Alternatives to the W3C

[Brandt Dainow]

And of course, Microsoft will leap at the chance to open their source code
to us all...

This just moves the problem into the politcal arena.  If I was the Chinese
government, I'd want something in it which enabled me to track who you were
and what you did.  I suppose the Dubai government would too, since you can
get 5 years jail in Dubai for reading the CNN web site.

What level of encryption should it support?  US government restricts
key-length, while Sweden believes it is a universal truth that ALL
information should be available to everyone, while in the UK, the police
assume encyrption is only ever needed if you're committing a crime.

Next, of course, if I'm Microsoft (or Netscape) I "support" the open source
by pushing for features which enhance the appeal of my proprietary systems
and the cost of my competitors.  Look what's happening in W3C now, some of
the XML proposals are there simply to counter-act some competitor's
proposals.

Trust to the chaotic anarchy of the net, if there's a need, someone will
eventually fill it.  In the early days of any new technological revolution
the field is always dominated by a few big boys who got there first.  But it
never lasts.  Microsoft is really alot like Ford was in the 20's.  For most
people then a "car" was a Model T, and "you could have any color, so long as
it was black", as the saying goes.  20 years later and there were hundreds
of models from dozens of manufacturers.

Give it time...

Brandt Dainow
bd at internet-etc.com
Internet Etc Ltd
http://www.internet-etc.com

>-----Original Message-----
>From: owner-xml-dev at ic.ac.uk [mailto:owner-xml-dev at ic.ac.uk]On
>Behalf Of
>Don Park
>Sent: Thursday, January 20, 2000 4:16 AM
>To: 'XML Dev'
>Subject: RE: Alternatives to the W3C
>
>
>I think we will all benefit tremendously if there was just
>one browser to support.  If AOL/Netscape exit the browser
>'business', Microsoft could be 'asked' politely to place IE
>into public domain.  A non-profit open source organization
>could be setup to coordinate merging of Mozilla and IE into a
>universal browser and beyond.
>
>Effects of such an event to W3C is somewhat difficult to guage
>though.
>
>Best,
>
>Don Park    -   mailto:donpark at docuverse.com
>Docuverse   -   http://www.docuverse.com
>
>
>xml-dev: A list for W3C XML Developers. To post,
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>Please note: New list subscriptions now closed in preparation
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>
>


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