Standards:

[Dana Pellerin]

I can sympathize with both sides of this web standards argument. As a web
developer developing external sites, it is much more cost effective to be
able to design for one set of standards. However, where would this industry
be if we all sat around and waited for some standards group to tell us what
we features we can implement in our products? I'll tell you, we'd be missing
out on all those great new ideas that have driven our industry forward since
the beginning. We'd might still be running DOS and using Visicalc and WordPerfect.
Or even worse, I'd be writing this letter on a terminal.

Remember that Netscape pushed the envelope from the start, creating javascript
and custom tags. That's what set them apart and made them the force that
they were. Nobody complained, they were happy to take advantage of these
great new possibilities. Now Microsoft wants to push the envelope and everybody's
crying.

And think about this for a second. I work for a corporation where we have
a controlled internal network environment. Every corporation does, if we
didn't we couldn't run efficiently. Everyone gets the same desktop, the same
browser, the same software suite. In this environment, as far as my business
is concerned, standards don't mean squat because we have essentially created
our own standard. One that fits and enhances our unique business. Any new
technology we can leverage, that gives us the "one up" on our competition,
is welcome. In today's business environment, if we wait for the "standards",
we are already one step behind.

I really think developers are being incredibly selfish with this whole standards
thing. "Make our jobs easier", is what they're crying, but I think we should
really be saying; "Give us the tools to make our businesses better and more
competitive".

Dana Pellerin
Webmaster
Community Medical Centers, Fresno CA

[Josh Rusev]

Thank you for your comments. I couldn't agree more with your response to
the article. Just wanted to let you know that many of us feel the same way.

Josh Rusev
webmaster
Vector Technology, Inc.
Scottsdale, Arizona

"Dana Pellerin" <dpellerin@communitymedical.org> wrote:
>
>I can sympathize with both sides of this web standards argument. As a web
>developer developing external sites, it is much more cost effective to be
>able to design for one set of standards. However, where would this industry
>be if we all sat around and waited for some standards group to tell us what
>we features we can implement in our products? I'll tell you, we'd be missing
>out on all those great new ideas that have driven our industry forward since
>the beginning. We'd might still be running DOS and using Visicalc and WordPerfect.
>Or even worse, I'd be writing this letter on a terminal.
>
>Remember that Netscape pushed the envelope from the start, creating javascript
>and custom tags. That's what set them apart and made them the force that
>they were. Nobody complained, they were happy to take advantage of these
>great new possibilities. Now Microsoft wants to push the envelope and everybody's
>crying.
>
>And think about this for a second. I work for a corporation where we have
>a controlled internal network environment. Every corporation does, if we
>didn't we couldn't run efficiently. Everyone gets the same desktop, the
same
>browser, the same software suite. In this environment, as far as my business
>is concerned, standards don't mean squat because we have essentially created
>our own standard. One that fits and enhances our unique business. Any new
>technology we can leverage, that gives us the "one up" on our competition,
>is welcome. In today's business environment, if we wait for the "standards",
>we are already one step behind.
>
>I really think developers are being incredibly selfish with this whole standards
>thing. "Make our jobs easier", is what they're crying, but I think we should
>really be saying; "Give us the tools to make our businesses better and more
>competitive".
>
>Dana Pellerin
>Webmaster
>Community Medical Centers, Fresno CA
>