Re:Firefox is on a slippery slope
by hinkley on Monday December 18, 2017 @07:08PM
(#15956683)
Initially I was going to let the other responses stand on their own but I had a new thought.
Unfortunately it seems the spec by fiat process is the least problematic this way.
Someone standardizes a thing that has been working for them for a while and they want their partners and maybe competitors to work with it.
It has to be a fairly conservative spec as well, something that can be defined concisely.
And let me be clear: this is a necessary but insufficient quality of a good specification. Ramming an opinionated spec down everyone's throat that is clearly tilted to only be achievable with your company's patent portfolio is not playing nice, and people tend to sense the insincerity.
Unfortunately it seems the spec by fiat process is the least problematic this way.
Someone standardizes a thing that has been working for them for a while and they want their partners and maybe competitors to work with it.
It has to be a fairly conservative spec as well, something that can be defined concisely.
And let me be clear: this is a necessary but insufficient quality of a good specification. Ramming an opinionated spec down everyone's throat that is clearly tilted to only be achievable with your company's patent portfolio is not playing nice, and people tend to sense the insincerity.