Why Can't We All Just Get Along?

I like Netscape, and I love to see anyone take on Microsoft. However, I fully endorse open standards for the web, and that is why I need you to read this and follow the link at the bottom.

Ya see, as Netscape and Microsoft continue to battle over which browser you use, they try to add more to what those browsers can do. There is not much functionality to add to the browser itself. Once you get past the ability to bookmark pages and view through the recently visited sites, establish an e-mail address and connect to a newsserver, there ain't a whole lot else to add.

As a result, the two have entered a pissing contest in which they try to enhance what web pages can do; then release updated browsers with the ability to view these new features. (For those who are unfamiliar with HTML, let me explain a little more.)

Believe it or not, there is a group responsible for producing HTML standards. The World Wide Web Consortium, or W3C, works along with the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) to help keep HTML an open language. Open meaning that anyone with the time and inclination can create a document using the published HTML standards. More importantly, any browser can read any HTML page.

If that were the case, there would be little to differentiate between browsers. So Microsoft and Netscape toy with the language. They incorporate frames, layers, and other features before the W3C in the hope that designers will implement them in their pages, and users will feel compelled to buy the latest browser in order to use them.

So far, this has not been a problem. There are no major differences among browsers. Some web-sites maintain separate pages for frame-enabled browsers, but fundamentally, HTML comes in one flavor.

That may change. Netscape and Microsoft are both rushing ahead to deliver "push" technology this summer. My opinion on pushing and its definition are not paramount here. The incompatability of the two companies approach to pushing is.

This difference threatens to splinter standards. I don't like that, and you may not either.

Ziff-Davis, publisher of MacUser, PC Week, and a host of other computer periodicals, has established an online petition to urge the two companies to work together and with the W3C to prevent a mjor split. Please stop by and read what they have to say. Then, if you agree, sign their petition. Keep the Web open.

The deadline for the Petition has long passed. But the link still provides useful information on keeping web standards open. Please stop by.

Thanks for listening.

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Last Updated: 25 August 1997
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