The Courtship of Atom

Kendall weighs in with his reasons why Atom should choose to join the W3C. I haven't been listing everyones opinions as I come across them. If you are interested most people have weighed in the atom-syntax mailing list. Kendall's arguments are a mixed bag in that many on them apply to just joining any standards body, and he also mentions advantages that can only be found in the W3C. As of this point I'm still very much on the fence as to which I prefer. I believe that no matter which standards body the Atom community chooses that we'll do fine. We've got a strong community around Atom that at times is contentious and quirky, but we've survived quite well 'in the wild' so far and the structure of a standards body will only help. Atom can survive the W3C, but can the W3C survive Atom? <wink/>

I think the Atom "WG" that exists is so well structured that it won't matter much where Atom gets standardized. I've always had an emotional attraction towards W3C, so that's where my vote goes. If we don't go with W3C, IETF will be just fine as well. I'm not that pattionate or fanatic about it, I just want the darn thing standardized one way or another. ;-)

Posted by Asbjorn Ulsberg on 2004-05-21