- From: Bede McCall <bede@mitre.org>
- Date: Wed, 5 Mar 1997 21:56:38 -0500 (EST)
- To: scotti@microsoft.com
- CC: www-style@w3.org, www-talk@w3.org
From: Scott Isaacs <scotti@microsoft.com> Subject: FW: IE4.0 and W3C Standards Date: Tue, 4 Mar 1997 18:38:14 -0800 [ . . . ] > All new features being introduced in Internet Explorer 4.0 are under > discussion with the W3C. Dynamic HTML is Microsoft's IMPLEMENTATION of > W3C's emerging work. For example, Internet Explorer 4.0 will support > the recently released forms working draft and CSS Positioning working > draft. [ . . . ] I'm not sure whether to interpret this as good news or bad. On one hand, it looks like Microsoft is trying to do The Right Thing by implementing W3C recommendations in their IE4 product, which I think is absolutely and completely terrific. On the other hand, if what you're saying is true, your implementation is being based on incomplete W3C work, published internally only in the form of working drafts and "discussions". This is very much like basing a protocol implementation on an IETF working group's draft-rfc, which can change considerably over time as it gets "debugged" and may not even become a numbered RFC. As a result, I have the feeling that Microsoft may be jumping the gun purely for the sake of gaining market share before the final spec is made public by the W3C. There is clearly a resulting risk that "bugs" in the draft W3C spec will instantly become part of an entrenched installed base of IE4 browsers, which seems unlikely to be good for either the W3C or its ~160 members, including Microsoft. -- Bede McCall <bede@mitre.org> The MITRE Corporation Tel: (617) 271-2839 202 Burlington Road, M/S K321 FAX: (617) 271-2423 Bedford, Massachusetts 01730-1420
Received on Wednesday, 5 March 1997 21:56:37 UTC