[noibl]

Richer in features, poorer in vision. It was already apparent as the first browser wars were drawing to a close that Microsoft would not play ball on standards (the new 'fad') and interop and had no interest whatsoever in cross-platform web development. Even developing for IE5 across Windows and Mac was a hair-raising experience. Mozilla (the avenger) had to reverse engineer XMLHttpRequest to get it into Fire*/Phoenix.

But there's been a lot of rough-and-tumble and a lot of assaults on standards-as-process from all directions (Apple, Google, take a bow). That's why the WHAT-WG was formed, right? The browser makers who want to push the web forward as a platform. The big names like M..ozilla, Mi..Opera, Mmmi. Apple, Mgoo.. hey, has anyone seen Microsoft? Try their mobile, maybe they took a wrong turn.

BTW, the standards process is faltering again[1] (and I don't just mean the W3C's petrify-ray). If they're serious about the web, there's never been a better time for Microsoft to join the WHATWG.

[1] http://the-pastry-box-project.net/bruce-lawson/2012-august-4...