Re: Comparison of Standard and Proprietary Technologies

Two comments:

The 8-track was made obsolete by developing technology, not changes in standards. The standards for the 8-track still exist and no doubt someone somewhere has one that works.

Standards can be changed, yes, but in a publicly agreed and versioned manner. Proprietary techniques do not have this public constraint - may be better if they did, but a proprietary author is under no obligation to disclose - just say that 'this is the way it works now'.

>  from:    Bill Mason <w3c@accessibleinter.net>
>  date:    Thu, 11 Jul 2002 16:25:30
>  to:      public-evangelist@w3.org
>  subject: Re: Comparison of Standard and Proprietary Technologies
> 
> 
> At 09:00 PM 07/10/2002, Brant Langer Gurganus wrote:
> >Please comment.
> 
> I would suggest that "Support for standard technologies will never end." 
> should be qualified, as certainly technology gets left behind all the time, 
> whether it be an 8-track tape or a deprecated FONT tag.
> 
> Proprietary technology can be more innovative, since proprietary technology 
> can be developed faster by its owner than a standard can be invented and 
> agreed upon by a standards body.
> 
> Standards behavior is not always guaranteed, as the standard can be changed.
> 
> Bill Mason
> Accessible Internet
> w3c@accessibleinter.net
> http://www.accessibleinter.net/
> 
>

Received on Thursday, 11 July 2002 11:47:21 UTC