This piece
by Nick Langley gives one (very partial, in multiple senses of that
word) telling of the history of RSS.  “There are different
versions of the history of the product, and the following summary is
bound to upset somebody.”  Right, though interesting to call it a
product.  The part the author nails is at the end, in pointing to
RSS’s impending ubiquity and the fact that the vast majority of users
will not know it’s there.