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[XML-DEV Mailing List Archive Home] [By Thread] [By Date] [Recent Entries] [Reply To This Message] Re: The non-future of XHTML x.x [LONG]
 You raise some interesting points. Your arguments demonstrate that what you seem to consider intrinsically impossible has already shown by history to be possible. Inline responses below. Andrew Watt "XHTML 2.0 - the W3C leading the Web to its full potential ... to implement yesterday's technology tomorrow" In a message dated 21/11/2002 20:22:27 GMT Standard Time, paul@p... writes: AndrewWatt2000@a... wrote: I take that slight realignment of the goalposts as tacit agreement that not-charged-for browsers are not a sustainable business model. OK, let's look at whether or not it is sustainable practice. There has always
The first browser I used was Lynx in (I think) 1994. I assume it was and is open source. Anyone remember what open source browsers came before that? Lynx was (still is??) a text-only browser. When Netscape came along with a graphical paid-for browser users voted with their feet and bought it in droves. Netscape, for the time, was the rich-client which added sufficient value compared to the open source alternative(s) of the time that it took a sizeable slice of the market. A rich-client (rich by whatever the standards of the time are) can survive and grow market share despite the existence of open-source competitors. But it must provide added value. You commented that open-source was always there. History shows that, at least at times, a paid-for rich-client can prosper in an environment where there is competing open source. So my premise is not intrinsically impossible, as history as shown. Whether it can happen again is a separate question. The practice seems sustainable. If
No vacuum. :) It isn't a vacuum that IBM fears. It's Microsoft. :) If you want to claim that open source software needs a "business
A significant part of that is fear of the vacuum/Microsoft. At the risk of over-generalising the fundamental business model of open source software is Microsoft-paranoia and Microsoft-phobia by competitor companies. Of course there are enthusiasts who donate time but isn't at least part of the motivation for some of those developers the same Microsoft-phobia and Microsoft-paranoia? Try to imagine how limited open source software today might be without the kick start donations and ongoing funding from the corporate interests intent on spoiling Microsoft. If hatred and fear of Microsoft were not so widespread there might be virtually no open source software! I don't recall precisely who donated what to Apache. Didn't IBM donate Lotus XSL -> Xalan and Sun donate [something] -> Tomcat? I seem to recall that many other (anti-vacuum/Microsoft) donations were also made to Apache.
I think you are wrong there. One key business model is the fear of the vacuum/Microsoft. It isn't a black or white thing. Open source could progress but at a slower pace without those donations and funding. And even if it did, I would say that the
Well, perhaps. But I suspect you said that partly because you viewed my argument as intrinsically improbable. As mentioned above history demonstrates that paid-for rich-clients *can* at times win out *for a time* over not-charged-for clients. Without the prevalance of Microsoft-phobia I suspect that we would still have paid-for Web browsers.
The future != today My point was about the *future*. I didn't claim that anyone is making money from rich clients today. Did I? My point was that a change is possible, maybe likely. The key issue is whether in the (near??) future a rich-client can provide sufficient added value for users versus the "poor man's client". If you can move to accept a position that paid-for rich-clients in the future might, at least in principle, be *possible* then perhaps we can go on to discuss how likely/unlikely that is and what relevance (or not) XHTML 2.0 might have to such a future. Andrew Watt
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