RAND will kill the W3C's future

Accepting patent encumbrances under the proposed "RAND" policy will kill the W3C as either both a respected and independent standards body and as the shepherd of the WWW content languages and standards.

The WWW exploded due to its unencumbered standards. Severl hundred competing and often superior forms of content management and exchange standards were forgotten in lieue of the open and unencumbered HTTP and HTML standards.

Acceptance of patents in future "standards" supported by the W3C is tantamount to the W3C becoming the lackey of corporate special interests. What kind of role in the future of information exchange will the W3C play when it becomes the mouthpiece for AOL, Microsoft, Openwave, et. al? I think little if any.

James Ewing
mi4e AB
Stockholm, Sweden
http://www.mi4e.com