Does Netcaster's approach match the functionality that CDF promises?

Yes. With existing standards, Netcaster delivers today what CDF promises but has yet to deliver. Microsoft says that maintaining a separate list of files in CDF helps improve efficiency beyond simply crawling through a pile of links. However, there is no difference between downloading links listed in a CDF file and downloading links listed in an HTML file. Maintaining a separate CDF file makes the content provider's job more difficult and causes additional download time because the CDF file must be downloaded every time a channel is updated. By contrast, Netcaster allows content providers to use JavaScript to specify topics that make up a channel. After setting the top-level topics, the content provider can freely update channel content without worrying about updating the CDF file for every change made. These links can be downloaded just as efficiently as links in a CDF file.  more