Is it overly ambitious to think standards can be set and adhered to? Are they a relic of a kinder, gentler era?
Do you think that incompatibility, the impossibility of transferring information between different machines, companies, operating systems, applications, was “kinder, gentler”? It was a harsh, frustrating era. The Web has brought a kindness and gentleness for users, a confidence in technology which is a balm for IT departments everywhere. It has bought new hope. As a result, great things are happening very fast. So this is a faster, more exciting era. Companies know that it is only interesting to compete over one feature until everyone can do it. After that, that feature becomes part of the base, and everyone wants to do it in one, standard, way. The smart companies are competing on the implementations: the many other aspects such as functionality, speed, ease of use and support which differentiate products.
