- From: Manu Sporny <msporny@digitalbazaar.com>
- Date: Sun, 22 Feb 2026 17:10:14 -0500
- To: W3C Credentials CG <public-credentials@w3.org>
On Fri, Feb 20, 2026 at 7:31 PM Steve Capell <steve.capell@gmail.com> wrote: > I’m not 100% sure about that analogy. Yes there are lots of specialised vehicles but we don’t all have to learn to drive every type. To torture this analogy a bit more (why not!?): How you drive any particular vehicle is the interface, and that's effectively the DID Document standard -- effectively the steering wheel, brakes, accelerator pedal work more or less the same in many vehicles. How it works under the hood (gas or electric?, anti-lock brakes?, power steering? front-wheel drive? rear-wheel drive?), well that's the inner workings, that's the DID Method. I expect more differentiation in the future than 3 DID Methods, certainly more than five, and if I had to venture a guess probably not more than 20 at global scale... but you're right, Steve... we need a Model-T moment to win over the horse-and-buggy before we can start talking about Ford vs. Ferrari. The thing I don't want folks to get too worked up over is saying things like: "3 is the right number and 5 is certain failure!" -- I think we could standardize 10 in the first round and it would be better than what we have now... and in the long-term, some of those would die out. There are plenty of dead global standards out there and life goes on... ... and as you said, I expect the market will eventually sort it out... something will hit scale, or maybe none of it will, and the world will move on. I just don't want to see the community tear itself apart over the details (as we've seen happen multiple times now). -- manu -- Manu Sporny - https://www.linkedin.com/in/manusporny/ Founder/CEO - Digital Bazaar, Inc. https://www.digitalbazaar.com/
Received on Sunday, 22 February 2026 22:10:54 UTC