[ILUG] W3C Policy Shift

[Dave Neary]

Rory Winston wrote:
> 
> Hi
> 
> dont know if this issue has been discussed already here or not, but it seems
> that the W3C are making a worrying change in strategy that could be
> potentially disastrous for Open Source developers who wish to implement W3C
> standards, and potentially cut Open Source implementors out of the loop
> entirely. For further details:
> 
> http://linuxtoday.com/news_story.php3?ltsn=2001-09-30-001-20-NW-CY
> 
> http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/www-patentpolicy-comment/2001Sep/0131.ht
> ml
> 
> And the W3C FAQ on the matter:
> http://www.w3.org/2001/08/16-PP-FAQ.html
> 
> Having looked at it, a couple of factors make it worrying:
> 
> 1) The shift in the attitude of the W3C, which has traditionally supported
> open standards
> 2) The makeup of the working group, which is almost entirely made up of
> large corporate members
> 3) The poor job that the W3C did of publicising such an important issue
> 
> Comments?

I had a look at this and (after thinking long & hard), figured out what
this means (with the help of someone else). It means that it is now
possible for non-w3c standards (such as Java) which are not free, and
require a commercial licence to implement, to be accepted as w3c
standards. It also implies that if free software developers get a
standard for free, then for the standard to be accepted as a w3c
standard under RAND, everyone has to be able to get it for free.

It also means that if anyone has to pay for it, everyone has to pay for
it. The point is that if something (such as, say, Java, JavaScript or
ASP) becomes a de facto standard that it can be accepted as an actual
standard, and documented properly & consistently, and made available to
everyone under the same terms (that would be a condition to getting the
w3c seal of approval).

Good, maybe, possibly bad, but not the massive crisis that ye're making
it out to be... at least that's my reading of it. 

Cheers,
Dave.

-- 
David Neary,               E-Mail dave.neary at palamon.ie
Palamon Technologies Ltd.  Phone +353-1-634-5059