Microsoft said it would not rule out making its system interoperable with others, though it conceded that it had not yet done so. Sanford said the topic could come up at a September meeting called by Prodigy Internet to help resolve messaging conflict. Many involved in the instant messaging debate hope that an IETF standard will quell the current wrangling over interoperability. Others say that standards bodies, while they can enforce some technological discipline on the Internet, ultimately wind up becoming dominated by any firm with a lock on the market. Every member organization in the W3C has, as part of the benefits of membership, the opportunity to work with a variety of organizations to develop technologies that are extensible and explicitly not vendor-specific.
Companies come and go, products come and go, and perceptions of dominance come and go.
But the Internet is here to stay. Inc. All rights reserved.