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W3C backs away from royalty policy
(Click here to view the original thread with full colors/images)
Posted by: Tweaker
The W3C, the organization that governs the standards used on the internet, such has HTML, has backed away from a proposal that would allow companies to collect when their technology was used in a standard published by the W3C. In addition the W3C is going even farther into the royalty-free open-source realm in proposing a "legally binding commitment on the part of anyone who participates in a standard that any patents they have will be available royalty free." A final decision is expected by the end of the year.
Source: ZDNet News
Posted by: iTaL
Can someone explain this to me Im kinda confused
Posted by: Kdr Kane
The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) invented the World Wide Web and standardized browsing on the internet.
Before this, everyone used FTP and Gopher and such.
The Consortium is deciding on whether they are going to allow proprietary (commercial) standards to be supported by them.
It sounds like they want to keep all of their standards part of the public domain. This way they will not be enforcing standards for profit.
So, if a company wants their technology to be considered a standard by the Consortium, they must open their technology to others without profit.
Posted by: EOT(US)
Will someone please explain what Kane said, in English, please? hehe j/kin 
Posted by: Shalome
Example: no one gains financially when someone makes a web page using HTTP. HTTP is a W3C standard.
The whole debate really has quite a bit to do with Microsoft's implementation of .Net and whether or not they will be able to charge for liscensing fees if .Net really does become the standard... and whether or not it will be opensourced...
I believe a good article about this got slashdotted last night.. but I am too lazy to go find it again.
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