Re: Fonts WG Charter feedback

On Fri, 2009-07-03 at 00:29 +0200, Håkon Wium Lie wrote:
> Also sprach Thomas Lord:
> 
>  > There is a lot of talk to the effect that concerns TTF/OTF support
>  > will lead to "accidental piracy" are the main motivation for
>  > resistance to TTF/OTF. I am beginning to believe that that is not
>  > really the motivation but, rather, exclusion by incumbents against
>  > potential competitors is the driver.
> 
> I support your analysis.

I think this is an interesting point.  However, rather than ask whether
the new formats create barriers to market entry, it might be more useful
to consider how the creation of a new format provides any advantage to
the established players in the market.

Maybe creation of a new format is most attractive to vendors (and
Microsoft) because it increases the possibility of establishing a new
market, more-so than the continued use of an established format.

As far as I'm aware successful capitalism relies on the creation and
expansion of new markets; something which is probably easiest if your
customer can easily differentiate your product from your previous
offering.  I would imagine that the active players involved in the
creation of a new market stand to make the biggest gains.

As an example, I'd imagine that if Microsoft were to support both
TTF/OTF and EOT they would not be fulfilling this type of commercial aim
- because the new market would stand less chance of establishing itself,
and Microsoft would have less influence in it's potential success.

If what I'm suggesting is correct, maybe it would be worth asking
whether the W3C should help assist commercial companies in achieving
these aims, when there is no perceivable benefit to the end user and
very limited benefit to those who wish to discourage piracy.

Otherwise, aren't discussions like this always going to revolve around
ulterior motives and cloaked rhetoric?

Received on Sunday, 5 July 2009 20:43:11 UTC