[thelist] Web Standards Project and Mozilla duke it out...

Aylard JA (James) jaylard at equilon.com
Tue Jul 25 18:14:46 CDT 2000


>   For the Good of the Web: An Open Letter to Netscape
> http://www.webstandards.org/wfw/ns0700.html
> 
>   Astounding Comments from the WSP: An Open Letter to the WSP
> http://www.mozillazine.org/articles/article1524.html

	Interesting reading. I thought that the WSP was over the top when it
nuked Microsoft for IE 5.5 (then still in beta), and I said so. I do suspect
that this hand grenade into the Mozilla project was some kind of balancing
act, at least in part. But I also think that Chris Nelson of Mozillazine
doth protest too much, and misconstrues some of the points that the WSP
makes.
	One of Nelson's primary retorts to the WSP is, what do they care
about time-to-market and market share when their raison d'etre is standards
compliance? My reading of the WSP's complaint, though, is that they don't
care about time-to-market and market share per se, except in that those are
a very real part of the equation of putting a standards-compliant browser
into the hands of actual users, where it needs to be in order to be of any
value. Mozilla has a great browser in concept, but the reality isn't there
yet.
	We could start a huge flame war (but we won't :) over Nelson's
unqualified argument that there is only one cause of Netscape's failed
condition: Microsoft, and its evil bundling practices. While we can all
agree that this has played a part (we may differ over how much), as web
developers and web users we can also acknowledge that bandaging and
regurgitating the same broken, bloated browser for three years running ain't
gonna win any converts -- or browser battles. While I applaud Netscape's
decision to build Mozilla from the ground up, I know that the primary reason
for having to do this was that Navigator's code had become such a festering
tangle that Netscape really, truly had no choice -- and that code mess can
be blamed on no one but Netscape.
	My conclusion is that the WSP has wandered beyond the pale once
again -- perhaps it needed another fix of press coverage, or was atoning for
past sins. Mozillazine's response, however, is an unconvincing effort at
deflection and self-justified victimization. Apparently two years of
sympathetic press coverage and fawning from developers haven't provided the
Mozilla crowd with the conditioning necessary for a tough skin. They should
be hungry and on the prowl, but instead are whimpering about a sting in
their paw.

James Aylard
jaylard at equilon.com

<tip type="ASP Object Map">
http://msdn.microsoft.com/voices/news/asp_objm.gif
	Although now a touch outdated with the release of ASP 3.0 (and the
impending introduction of ASP+), the Active Server Pages Object Map (for ASP
2.0) is a very helpful visual guide to the ASP object model for any ASP
developer. (Unfortunately, it appears that Microsoft has removed the
high-resolution PDF version that is suitable for printing. Email me if you'd
like a copy.)
</tip>




More information about the thelist mailing list