open standards.

Open standards are the basis of the internet, of which the WWW is a part.
Assuring "Reasonable" fees is not the point, although the definition of
reasonable is something which intellegent people could differ over even if
they had common goals.

In this case, the RAND proposal does not have goals consistant with the
promotion of a the WWW.  Before members of the W3C dismiss this notion,
I reiterate the WWW stands for open standards.  This in the past has
always ment things like "sample implementations".  It also means these
OpenSource implementations are the reference platform, and there specific 
definitions of what it means to have an OpenSource implementation.

RAND transparently seeks only a single goal.  To put the standards process
into the hands of those who seek to employ proprietary standards and anti
competitive behaviour in the persuit of market share.  The W3C has only
one option, and that is to reject policies such as RAND, and require that
all standards be open to free implementation.  I would suggest that the 
deciding factor WRT license of a proposed standard would be "if it is
possible to have an OpenSource implementation, as specified in the Open 
Source Definition (see www.opensource.org), then the particular
technology in question meets the criteria required for the continued
growth and heath of the WWW".  The acceptance of policies such as RAND 
will result in the immediate replacement of the W3C by a standards body
with an appropriate charter.

D. Jeff Dionne,

Maintainer uClinux
CTO Lineo Inc.

Received on Thursday, 4 October 2001 11:24:26 UTC