RE: [www-vrml] Tim BL Is Baffled, Too

[Neil TREVETT <Neil.Trevett@3dlabs.com>]

Hi Clayton,

>> i thought you said web3d is a non profit?

Yes! You miss the point. The Consortium is not looking to make a profit - it is working to enable members and the wider industry to make money

>> why should the consortium be concerned with a company making money or not off the spec??? does the w3c worry if microsoft make money selling ie or not? of course not

Of course the W3C is concerned about how its specifications are used commercially. I have been to W3C meetings - they de-emphasize projects that no companies are interested in - its natural selection.

This could be where we will have to agree to disagree - I believe that this segment will take off only when real products ship from committed companies - a community effort alone will not be sufficient

BUT our common ground is that community involvement can DEFINITELY be a powerful and complementary force to corporate involvement - and the two need not be mutually exclusive.

So - lets figure out how to get both tracks running together - and we can find out which one contributes the most :)

Neil

"Clayton Cottingham" <drfrog@telus.net>
Sent by: owner-www-vrml@web3d.org

10/02/2004 10:52 PM

To	"'Neil TREVETT'" <Neil.Trevett@3dlabs.com>, <miriam@werple.net.au>
cc	<www-vrml@web3d.org>
Subject	RE: [www-vrml] Tim BL Is Baffled, Too

>> surely a group or individual joining the consortium would be most interested in advancing the cause of web3d and that this should be their primary concern in subscribing to it. If ... they are more interested in their own status than the health of the language and surely VRML/X3D/the consortium doesn't need them. 

Any successful standard needs corporate enlightened self-interest.  Companies have to be able to get a return - but those that get it realize its easier to establish a market and THEN fight for market share - rather than fight over the creation of an opportunity in the first place.   We can harness corporate greed to make an  opportunity for us all :) 

[Clayton Cottingham] 
 
i thought you said web3d is a non profit?
:D
 
i dont think its nessecary for a standard to have corporate backing  and i of course agree that the health of the language is at risk here
 
 
why should the consortium be concerned with a company making money or not off the spec???
does the w3c worry if microsoft make money selling ie or not? of course not 
 
 
>>  VRML/X3D/the consortium can survive without any corporate sponsors if it has plenty of users 

I honestly don't believe that would be true - there is not the concentration of users to create a self-organizing community that could produce a specification roadmap - but I guess we can agree to disagree on this as I am suggesting that we harness BOTH the power of the community AND a Consortium to promote the cause.  One doesn't have to be exclusive of the other.   

Do we have a chance to make it happen?  Be honest :) 

[Clayton Cottingham] 
 
I again agree with miriam and you should really look into it 
 
the real resource here is the brain trust of all of us put together 
 
not any governing body
 
you can make a differnece  if you start to listen to miriams big points, that the organization needs constant new blood, you cant put a price on new innovations, you stifle this invention and creativity by putting up this barrier to acceptance 
 
 
 
it can happen it really can, there are tonnes of projects out there big and small that can counter this idea that a group cant create a spec roadmap
 
its not like it quantum mechanics you know
 
 
 
 
 
 
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