everything is an event.  Whether its your credit card payment being received, the IRS getting your tax return, or a change in your sick relative's heart monitor.  Everything you want to know about your life is an event and eventually every one of those events will be documented in a computer.  Once that happens you're just a chunk of code away from knowing about that event in real time. 

Since the mass adoption of the PC our world has been getting smaller and smaller.  Push based syndication represents the ultimate step in that process as we start to create a world where each person is constantly connected to all the information they care about.