As HTML5 is approaching, vendors continue in their attempts to gain ownership and exclusivity over content using formats and protocols

"... 'There's one little jewel tucked away in Microsoft's press release, that helps to shed some light on why this massive change of heart may have come about: «While we do not believe there are currently any legal requirements that would dictate which rendering mode must be chosen as the default for a given browser, this step clearly removes this question as a POTENTIAL LEGAL AND REGULATORY ISSUE,» said Brad Smith, Microsoft senior vice president and general counsel.' Ah ha! It all becomes clear, now..." -- (emphasis mine)

"...Microsoft's proposal is for web developers to opt-in to Internet Explorer 8's standards mode by adding in a new meta tag (or HTTP header) [...] Microsoft are demanding that we web standards developers favour them with time, cost and effort, while they continue to abrogate their responsibilities to their half a billion clients. [...] Microsoft on the other hand are now expecting us web developers to carry the burden of their responsibility. Instead of Microsoft abiding by the responsibility of rendering pages according to the open defined standards, Microsoft are intent on making standards-based pages second class citizens. [...] We web developers should not be paying for Microsoft's mistakes.

There’s a movement afoot in the web development community that says it’s time to move beyond standards and take the web to a new levels. Unhappy with the pace of innovation at the W3C, many developers are calling on browser manufacturers to go beyond supporting official W3C specifications and develop tools to support new features.

HTML5 spec is expected to introduce new audio and video capabilities into the HTML language. However, it seems that Nokia and Apple have succeeded in removing Ogg Vorbis and Theora support from the current draft which decision has caused lots of heated political discussion. Some critics claim that the decision is mostly based on reluctance to back a standard that has no provision for including DRM, while others have mentioned potential patent uncertainties as the main reason not to back Ogg Vorbis and Theora.

"...This much is clear - arguing about HTML vs plain text or complaining about standards support in email isn't going to get us anywhere. It's time to get off our butts and actually help email client manufacturers to introduce better standards support..."