Re: tlug: HTML again

["Stephen J. Turnbull" <turnbull@example.com>]

>>>>> "Howard" == Howard Abbey <habbey@example.com> writes:

    Howard> John De Hoog wrote:

    >> "Standards really do not come from committees. That's not how a
    >> single good standard has ever come about. It's market share
    >> forcing something to be used."
    >> -- Linus Torvalds, in a LinuxWorld interview
    >> http://www.linuxworld.com/linuxworld/lw-1998-10/lw-10-torvalds.html

You're misinterpreting Linus, John.  Linus is well aware that if there
were no TCP/IP, there would be no Linux as we know it today.  TCP/IP
is a standard produced by a committee.

What he is saying is that a standard cannot be enforced by that
committee.  It must depend on demand, both individual users who
benefit directly from the standard _and peer pressure_ from those who
would also benefit if others used it.

So Linus's statement has _no_ bearing on whether compliance with the
HTML 4.0 DTD and implicitly ISO 8879 (SGML) is a good thing.

    Howard> Hence the great need to convince everyone to follow a
    Howard> standard that makes sense.  i.e. Alt tags so that
    Howard> non-conventional / graphical browsers can make sense of
    Howard> pages.  Standards are only worth anything if people follow
    Howard> them.  If people follow them, they are worth a lot.  Many
    Howard> good standards have died because consumers (via buying /
    Howard> other choices) refused to comply.

We can't blame the consumers (I'm not sure that's what you mean).
It's shortcuts by the developers.

However, there's really little choice but to educate the consumers.
And use peer pressure.  Because many developers will be happy to
profit through consumer ignorance and willingness to impose costs on
other parts of society.

-- 
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