Re: Let's talk strategy (was: Re: Web Reliability)

Steve,

Are you aiming to ensure standard HTML and toolkit standards as in like 
Microsoft has set up for Windows or Apple has done with their O/S
It seems that way..

On Sun, 30 Jul 1995, Steve H Rose wrote:

> 
> I'd like to make a high-level suggestion about the direction of http/html 
> and other standards in relationship to proprietary approaches developed 
> by private companies (Netscape and Microsoft extensions to HTML, Adobe 
> Acrobat, Sun's Java etc. etc.).
> 
> First, it is my belief that a lot of the arguments over standards are 
> based upon two fundamentally different perspectives.  
> 
> The perspective of the WWW organization seems to be that it is important
> to provide accessibility to the wealth of human knowledge.  From this
> perspective, standards are critical -- and the primary emphasis is on 
> <strong>information and its meaning</strong>.
> 
> In my opinion, this is NOT the primary perspective of private companies 
> such as Netscape, Sun etc.  It is not just that these companies want to 
> sell products (which is their business) -- it is that they have a 
> fundamentally different perspective on what the WWW is about, and what it 
> can do or should do.  From the commercial perspective, the importance of 
> the WWW is in its ability to offer <blink>controlled 
> multimedia interactivity</blink>.  Advertisers want to be able to present 
> a message to customers in the way that it will be most effective (whether 
> the goal is getting them to buy, or just to promote a certain image of or 
> understanding of the company).
> 
> The key here is the goal-directed nature of business communication.  It 
> is intended to persuade, not just inform.  The fancier tools that can be 
> provided, the more persuasive the communication will be (at least in the 
> thinking of many companies).
> 
> So, there are two main groups of people trying to using the same vehicle, 
> the WWW, for totally different purposes: to provide access to 
> information vs. using a variety of tools to serve specific needs of 
> business marketing.
> 
> Is it necessary that these two functions be performed using the same 
> protocols and languages?
> 
> Is it possible (and/or desireable) for the international standards
> community to "section off" http/html as a protocol for accessing
> information, and simply provide the hooks needed for other protocols to be
> established for the purpose of buseinss marketing communication?  Web
> servers currently speak ftp and other protocols as well as http, why not
> mitp (marketing information transfer protocol), atp (advertising transfer
> protocol) -- or java, acrobat, vrml or whatever the private sector comes
> up with next. 
> 
> Please forgive my possible ignorance of technical issues related to http
> etc. and to the status of current proposals in the preceding suggestion. 
> I have had minimal involvement in the whole process (which might mean that
> I can offer a new angle on things, or that I'm just full of it :-) Also,
> please note that I am just offering it as a possibility -- I don't know if
> it is a good idea or not. 
> 
> Steve Habib Rose
> Clear Nets
> The HTML CyberClass
> HomePage Associates
> 

Mother told me to be good, but she's been wrong before.

Received on Sunday, 30 July 1995 11:32:30 UTC