Re: Conformance and Implementations

At 03:21 PM 10/9/01 -0600, Alex Rousskov wrote:
>Small companies can do it already. And, as long as no legal/monetary
>barriers are introduced by W3C, their "we support XYZ" claims are no
>less sound than similar claims of the big guys. The playing field is
>already more-or-less leveled as far as compliance is concerned.

The field is not level at all.  A large vendor (e.g. MegaCorp), with a 
large marketing budget, can completely redefine what a particular 
recommendation is (e.g. FooML) is in the mind of the consumer, regardless 
of what it is in the recommendations from the W3C.  That leaves any smaller 
vendor who is trying to play by the rules of the W3C at a disadvantage in 
trying to appeal to the consumer that's been trained by MegaCorp.

This is not an abstract exercise.  Actual experience with said phenomenon 
is driving RealNetworks' participation in this working group.

Rob

Received on Tuesday, 9 October 2001 19:27:29 UTC