Brandon - when you wrote "Now I probably
shouldn't be throwing my unsubstantiated impressions out here in
the open..." you were right. Asking those questions in
the way you did was a bad idea for three reasons
1) They aren't technical, and www-talk is for technical discussions
2) They are flame-bait. We don't need flaming, we really don't.
A mailing list is just not the right place to have such discussions.
A bar or a coffeehouse is much better.
3) The questions are useless, because there's nothing useful you
could do with the answer. Suppose someone from NCSA has answered that
they planned to merge with Microsoft. Or with the NSA for that matter.
Could you stop them? No. This isn't a democracy. It isn't
even a standards committee. So there's no point in even asking someone
what they plan to do.
What matters is to make good designs, implement them, criticise them
and improve them. And do it quickly.
Please, all, let us use www-talk to advance the technology,
not argue politics or commercialization.
Please don't reply to this letter. Especially if all you know is
rumour or opinion. If it makes you mad, flame me behind my back.
And I beg your indulgence and ask you to assume that this, like
most other net mail, was written
with best wishes,
jim