Lotsa laughs

[Michael S. Brothers]

It seems that the word "standard" is a new modern marketing magic wand. what
do this means exactly? If W3C has 320 members and claim to produce
Didier wrote:

<"standards". Does this means that if I get 320 friends 
(not from the same
company) and produce a spec, could this be a "standard"? if not why? Did we
forget some historical lessons when at some period of time people where
claiming authority based on some "standards", even attributed themselves the
right to burn people not conforming to the "standards". So, what this word
really mean today? disguised power struggle? Do "standard" really mean
"against Microsoft" (this does not necessarily I am for _ and that I have to
say this just put more emphasis on the quest to find the real meaning of
"standards") ? Do "standard" mean... What this word really means anyway?
What is really behind it?>


These are some excellent points! As I have read through this list the 
past several months gauging XML's potential for my industry, one thing 
that has become clear is that we are far from a "standard" method. What 
amazes me the most about not only XML, but the growth of the Internet 
in general is that it has been largely done without governmental 
interference. There is no standard until the marketplace says there is. 
Period. Even despite the best efforts of ISO and W3C, this does not 
stop the bickering over methods and standards (the CSS vs. XSL debate 
comes quickly to mind, XSchema vs. DTDs, etc).

This has led to a "Wild West" (pardon the purely American metaphor) 
situation where we have gunfights and duels until one person, one way, 
is left standing. Thus far, Bill Gates has the fastest draw.

Still, to propose a standard for e-commerce communications and make it 
readable in only YOUR latest browser (compliant or not), is the 
ultimate in hubris

----------------------
Michael S. Brothers
Michael.S.Brothers at EMCIns.com
515-362-7473
At this point, I don't think that's the best
option.



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