by 1vuio0pswjnm7 | 2025-11-17 18:28:56+00:00
"The WHATWG aim is to turn the Web into an application delivery platform, a profit-making machine for corporations where the computer (and the browser through it) are a means for them to make money off you rather than for you to gain access to services you may be interested in."

"Such vision is in direct contrast with that of the Web as a repository of knowledge, a vast vault of interconnected documents whose value emerges from organic connections, personalization, variety, curation and user control. But who in the WHATWG today would defend such vision?"

"Maybe what we need is a new browser war. Not one of corporation versus corporation -doubly more so when all currently involved parties are allied in their efforts to enclose the Web than in fostering an open and independent one- but one of users versus corporations, a war to take back control of the Web and its tools."

It should be up to the www user not the web developer to determine how they prefer the documents to appear on their screen

Contrast this with one or a few software programs, i.e, essentially a predetermined selection (no choice), that purport to offer all possible preferences to all www users, i.e., the so-called "modern" browser. These programs are distributed by companies that sell ad services and their business partners (Mozilla)

Documents can be published in a "neutral" format, JSON or whatever, and users can choose to convert this, if desired, to whatever format they prefer. This is more or less the direction the web has taken however at present the conversion is generally being performed by web developers using (frequently obfuscated) Javascript, intended to be outside the control of the user

Although from a technical standpoint, there is nothing that requires (a) document retrieval and (b) document display to be performed by the same program, commercial interests have tried to force users toward using one program for everything (a "do everything program")^1

When users run "do everything programs" from companies selling ad services and their business partners to perform both (a) and (b), they end up receiving "documents" they never requested (ads) and getting tracked

If users want such "do everything" corporate browsers, if they prefer "do everything programs", then they are free to choose them, but there should be other choices and it should be illegal to discriminate against other software as long as rules of "netiquette" are followed. A requirement to use some "do everything program" is not a valid rule

"There's more to the Internet than the World Wide Web built around the HTTP protocol and the HTML file format. There used to be a lot of the Internet beyond the Web, and while much of it still remains as little more than a shadow of the past, largely eclipsed by the Web and what has been built on top of it (not all of it good) outside of some modest revivals, there's also new parts of it that have tried to learn from the past, and build towards something different."

Internet subscribers pay a relatively high price for access in many countries

According to one RFC author the www became the "the new waist"

But to use expensive internet access only for "the web", especially a 100% commercial, obsessively surveilled one filled with ads, is also a "waste", IMHO

1. Perhaps the opposite of "do one thing well". America's top trillionaire wants to create another of these "do everything programs", one to rule them all. These "do everything programs" will always exist but they should never be the only viable options. They should never be "required"