- From: Philip TAYLOR <P.Taylor@Rhul.Ac.Uk>
- Date: Fri, 01 Jul 2005 14:03:06 +0100
- To: Orion Adrian <orion.adrian@gmail.com>
- CC: www-style@w3.org
Having agreed with some of Orion's earlier ideas, I cannot help but disagree with him very strongly here : > No, I'm saying that if Microsoft produced a replacement for CSS or > XHTML or whatever, I'd probably like it because they've bothered to > create a feeling of trust in the company. I get the impression from > them that they listen and aren't idealists. They care about my ability > to program and to make a living. They care about my ability to write. > > That's why I would probably like what they have to offer. I, on the other hand, would probably hate it. Microsoft would (I believe) keep the spec. secret, modify IE to exploit it, and at the same time do their d@mndest to prevent Mozilla (and analogous browsers) from being able to use it. Sorry, but past history demonstrates only too clearly that this is how Microsoft operates. It makes them very successful, and very profitable, but of course opens the door to anti-trust actions. If you had written Adobe where you has written Microsoft, I might have had some sympathy (Adobe have been /reasonably/ good at making PDF quasi-open (in a read-only sense)), but Microsoft unfortunately prefer to dominate by secrecy rather than by competing on a level playing field. Philip Taylor
Received on Friday, 1 July 2005 13:05:45 UTC