Re: Let's talk strategy (was: Re: Web Reliability)

mht (mht@shore.net)
Sun, 30 Jul 1995 11:32:22 -0400 (EDT)


Steve,

Are you aiming to ensure standard HTML and toolkit standards as in like
Microsoft has set up for Windows or Apple has done with their O/S
It seems that way..

On Sun, 30 Jul 1995, Steve H Rose wrote:

>
> I'd like to make a high-level suggestion about the direction of http/html
> and other standards in relationship to proprietary approaches developed
> by private companies (Netscape and Microsoft extensions to HTML, Adobe
> Acrobat, Sun's Java etc. etc.).
>
> First, it is my belief that a lot of the arguments over standards are
> based upon two fundamentally different perspectives.
>
> The perspective of the WWW organization seems to be that it is important
> to provide accessibility to the wealth of human knowledge. From this
> perspective, standards are critical -- and the primary emphasis is on
> <strong>information and its meaning</strong>.
>
> In my opinion, this is NOT the primary perspective of private companies
> such as Netscape, Sun etc. It is not just that these companies want to
> sell products (which is their business) -- it is that they have a
> fundamentally different perspective on what the WWW is about, and what it
> can do or should do. From the commercial perspective, the importance of
> the WWW is in its ability to offer <blink>controlled
> multimedia interactivity</blink>. Advertisers want to be able to present
> a message to customers in the way that it will be most effective (whether
> the goal is getting them to buy, or just to promote a certain image of or
> understanding of the company).
>
> The key here is the goal-directed nature of business communication. It
> is intended to persuade, not just inform. The fancier tools that can be
> provided, the more persuasive the communication will be (at least in the
> thinking of many companies).
>
> So, there are two main groups of people trying to using the same vehicle,
> the WWW, for totally different purposes: to provide access to
> information vs. using a variety of tools to serve specific needs of
> business marketing.
>
> Is it necessary that these two functions be performed using the same
> protocols and languages?
>
> Is it possible (and/or desireable) for the international standards
> community to "section off" http/html as a protocol for accessing
> information, and simply provide the hooks needed for other protocols to be
> established for the purpose of buseinss marketing communication? Web
> servers currently speak ftp and other protocols as well as http, why not
> mitp (marketing information transfer protocol), atp (advertising transfer
> protocol) -- or java, acrobat, vrml or whatever the private sector comes
> up with next.
>
> Please forgive my possible ignorance of technical issues related to http
> etc. and to the status of current proposals in the preceding suggestion.
> I have had minimal involvement in the whole process (which might mean that
> I can offer a new angle on things, or that I'm just full of it :-) Also,
> please note that I am just offering it as a possibility -- I don't know if
> it is a good idea or not.
>
> Steve Habib Rose
> Clear Nets
> The HTML CyberClass
> HomePage Associates
>

Mother told me to be good, but she's been wrong before.