Re: formal objection to one vendor/one vote

On Wed, Jul 8, 2009 at 9:06 AM, David Singer<singer@apple.com> wrote:
> Shelley
>
> I think you are missing something rather fundamental.  We are in working
> drafts at the moment, and there have not been any 'votes'. We put into
> working drafts (a) our best ideas of the technology as it is developing, so
> we can critique, experiment with, and build upon it - for example, the
> markup of the <video> element; and (b) our consensus, where we have it, on
> other issues.
>
> Consensus, by the way, in most standards organizations, is defined as the
> lack of sustained objection (by anyone).
>
> We don't *need* to decide on mandatory, recommended, optional, or to-avoid
> codecs until quite late in the process.  It doesn't affect our understanding
> of the spec. or development of it, or building on it.  The question can
> remain quite easily open, if it needs to.
>
> I think it would be a much better use of my time, your time, and everyone
> else's, probably, if we used our time to try to reach consensus, rather than
> complaining about something that has not happened.  We haven't voted.  Where
> we are is at a failure to reach consensus, which indeed later in the process
> might cause a formal vote.  I hope we can reach consensus instead; perhaps
> you do too.
> --
> David Singer
> Multimedia Standards, Apple Inc.
>

David, decisions are being made right now based on this principle of
one vendor/one vote. As Julian noted, without discussion, vote, or
even seeming input.

I would think we'd rather get this one out of the way, and let it be a
guiding principle from now on, rather than having formal objections
about a dozen different decisions later. Because I can guarantee,
that's what's going to happen.

If you think on it, the document may be in draft, but the procedures
being used to produce the document are in "production" so to speak. So
the procedures should fair game right now.

All I want is consistency, openness, inclusiveness, and
comprehensiveness from HTML 5. I think we all want this. So, I think
that we would all want to ensure that procedures are applied, at a
minimum, consistently, and with full concurrence of the group.

Shelley

Received on Wednesday, 8 July 2009 16:26:39 UTC