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There's nothing terrifying about the W3C. They are basically the only true guarantee that the web stays open.
You can't compare WebKit to HTML5. WebKit is a project run by someone who controls it and its directly. HTML5 is a standard agreed on by basically everyone.
You are extremely naive if you think companies are going to suddenly start supporting each other. And if they are going to agree on standards, they basically need an independent organization. And then you're back to the W3C.
You can kill of W3C but another W3C will still be needed.
And I think you are extremely naive in that you think that only formal standards bodies can facilitate cooperation.
Btw, how's that HTML5 standard coming along? Do you think that after about a decade of bickering we deserve a finalization? HTML5's first public working draft was in freakin' 2008 and it won't be until the end of 2014 that it will be finalized - 9 fucking years! In a technology space where often no more than 6 months is the separator between releases of game changing products. I'm sorry, W3C used to be very important in the past, but I feel that the volume of red tape has really swelled recently to the point of making W3C really quite impotent.
They are basically the only guarantee that it'll take 10+ years for standards to get ratified, and browser makers will keep putting custom shit into their browsers while the W3C keeps dragging its feet.





Member since:
2007-04-18
This is only terrifying if you want to preserve W3C's power over the web, rather than a self-governing open web. What I mean by that is that it doesn't matter what the name of "standard" is (be it WebKit, or HTML5, or whatever), as long as it is open, developed in a cooperative fashion and has multiple players in it (which WebKit certainly has). We can see multi-dev agreements on web protocols and formats all over the place (between Mozilla, WebKit users, MS, etc.) without the need for a formal institution like the W3C. That's why I don't share your fear of monopolization of the web as happened in the 90s with IE.
Edited 2013-01-19 16:49 UTC