I strongly object to the proposed policy of allowing patented technologies to be used in W3C standards definition

The day the W3C allows patented web technologies to be promoted as 'Open 
Standards' is the day the W3C ceases to be a credible standards body for 
the web.

The reason the web is so useful, popular and widely accessible is 
because of it's free and open nature. Anyone can write software to 
operate with HTTP protocols, and anyone is free to write software to 
distribute, process and view HTML, SVG and the like.

Nobody without a vested interest in a particular corporations' 
domination and profit opportunities in a given area could possibly argue 
that restricting access to web technologies (which is exactly what 
patented technologies being promoted as 'standards' will acheive) will 
increase the viability of the web as a communications medium.

And if the W3C are not interested in increasing the viability of the web 
as a communications medium, what is it they are interested in?

HTTP wasn't a runaway success because You had to pay Microsoft 5 bucks 
every time you put a <P> tag in a document.

I do not support this move at all, and predict the adoption of such a 
measure will quickly lead to the irrelevance of W3C standards as a 
benchmark for 'How the Web should Work'

-- 
Pete Black

Systems Administrator
Total Metering Ltd/Elect Data Services
pete.black@metering.co.nz

Received on Sunday, 30 September 2001 19:15:10 UTC