I write :
-> > I'm afraid I have to agree with you.  After all, the way the internet
-> seems t > work is that everyone shares a common language, and therefore,
-> everyone can > communicate with each other.  I sort of think of it as the
-> internet bible, or > "the way it is", the second you begin straying from the
-> standards, you start > leaving people out, and that's not entirely fair now,
-> is it?

Collin Ong writes:

-> The problem with your theory is that people aren't being entirely left out.
-> People with Mosaic will still be able to see the text portions of the site,
-> along with any gif graphics.  However, most of the graphics on the site are
-> jpegs, so non-Netscape users will have to use external jpg viewers to look
-> at those.  Less efficient, but certainly not
-> exclusionary.

Listen.  I'm not disagreeing MUCH with you.  I think the Ryoko shrine looks
AWESOME under Netscape 1.1...  Also, the OS/2 web browser (for instance)
supports JPEGs, so it wouldn't look so bad...

I just wish that HTML 3.0 were to become a standard *NOW*  the problem with
systems like Netscape is that, let's say, we're all using Netscape.  Chances
are, the people who write it (after having seen the success of their product),
will try to get some profit out of it, hence, netscape 2.0 comes out with some
extra gadgets not offered by any other web browser - at a price of $39.95...
Many people will go out and buy it, and those who don't will be left in the
cold.

Now nobody can complain that this new Netscape offers non-standard (maybe even
unpublished) features, becuase, hey, we didn't complain when it was free and
they didn't adhere to the standarad, so why can we complain now that they are
charging for it?

Also, the problem is that other people may want a piece of the action, and may
write their own browsers, also, with a slew of their own features.  Then we end
up with incompatabilities left and right.  Surely, if you've used a PC in your
life, you'd know the problems with all the hardware incompatabilities out
there, and the fact that for every small piece of hardware, you need it's own
drivers (ever try to write a high resolution graphics application before VESA
was introduced?  good luck!)

Finally, I do not have personal gripes against netscape.  I happen to have bad
luck with it (because my Windows version just locks up my OS/2 session, doesn't
work under Windows, and my Linux version craps out my whole X-Windows session
every now and again).  I was able to use the X version long enough to check out
the Ryoko shrine, and I'll definately admit, it looks good!

Steven