I'm not so sure. All of the web technologies have changed over time. I'm pretty sure only the simplest web pages from the 90's are still functional. Their are still computers sold today that can run IBM/360 programs unchanged.
The fact that certain browser developers are now trying to embrace, extend and extinguish those technologies for their own obvious purposes and without regard to collateral damage just means we need to push back hard against those browser developers.
Well, I still think the idea of using a document format as an application format was totally foolish. Frankly, something like a decedent of QML or even Sun NeWS would have been more appropriate. Heck even a networked p-machine with a UI would have been better. A frozen subset of HTML might work (well, could use WML and WMLscript since nobody uses that anymore). I think the whole push back is not going to happen. Instead we end up with a harder development environment than Visual Basic or NeXTSTEP with less functionality than either.
Google is already more powerful than is safe for our industry, and certainly we must not let it become the de facto owner of anything essential.
No disagreement there. They own the web and can declare your site removed from the internet as far as 90% of web users are concerned.
OK, but what? That's the real question here, surely.
There are very few developments in the history of computing that have been as widely useful and long-lasting as the fundamental web technologies. The fact that certain browser developers are now trying to embrace, extend and extinguish those technologies for their own obvious purposes and without regard to collateral damage just means we need to push back hard against those browser developers. Google is already more powerful than is safe for our industry, and certainly we must not let it become the de facto owner of anything essential.