Patents can become an obstacle to free development/free world

Just a few words I have borrowed from a bright mind:

"The decision to make the Web an open system was necessary for it to be
universal.  You can't propose that something be a universal space and at the
same time keep control of it."

"There has always been a huge competition to come out with the best Web
technology.  This has followed from the fact that the standards, being open,
allow anyone to experiment with new extensions"

"On the Internet, we try to dream up computer protocols which when
extrapolated to the macroscopic will produce an information space with
properties we would like."

[on putting little icons on home pages saying, "best when viewed with this
or that browser"]
"It is done either by those who have an interest in pushing a particular
company, or it is done by those who are anxious to take the community back
to the dark ages of computing [...] However, corporate IT strategists should
think very carefully about committing to the use of features which will bind
them into the control of any one company."

"The Web has brought a kindness and gentleness for users, a confidence in
technology which is a balm for IT departments everywhere. It has bought new
hope."

(all of these comments were taken from
http://www.w3.org/People/Berners-Lee/FAQ.html)

Please, don't let this dream turn into a nightmare. Let's turn the dream
into a reality for everyone.

Think not only about free software. Think about the countries in
development, where a Lynx browser (a fine piece of free software) can be
their only link to the WWW. And where free software built on open standards,
like the Apache web server, can be their only opportunity to make their
voice to be heard.

And if you think these are "third world" problems, you are right: after all,
Earth is the third world from the Sun. 

Let's make it a World [Wide Web] for everyone.

Regards.

---
Francisco Rodrigo Escobedo Robles - mailto:frer@pepix.net
Pepix.Net: no lo imagines, vivelo - http://Pepix.Net/
Este mensaje expresa unicamente mi opinion en este momento

Received on Sunday, 30 September 2001 15:43:29 UTC