“TWO YEARS AGO, when your market share was still high as a kite,
you pledged to fully support five key standards in the next version
of your browser. Having urged you to do this very thing, we praised
your decision to everyone who would listen. Developers and the
trade press quickly joined the chorus. We all anticipated that
Microsoft and other browser makers would be forced to emulate your
support for XML and the DOM out of sheer competitiveness. But
mainly, Netscape, we all expected you to release a product. And to
quickly take Navigator 4, a browser that forces developers to write
non-valid code, off the market….”
“Netscape, you have placed W3C standards advocates in the
unenviable position of supporting plans instead of products. After
two long years of endorsing your goals – and barely mentioning the
fact that your existing product is the least standards-compliant
browser on the market – we’ve begun to question our wisdom, if not
our very sanity.”
“How can standards advocates continue to point to your example
while criticizing other browser makers? How can we demand that
Microsoft “do what Netscape is doing,” when, from a business
perspective, “what Netscape is doing” is bleeding market share
while failing to ship product? We appreciate the sacrifice
you’ve made, but the loss of time and market share are not likely
to inspire your competitors to emulate your actions.”