Just received an e-mail about Open Reader API and I must say I'm totally support this initiative.

We need single open vendor neutral feed-sync API.

It will greatly simplify life for future and existing feed reader and client application developers.

While the best solution at the moment is to mimic existing Google Reader API (that's what Marco and Oliver suggests and that's what I'm planning to do in the next few weeks) it's probably not the best solution in the long run.

Reader API is undocumented, specific to Google and contains some inefficiencies (like making separate HTTP request for each item marked read). I'm sure that few dirty hacks will be required to make BazQux behave like Google Reader from API point of view.

When it comes to add new features I would like to expose them via standard open API than to invent my own one and ask all application developers to support it.

And I'm happy to see that there is now a place where we all can help each other create common universal feed reader API.