| By Coach Wei |
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| April 3, 2008 04:45 AM EDT |
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The Web is one of the most important technological as well as
social/cultural developments in our life. Its global impact is rooted
in its openness and its capability to evolve on a democratic basis.
However, I have concerns. I'm concerned about the significant
corporate interests driving towards "unweb". Not to pick on video, but
to use video as an example. Video, the most recent hotspot on the web,
largely relies on Adobe's Flash technology. Not that Flash is not good.
On the contrast, it is well designed and implemented as a technology.
It enabled the possibility of Internet Video Selling-Entertainment-Online Jan-08 
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and we should be thankful. However, it is a platform controlled by a
single entity (Adobe). We should trust our future in the collective
will of the society instead of the goodwill of a benevolent dictator.
Another example, the area that I've dedicated ten years of my life to,
Rich Internet Application, is causing some great concern to me. Adobe
is pushing Flex (Adobe's markup, Adobe's runtime platform), Microsoft
is pushing Sliverlight (Microsoft's markup and Microsoft's runtime
platform)and Sun is pushing for JavaFX (yet another scripting language
invented from scratch - why?). Will Rich Internet become "rich man's
Internet"? Will Rich Internet become the onset of "unweb"?
It looks like so at the moment.
The web consists of millions of people scattered in every corner of
this planet. How can we come together to have our voices be heard? How
can we, as a community, act together to influence the future of the web?
OpenAjax Alliance has been working on this. After months of work,
OpenAjax Runtime Task Force is close to come up a wish list for browser
vendors to consider. This is a result of the collective work and
contribution from many people within OpenAjax Alliance (in particular,
the OpenAjax Runtime Task Force)
as well as people who are not member of OpenAjax Alliance. In
particular, the people that I need to acknowledge and thank them for
their contributions are:
Alex Russell, Douglas Crockford, Joe Walker, Dylan Schiemann, Jack Slocum, Jon Ferraiolo, Kin Blas, Howard weingram, Yehuda Katz, etc.
OpenAjax Runtime Wish List:
The voting is open now. We hope to get as many people to voice their opinions as possible. Please go and vote at http://www.openajax.org/runtime/wiki/Main_Page.
Coach Wei is the Founder and Chairman of Nexaweb (www.nexaweb.com), developers of the leading software platform for building and deploying Web 2.0 and AJAX applications. Previously, he played a key role at EMC Corporation in the development of a new generation of storage network management software. Wei has his master's degree from MIT, holds several patents, is the author of several technology publications including JDJ, Web 2.0 Journal, and AJAXWorld Magazine, and is an industry advocate for the proliferation of open standards.
