W3C Exec Summary

The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) is an International Consortium where Member and External organizations, a full-time technical staff, and the public work together to lead the World Wide Web to its full potential by developing Web standards such as protocols and guidelines that ensure long-term growth for the Web.

• Goals: Interoperability, Universality, Functionalities
• Neutral/nonforprofit, consensus based, open participation, open results
• ~450 members, ~70 staff,
• ~50 Working Groups ~20 Coordination Groups and Interest Groups
• Hosting: MIT (America), ERCIM (Europe) and Keio University (Japan) + 16 Offices
• Advisory Board, Technical Architecture Goup
• Liaisons with 40+ other standards bodies, Accountable to the global Public

What Open Standards means ?

A lot of debates nowadays for a common definition of Open Standards(IGF, EC, etc)

• Transparent process
• Open participation
• Technical Consensus
• Running code
• Free and Persistent Specification
• W3C Patent Policy for Web Technologies

W3C Standards Track

W3C Results

W3C Patent Policy

Director's Decision May 2003: The availability of an interoperable, unencumbered Web infrastructure provides an expanding foundation for innovative applications, profitable commerce, and the free flow of information and ideas on a commercial and non-commercial basis.

Method:

• W3C Patent licensing definition
• Disclosure rules
• Exception Handling: Patent Advisory Group (PAG)

Open Standards and Open Source

Both share

• the same concept (free to read and use means a better system)
• the same human audience (computer scientist)
• the same final target (a turing machine of some kind, a computer program)

Open Source are programs, e.g. in C, Java, Open Standards are specifications, e.g. in French.

What will happen when the difference fades ?