- From: Steven Rowat <steven_rowat@sunshine.net>
- Date: Mon, 07 Apr 2014 15:51:04 -0700
- To: public-webpayments@w3.org
Greetings, > Anders' law of standardization: > Innovation is a fuzzy process. Standardization is fuzzy but in another way. > Do not combine these activities unless everybody is prepared for a rocky ride. I'm inclined to agree with Anders comments in response to Joseph (about the history of W3C following through on standards to do with payments). Although it's tangential to Joseph's questions, I'd like to add my own experience with being a member/contributing to the W3C, about 5-7 years ago: I became concerned that there was a pivotal change in the playing field afoot with HTML 5, namely that HTML 4 and earlier were markup languages, which any literate person could engage in, while HTML 5 appeared to be Javascript and DOM based in a much more complex way, essentially ceding the web-page writing field to paid professional specialists. More germane to the current situation is that I didn't feel I was given a thorough hearing about my concerns, in the sense that the directors and editors of the HTML5 spec didn't see this as a problem. These directors and editors were members of large corporations (Apple, etc.), which may have been, and probably was, related to this reception. So I also caution that "there's a lack of openness with the W3C" as Anders said, in the sense that members of large corporations will not, unless forced, take kindly to anything that obstructs their interests (as they define them). If members of such corporations are in positions of power in the writing or passing of the web payments specs then that might be a problem. I don't know enough about the current political setup to know if this is the case in this situation, but if it is then I'd speculate that no new level playing field could be created for web payments by the W3C route. Steven Rowat On 4/7/14 7:18 AM, Anders Rundgren wrote: > Hi Joseph, > I only have a 18 year perspective on standardization in the payment and EC space. > > It is important realizing that W3C is only one of quite a bunch of SDOs and that W3C > to date have been much more successful with basic technology than with applications. > > If we then enter into the world payments there is a veritable desert out there > with dead payment standards and initiatives. > > One of the problems is that there's no documented interest among leading banks > to standardize anything in open. The Web Payment Workshop delegates may differ > but I never saw any bank folks in W3C's WebCrypto although it was said that one > of the use-cases were high-value transactions. > > There's also a lack of openness within the W3C itself. The current W3C SE API > standardization effort (which is highly related to payments) is mum on the fact > that SIM-cards are owned by operators which makes such a standard inaccessible > for probably some 99% of the potential market. > > Personally, I stick to business-model-neutral "nuts and bolts" technology. > The challenge is understanding "just enough" of the application space without > getting lost there :-) > > Compared to the "good old days", standardization has become much more difficult > since it is challenged by companies like Google who can do whatever they want. > The tempo has also increased while automatic updates reduce the need for "perfection". > Open source has turned out to be a strong alternative to real standards. > > Anders' law of standardization: > Innovation is a fuzzy process. Standardization is fuzzy but in another way. > Do not combine these activities unless everybody is prepared for a rocky ride. > > Cheers, > Anders > > On 2014-04-07 13:15, Joseph Potvin wrote: >> Further to the wrap-up discussion about the creating on an Interest Group >> http://www.w3.org/2013/10/payments/minutes/2014-03-25-wrapup/ >> >> Does anyone on these lists have the "two-decades view" of W3C >> involvement with this topic? >> http://www.w3.org/ECommerce/ >> http://www.w3.org/TR/EC-related-activities >> http://www.w3.org/ECommerce/Micropayments/ >> http://www.w3.org/TR/NOTE-jepi >> >> Three questions: >> >> 1. What happened to those original efforts towards a W3C Specification >> on eCommerce that would have included specifications on web payments? >> >> 2. What should we learn from substance and fate of those earlier efforts? >> >> 3. Is there a need to "start" a new IG? Or might the W3C eCommerce IG >> just re-convene, update its charter, and carry on? >> >> Joseph Potvin >> >> >> On Thu, Apr 3, 2014 at 11:51 AM, Stephane Boyera <boyera@w3.org> wrote: >>> Dear All, >>> >>> Thanks to the great help from the Web Payments Community Group and Manu >>> Sporny, we just published a new cleaned version of the minutes of the >>> workshop at >>> http://www.w3.org/2013/10/payments/minutes/ >>> The agenda with links to slides and presentations is available at >>> http://www.w3.org/2013/10/payments/agenda >>> >>> We are planning to circulate a draft report for your comments in the next 10 >>> days. >>> >>> Best >>> Stephane >>> -- >>> Stephane Boyera stephane@w3.org >>> W3C +33 (0) 6 73 84 87 27 >>> BP 93 >>> F-06902 Sophia Antipolis Cedex, >>> France >>> >> > > >
Received on Monday, 7 April 2014 22:51:29 UTC