On Sun, 09 Apr 2000, you wrote:
> OK, and I'm really not trying to stir up trouble...
>
> I use Netscape for sole reason that it's not MS/IE. Call me paranoid but I've been
> in this field a long time to know that once MS has established a "solid base"
> (recently declared a monopoly) it will use that to competitive advantage. Now that
> means to me that once MS has captured the browser market it will change key elements
> to break servers (pages) that they don't like and give their own engine an
> advantage. This is precisely what they did on the desktop and now they control that
> API (no, I'm not a programmer so this is a philosophical discussion, not a technical
> one.)
>
> Now, it's been stated that MS/IE is "far more standards compliant than any version
> of Netscape". That is not at all inconsistent with them wanting to take over the
> web. First you play nice until everyone on board, then you change the rules to
> benefit yourself. It does raise the question if controlling the browser market can
> indeed influence or control the server market. Based on Windows/3.X/95/98 being
> used to drive NT I'd say the answer is yes. Does it hold true for the browser
> market as well or will the "open" HTML standards preclude this? The Windows API's,
> although published, are still privately held. The HTML standards are not privately
> held.
>
> I still feel that HTML standards could be manipulated to a companies advantage if
> the browser share were large enough ("embrace and extend") but I'd love to hear
> others comments on this. Like I said I refuse to run IE and support a monopoly but
> I'd love to hear others comments. Also, I know that this crowd, by default uses a
> browser other than MS/IE simply because IE won't run on Linux. Nonetheless the
> philosophical argument still stands.
I agree with all that you said, but you left out at least one important point.
HTML is an important standard beyond just being a standard. As an information
presentation standard, more than just IE have violated it in unforgivable ways.
By not sticking to "this is a heading" and "present this with emphasis"
They've all given up the potential HTML had for making content available to the
blind, and others who aren't able to appreciate Quicktime movies et al. I'm
also thinking of indexing engines that now can't easily catalogue content and
make the web the single document that it could have been. I don't think fancy
graphics are worth the advertising they've enabled.
> **********************************************************
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email me at [EMAIL PROTECTED]
"Somebody once told me that in basketball you can't hold the ball and run.
I got a basketball and tried it and it worked just fine. He obviously didn't
understand basketball." Attributed to Roger Miller.
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