Microsofter Heads HTML Working Group

If you've been following the goings-on at the W3C recently, this will be slightly old news. For the rest of you, this should be interesting. Unless you don't at all care about the technology that is bringing this web page to you, that is.

As part of reorganization efforts at the W3C, the HTLM Working Group Charter is being rewritten, and a guy by the name of Chris Wilson has been named the initial chair of the committee. This is scaring a number of people, and has stirred up a bit of controversy. Here's why:

• Chris Wilson works for Microsoft.
• Microsoft, as a company, has historically been a frustratingly overbearing and uncooperative player in the sphere of web standards and open web development.


• Exceptions include IE5/Mac and IE7.
• Shining examples that the above exceptions don't make up for: the death of IE5/Mac and stagnation of IE6.
• Microsoft doesn't seem to realize that HTML doesn't just end up in a browser.
  
• Chris, as chairman of the HTML Working Group, is in a position to seriously influence the direction of HTML's (and by extension, most of the World Wide Web's) evolution.

Chris is now in a very interesting position. He is a representative from a company that has misused its browser monopoly and, according to some, stifled open innovation of HTML (and other web standards). At the same time, he is chairing a committee that represents a large number of interested parties, including some in direct competition with Microsoft. Is he professionally competent for this position? Most definitely. He's the Platform Architect of the Internet Explorer Platform team, for goodness sakes. Will he act unbiased as chair, or will he forward Microsoft's agenda? We'll have to wait and see.

Just to be clear, this is not an anti-Microsoft or anti-Chris-Wilson rant. There should be similar unease and controversy if any employee of a major browser manufacturer was put in this position. It's just a little scarier, given Microsoft's history in this medium.

Related Reading:

• The Safari Development Team's response
• Roger Johansson's thoughts
• Daniel Glazman's official comments
• The Battle for Web Standards
  
• The HTML Working Group Charter