3 ms·

This is what I don't get about the W3C and it's significance. Tim Berners-Lee (who is a personal hero of mine) could have blocked it, sure, but that means absol

by Touche 9y ago

This is what I don't get about the W3C and it's significance. Tim Berners-Lee (who is a personal hero of mine) could have blocked it, sure, but that means absolutely nothing. Like, nothing whatsoever. Since Tim Berners-Lee doesn't author a popular web browser. The only opinions that matter are those of Google, Apple, Microsoft, and Mozilla. And not all at the same significance. But that's it, that's the entire list. So I don't understand why W3C is even involved any more, why it even exists? It has no power, so... what's the point?

jancsika 9y ago
Tim Berners-Lee's position looks worse from that perspective. If he truly had no power to change or even influence the outcome, why would he take a position of compromise on his core values? For a comparison, take Richard Stallman's stance on not owning/carrying a cellphone. His position clearly does not influence telco policy, nor gov't policy on surveillance law. He has even stated publicly that it is a symbolic action and that he depends on the ability of others around him to make urgent calls if necessary. Yet he still takes the symbolic action. Why? Because standing up for one's principles is important, even in the face of a large inconvenience (or even dependence in this case on others). Berners-Lee would suffer essentially zero inconvenience from taking a principled stance in the face of much larger corporate players who in reality determine W3C policy. His only hit would be to his ego, since it would reveal that his stance is largely symbolic rather than being a real player in the W3C. I can certainly understand his stance given the prominence of such compromises in the tech industry. But I certainly do not agree with it, and I find it likely that history will not honor it as a principled stance.

3 ms·

This is what I don't get about the W3C and it's significance. Tim Berners-Lee (who is a personal hero of mine) could have blocked it, sure, but that means absol

by Touche 9y ago

jancsika 9y ago
Tim Berners-Lee's position looks worse from that perspective. If he truly had no power to change or even influence the outcome, why would he take a position of compromise on his core values? For a comparison, take Richard Stallman's stance on not owning/carrying a cellphone. His position clearly does not influence telco policy, nor gov't policy on surveillance law. He has even stated publicly that it is a symbolic action and that he depends on the ability of others around him to make urgent calls if necessary. Yet he still takes the symbolic action. Why? Because standing up for one's principles is important, even in the face of a large inconvenience (or even dependence in this case on others). Berners-Lee would suffer essentially zero inconvenience from taking a principled stance in the face of much larger corporate players who in reality determine W3C policy. His only hit would be to his ego, since it would reveal that his stance is largely symbolic rather than being a real player in the W3C. I can certainly understand his stance given the prominence of such compromises in the tech industry. But I certainly do not agree with it, and I find it likely that history will not honor it as a principled stance.