Re: Approved TAG finding: Authoritative Metadata

I have been following the "Authoritative Metadata" thread at the TAG list.

During the last 8 years (probably more), we have seen the following loop:

Start:
W3C: "The Web should be like this"
Vendors: "No"
Grandma and Grandpa: "Snif"
GO TO Start


I wrote somewhere else...

"The web is an anarchy. Nobody rules. Nobody can enforce anything.
W3C is *perceived* as a world authority, but isn't."

And...

"In today's standards bodies, nobody represents end-users. Corporations pay
the bills, instead.
Hence "open" standards, means just a deal among corporations, but not among
corporations and end-users."

And...

"Today's standard bodies output specs, but they do not output at least one
free and open source, platform-independent implementation."

Now let's see them in reverse order....

The obvious solution to the above loop is:

"Let the same people who output specs, also output the soft"
(particularly true about a web browser (and I'm not talking about a "toy" or
"experimental" one, but a full fledged, widely deployable, production
quality one)).

Would W3C do that, and the lion's share of the problems automatically
vanish.
But the true questions are: Can W3C do this? And if it can...is it willing
to do it?
To answer that, we need to consider W3C's true nature. But first let me wipe
the first kind of objections.

"Objection! That is a hughe task!".
This is W3C we are talking about here. It is not the Weekend Programmer's
Association of Namibia. We are talking W3C. It *does* have the pull to
summon an army of volunteer top-notch programmers. Same goes for resources,
if needed.
Say "Yes" and I can flatten each and all objections.
All but one...

"In today's standards bodies, nobody represents end-users. Corporations pay
the bills, instead.
Hence "open" standards, means just a deal among corporations, but not among
corporations and end-users."

Would W3C be willing to to do what is absolutely obvious that needs to be
done, to help Grandma and Grandpa?
1) Can W3C do it, at all? Or would there be a conflict of interests? Would
it crash against it's very own bussiness model?
2) If it can...would it be willing to?

Those are the two questions whose answers I need to hear.
And yes, Mr Berners Lee, I'm asking specifically to you.
(In this particular case, as I'm sure you'll understand, only you can answer
this one)
(Everyone else, please allow TBL to answer first. That's all I ask)

Mr Berners Lee, since this is a very important question, please feel free to
take your time. Also, if you need any clarification, or need any extra
details, please feel free to ask, I'll obligue.


Like Mulder, I want to believe. Please help me.

Was it fun to make the first browser?

The semantic web is coming. Time to have fun again..


Fernando Franco
(teoriadetodo, hosted at gmail, you all know what to do)

Received on Friday, 11 August 2006 18:19:47 UTC