Re: Support for the formation of the Web Hypertext Application Technology Community Group (was Re: HTML Working Group Changes)

-public-html, +www-archive

Hi Steve,

You wrote:

>> [I]t has quickly beome clear that the [WHATCG] is only a[…] mechanism
>> by which the WHATWG can publish specs with a patent policy.

Silvia replied:

> IIUC it provides for a legally clean contribution path of WHATWG
> specifications into the W3C. Since that means that the wider community
> - i.e. those that cannot become a member of the W3C - can continue
> providing input into the specification, I think there's a clear
> advantage to having that CG.

Indeed. Some aspects of the WHATWG have meant that some felt unable to
belong and contribute. I really hope that the firmer foundation offered
by this Community Group mean that more people feel able, or even
inspired, to join.

>> Your statement: "reunifying development of the open Web platform
>> under the stewardship of the W3C." appears false as it does nothing
>> to bridge the gap between the HTML standards development communities
>> at the W3C and WHATWG.

On the contrary, this is a concrete and welcome step to help the various
communities work more closely together.

> It would be nice if the WHATWG mailing list could just be the WHATCG
> mailing list, including all the legalese around it, but I assume
> that's not so easy to do and may take some time.

Community Groups for pre-existing communities may continue to use the
community's existing infrastructure (mailing lists, wikis, irc channels,
etc.) so long as that infrastructure meets certain requirements in the
CG. See the second paragraph of http://www.w3.org/community/about/ and
this part of the FAQ:

http://www.w3.org./community/about/faq/#can-a-community-group-use-its-own-infrastructure-not-hosted-by-w3c

I don't see how we would benefit from changing mailing lists, wiki
software, etc. After all, cool URIs don't change.


Ted

Received on Wednesday, 25 April 2012 17:36:59 UTC