[Zope] W3C and the Promotion of Fee-based Standards for the Web

Alastair Burt burt@dfki.de
30 Sep 2001 18:14:14 +0200


Andrew Kenneth Milton <akm@theinternet.com.au> writes:

> +-------[ kapil thangavelu ]----------------------
> | 
> | On 16 August 2001 the W3C made public a proposal to substantially change 
> | their patent policy framework. Amongst the changes is support for a new 
> | licensing model (called RAND) that legitimises the W3C's role in developing 
> | and promoting standards that could require the payment of royalties. This is 
> 
> Most standards bodies require payment to get access to standards in some shape
> or form. It was only a matter of time. A lot of people aren't happy with the
> way W3C has been going on various items. Of course if they're getting money
> from somewhere else maybe they can free themselves of the influence of some
> of the places the money is coming from now.

The problem with the W3C proposal is actually different. They are
considering endorsing standards that are encumbered by patents. If Zope
were to support those standards, someone (Zope Corporation?) would have to
pay royalties. I can see this might have a slight deterrent effect on free
software development.

--- Alastair