Glenn's Editorial

[Nelson Drueding]

Glenn Davis should read his own words. If he is correct, and Microsoft is
abandoning W3C in order to keep from "breaking Office 2000", then that IS
in the best interest of the public. For better or worse, the business world
(and most home computers as well) revolve around Office 2000 and IE5. Breaking
the #1 software product in the world for the sake of standards is cutting
off one's nose for spite. Given the choice, change the standards!

[Kee Hinckley]

"Nelson Drueding" <nelsond@distsoft.com> wrote:
>
>Glenn Davis should read his own words. If he is correct, and Microsoft
is
>abandoning W3C in order to keep from "breaking Office 2000", then that IS
>in the best interest of the public. For better or worse, the business world
>(and most home computers as well) revolve around Office 2000 and IE5. Breaking
>the #1 software product in the world for the sake of standards is cutting
>off one's nose for spite. Given the choice, change the standards!

Microsoft had an opportunity to change the standards. They were part of
the standards organization. The fact that they would participate in that
process and then blow it off completely does not speak well for their honesty
or reliability.

But what I find really frustrating is the argument that because it's dominant,
it must be good for everyone. Market dominance is a sign of market dominance.
It's not a sign of something that is good or bad. You can probably read
it as a sign of good marketing, but that's neither here nor there.

As for breaking things by making changes. Microsoft has done that in every
single release, I hardly see why they need to stop now. In fact the only
reason I can think of is that they don't want compatibility with other people's
products.

[Glenn Davis]

"Nelson Drueding" <nelsond@distsoft.com> wrote:
>
>Glenn Davis should read his own words. If he is correct, and Microsoft
is
>abandoning W3C in order to keep from "breaking Office 2000", then that IS
>in the best interest of the public. For better or worse, the business world
>(and most home computers as well) revolve around Office 2000 and IE5. Breaking
>the #1 software product in the world for the sake of standards is cutting
>off one's nose for spite. Given the choice, change the standards!

Let me see if I understand you correctly. You think that's it's just fine
the Microsoft built their software in such a way that forever locked it's
capabilities into being dependent on legacy web support? That seems to be
what you're saying here.

Glenn Davis