[Haifux] [HAIFUX Workshop] The Web Rant Workshop

[Eli Billauer]

Orr Dunkelman wrote:

> history shows that people approached
> webmasters as individuals, and usually it did not succeed. Maybe
> trying as a group would have a better effect.
>
>   
Since the event is now over, I'd like to share my opinion about the 
whole web compatibility issue: In short, I think it's a waste of energy. 
Not because it's hopeless, but because it's a war to be won with or 
without the FOSS community in it.

In the past, non-IE users were mainly Linux users and otherwise geeks. I 
don't justify those who ignored complaints from us, but I can understand 
them. Such a complaint necessarily meant that the person complaining 
knows how to solve his or her problem (that is, install Windows and IE) 
but chooses not to. The fact that the site is defective is bad, but if 
it harms a very small group with some weird ideology about software. In 
particular, if the complaint included terms such as W3C, it's evident 
that it's about ideology and not getting access to the site.

What is happening, is that Firefox is becoming popular. It's not a W3C 
compliance issue anymore, but a mass of angry users, some of whom aren't 
so technically competent. It's evident in the server's logs, and the 
complaints come from ordinary people. That's a whole different story.

So what I'm saying is that the switch to compatible sites is ongoing, 
and it has nothing to do with us. I'm pretty sure that almost all 
non-compatible sites have an open project to fix it.

I therefore suggest that we mind our own business, such as if we will 
have a usable GNU/Linux distribution in a few years, which feels like 
FOSS. That is, assumes that the user is intelligent enough to control 
his or her computer. If the current trend goes on, we'll find ourselves 
with Windows clones very soon, for better and for worse.

   Eli

-- 
Web: http://www.billauer.co.il