RAND Licensing

Hi, my name is Levi and I'm writing regarding the proposal to allow
patented technology to be incorporated into W3 standards. This goes
completely counter to everything I once thought the W3 stood for. I
believe that the W3 has truly helped the advancement of the web and am
proud that my web site is standards compliant. Recent developments like
PNG, XML, and SVG are truly great ideas. However, if the W3 begins to
produce standards that require royalty payments to use, they'll be
abandoning the very group that created the web. The web was first
created with free (or open source) software and as such was based on
open standards and protocols. If the W3 begins to create standards
requiring people to pay money to use them, adoption will be slowed or
halted completely. If the public doesn't adopt the W3's standards, then
the W3 stops serving any purpose; therefore, to adopt for-pay
standards, even those licensed under RAND terms is to essentially 
destroy the W3 and what it stands for.

-Levi

Received on Sunday, 30 September 2001 07:39:29 UTC