There’s been conversation of late regarding the announcement that the XHTML2 group is expected to stop work at the end of 2009. The plan is to increase resources on HTML5. I’ve been hearing buzz about HTML5 for some time now, but had never really delved into it much due to the time commitments required by my job, where it’s more important that stuff works on current and legacy browsers. I also knew that browsers had not yet begun implementing support for HTML5. The announcement got me reading a little more on the holiday weekend. I found the article HTML 5: Could it kill Flash and Silverlight? It’s a great article that brings up the argument that some companies like Microsoft may implement support for the standard because it could potentially undermine their business.
In my experience in providing a web based solution to small businesses, they are likely to adopt a browser that will work for them. We’ve done it in the past. Many are not even aware that there are other options. The impact of upgrading a browser in smaller organizations, which still make up the long tail of American business, is not that significant. The same level of red tape that exists at corporations with big IT departments are unlikely to exists. If I tell a customer they can obtain offline access to an application and still browse the web like they do, they are likely to switch browsers because the value proposition is such that they see something to gain.
I propose that lack of support by Microsoft and other companies for the standard would only undermine their business. People will find alternatives. Companies will provide alternatives. Quickbooks Online does not work on Macs because it requires Active X. The solution … try to find something else. Finding the solution that does what I need is far simpler in a world where the Internet makes the distribution of solutions extremely cost effective; the competitive landscape will continue to increase for the foreseeable future as the world is transformed through new ideas. HTML5 looks to be a significant and exciting step in that process.
Tags: business, design, HTML5, Microsoft, technology