[thelist] Site check: Staples.com

[Robert Gormley]

Shawn K. Quinn wrote:
>> It's now inappropriate to publish any closed proprietary format material 
>> on the web?
>>     
>
> I would say for the majority of cases, it always has been.
>
>   
>> That universities publishing lecture notes can't do so in 
>> Keynote/Powerpoint?
>>     
>
> I highly doubt that free, open specifications defining the Keynote or
> Powerpoint formats exist. I hear Powerpoint exports in a pathetic excuse
> for HTML, though (thankfully we have a special mode of HTML Tidy that
> cuts out most of the junk).
>   
I agree with you that there is a special circle of hell for that group 
at Microsoft who foisted the HTML generation feature from Office upon us.
>> That an executable can't be published, because it won't run natively
>> on another OS?
>>     
>
> This specific case may be a bit different. However, it's extremely rare
> these days for me to run a binary for which the corresponding source
> code isn't available for me to review (and modify) as needed.
>
> Most search engine robots really have no business indexing the contents
> of a binary executable anyway. (One specifically designed to search the
> text inside publicly available software would, but I don't think such a
> beast exists, partly because binaries are often compressed and encrypted
> to thwart exactly this.)
>   
No, they don't. But what you said was that 'the format was inappropriate 
for the web'.

> In general, locking up information in proprietary formats (including
> binary executables specific to a given operating system and/or hardware)
> runs counter to the goal of wide distribution of information, which is
> what the Web is about.
>   
The goal of wide distribution of information is met perfectly. That some 
of that information is complex and requires, or works best, with a 
specific interpretation, is a facet of that information. In general 
principle? I am all for the use of free and open standards. However, 
there is a realistic balance between commercialisation and idealism.

And on that note, I think I've posted enough to the list for the day 
(without it sounding like "last word, nyer!")

Rob