Re: Why is the W3c so 'closed'?

[Matthew Bealey]
>An official statement on why so much work in progress and the like is
>closed off from those who are not members would be appreciated.
>
>Is it designed to maximise revenues for the W3C?

On any public W3C list, this question is *guaranteed* to come up - the W3C
really needs a FAQ for it (but it would probably be impolitic).

This is obviously not an official statement, but as an employee of a
company in the process of joining, and as a former employee of two founding
companies, my understanding is this: Revenues allow the W3C to fund its
work.  Privacy allows large competitive companies to join and participate
without surrendering strategic advantage.  For example, a company like
O'Reilly really has nothing to lose from an open process.  However,
Microsoft wouldn't be able to discuss the results of its user testing, the
state of initial trial implementations, and similar strategic information,
if the process were open.  I don't like that very much, but I understand
it.

-Chris

--
Christopher R. Maden, Solutions Architect
Exemplary Technologies
One Embarcadero Center, Ste. 2405
San Francisco, CA 94111

Received on Monday, 22 November 1999 20:17:02 UTC