RAND Patent Policy

As a Web developer currently working on Mozilla's implementation of HTML 
and the DOM, I have great respect for the W3C's standards efforts thus far.

However, I disagree with any policy under which any of the W3C's 
recommendations would be less than free.  If there is a barrier to entry 
in implementing a standard (such as price), then W3C standards will not 
be implemented across the board and the Web, which is making such 
strides to unity, will quickly degenerate back into the Wild West 
frontier which has marked and plagued it up to this point.

The value of the W3C's recommendation for a technology is a promised 
uniformity in implementation.  If a company wishes to offer a spec for a 
price, let it do so on its own time and with its own name.  Don't sully 
the W3C's reputation with technolgies not available to all.

For those who argue that the patent makers are not *yet* charging for 
standards, I say, let's not repeat the sad story of the GIF.

--John Keiser

Received on Sunday, 30 September 2001 14:36:04 UTC