Re: Looks Like They Want To Charge for ActiveVRML

James Waldrop (sulam@construct.net)
Wed, 13 Dec 1995 12:43:59 -0800

Neophytos Iacovou wrote:
>Len Bullard writes:
>>
>> 1. Who controls the development of ActiveVRML, or, again,
>> what is the Microsoft definition of "open standard"? If this
>> question is not answered here, it will be answered in
>> other forums or ActiveVRML will not be an accepted offering
>> in markets represented by those forums.
>
> I think this is the only major concern here. Who controls the standard.
> It is a bit too early to give it to the IETF - Microsoft has the only(?)
> running version, and nobody(?) has seen it run with VRML. At the same
> time, Microsoft can let us all use ActiveVRML and once developers had
> running versions groups (such as this mailing list) can always agree on
> what the "standard" is no matter what Microsoft does. Notice, I put
> standard in quotes because there is always a chance of Microsoft doing
> to ActiveVRML what Netscrape did to HTML. But, at the same time, does
> anybody here care if SGI makes changes to OpenInventor with rsgards to
> the funcionality of VRML? When SGI gave us OpenInventor we all agreed
> to use what we got does that mean SGI can't make OpenInventor a lot
> better than VRML is. Wouldn't this also apply to Microsoft and ActiveVRML?

The trouble I see politically (not technically, there are other troubles
for that), is the following:

SGI's WebSpace is effectively the reference VRML browser implementation.
This gives them a lot of power in the community. However, it only runs
on SGI machines (the TGS browser doesn't count, it's too slow). So,
SGIs influence is moderated by the fact that only a small percentage of
people are able to run their browser. No one has uncontested ownership
of a majority of the platforms out there.

Let's run the same thought scenario with ActiveVRML (RBML). Presumably
Microsoft would have the first RBML browser, and presumably it would also
hold the coveted position of "reference implementation." Unfortunately,
in this case, it's also on the dominant platform. So Microsoft would have
the "best" browser on the most common platform. Where do folks like Paper
Software and Chaco Communications go after this? They are effectively shut
out of the game, if you ask me. I don't think this would be a good thing.

James

--
James Waldrop                        /          Technical Director
sulam@construct.net              /              Construct Internet Design
sulam@well.com               /                  http://www.construct.net

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