Last time I looked at RSS the transfer was bound to happen over HTTP. RSS is more like a web alternative. You can link from RSS to web pages, sure, but you can

Last time I looked at RSS the transfer was bound to happen over HTTP. RSS is more like a web alternative. You can link from RSS to web pages, sure, but you can also link to web pages from Word documents. Perhaps browsers should all natively support .docx too? Although you ultimately raise a good point. Most browsers do support PDF. That's the wide attempt to be something other than a web browser that I was forgetting about earlier. So, there you go, there is precedence. Although there is still that pesky problem of most people not wanting to use RSS. Apple had good in-browser support for RSS there for a while but they found nobody used it. If Apple can't convince Average Joe to use something, it isn't likely anyone can. RSS has remained relevant for podcasts only because it has found a place in server-to-server syndication. Average Joe isn't visiting Harmony Harold's personal website to subscribe to his podcast either.