RE: Web Philosophy

[Matthew Gertner <matthew.gertner@schemantix.com>]

Ann Navarro wrote:
> This is neither a personal attack nor a deprecation of others 
> work. It is 
> simply a statement of conflicting demands upon the W3C: "Be 
> fast!" and "Be 
> far more open!" -- the two don't work well together, in my 
> opinion, and 
> IETF I believes shows that the "any and all comers" model 
> produces work 
> more slowly.

Be that as it may, it could be argued quite easily that the W3C as it
currently stands is neither fast nor open. I wouldn't label the
contributions of W3C advocates to this type of discussion as universally
personal attacks or deprecation of other people's work, but one thing that I
have definitely never seen is any indication whatsoever that the constant
stream of dissatisfaction expressed by many parties has translated into even
the slightest willingness among the W3C powers-that-be to consider that some
changes might be apt, let alone any action in this direction.

I personally don't feel that the W3C has to be "far more open". I'm
receptive to the idea that too much openness can impede progress. At the
same time, I can't even take seriously the idea that an organization as
important and high-profile as the W3C can't be significantly improved.
There's a continuum here: it's not a question of being open or closed, it's
a question of finding the optimal level of openness. Judging by the
frequency of criticism of existing procedures, the current level ain't it.

Matthew

PS: I wrote a rant over a year ago about just this topic in case someone is
interested: http://www.schemantix.com/resources/xml_2.html.