Message-Id: <199603152056.PAA10226@glacier.MIT.EDU>
To: Adam Holt <holt@graphics.lcs.mit.edu>
Cc: webmaster@MIT.EDU, sipb@MIT.EDU
Subject: Re: why does SIPB end up promoting microsoft? 
In-Reply-To: Your message of "Fri, 15 Mar 1996 15:39:00 EST."
             <199603152039.PAA08078@jacana.lcs.mit.edu> 
Date: Fri, 15 Mar 1996 15:56:36 EST
From: Greg Hudson <ghudson@MIT.EDU>

The free software community, of which SIPB is in many respects a part,
has always operated in the minority.  The FSF never considered
supporting Apple in order to oppose IBM or Microsoft, and likewise I
see no reason why we should support Netscape in order to oppose
Microsoft.  We have no real motivation to choose the lesser of two
evils.

It takes a certain kind of tenuous logic to conclude that opposing one
evil is equivalent to advertising another.  Microsoft may contribute
to the destruction of the World Wide Web's essential qualities in much
the same way that Netscape has, but I personally have no interest in
supporting Netscape to try to avoid that.

Perhaps we will also write a "Why MIE also sucks" page some time, but
we have less incentive to do so because (as far as I know) no one has
been banging on our door to encourage us to "enhance" our page with
MIE extensions.

> The stark reality is that Microsoft is using the W3 standards body
> as a pawn to subvert Java.

Please back up this statement.