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The WS-I vs. W3C war resembles any given war between a corporation and a union leadership, between two countries of questionable sovereignty, or between two standards bodies. Any given entity within such wars make claims using righteous indignation rhetoric as to their preeminent authority of existence and their appropriateness of methods employed that ensure their existence.
When a third party entity elects to ally with an entity of these wars, they do so because that third party possesses an agenda. More than likely, the adherence to any given agenda arises from monetary considerations.
Like most wars, one needs to understand the concept of property rights. If any third party believes that the Internet is an internetworking of privately owned networks of computers, then that third party would not ally with either entity of this war. A third party who chooses a side commits an error of logic.
Clearly, the derivation of all Internet standards belongs within the public domain. After all, the publishing of a specification does not equate to establishing a standard. The publishing of a specification is nothing more than a dictatorial decree, regardless of the qualifications of the entity that undertakes such an action.
What constitutes a transmutation from a dictatorial decree into a standard is an overwhelming adoption, i.e., formal use of the decree. With respect to the Internet and specifically those protocols associated with the WWW, conversion of a decree into a standard occurs because of adoption and formal use by the public at large.
The time has come for the development of all technological standards to rest solely within the actions of individuals who constitute the public domain. Obviously, the open source model of software development is the model under which any Internet protocol idea can arise and develop into a standard.
A critical mass of technologically adept individuals exists for such purposes and the infrastructure to facilitate such activities exists. After all, individuals who work for corporations or who work for non-governmental organizations can exist independently of these organizations and work along side other like minded individuals to create the Internet and WWW standards of tomorrow, today.
An open source model of standards development holds in check the prurient interests of corporations, non-governmental organizations and their respective constituents. Moreover, an open source model of standards creation embodies the essence of a decentralized WWW existing without any central authority of control dictating terms of existence.
An open source model of standards development would remove the competitive advantage that substantial dues paying, elitist members of the W3C possess deriving from their advanced knowledge of a specification and its final implementation. Here too, an open source model of standards develop negates any competitive advantage that a gang of thieving corporations have over the majority of people who use the Internet and WWW and whose labor and expenditures provide for a lavish lifestyle of the leaders of either of these entities.
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