Just because the standard is free does not mean that any single implementation is, you are free to charge for software implementing a standard just as you would be otherwise.
A proper standard needs to be free (both as in speech and beer), otherwise it needs investment to see that a implementation meets the standard (which in itself goes against the idea of having standards) or to modify it to propose improvements.
The work of developing standards can be done by people/companies who benefit from the standard, either financially or via other ways and those people/companies have their motivations to work on it.
I respectfully disagree. I’d much rather pay $50 for a browser, part of which goes to paying for the R&D and the standard, than have the status quo, where you have a de facto standard based on the implementations defined “by the companies who benefit from the standard.” Because that’s just turned into the ad tech industry dictating browser standards. I don’t think that’s healthy. It was way better when you had something like POSIX, which was defined by multiple competing vendors, where the R&D was paid for by license fees, than the “free” ecosystem where everything is bankrolled by ad money.
Comments
Just because the standard is free does not mean that any single implementation is, you are free to charge for software implementing a standard just as you would be otherwise.
A proper standard needs to be free (both as in speech and beer), otherwise it needs investment to see that a implementation meets the standard (which in itself goes against the idea of having standards) or to modify it to propose improvements.
The work of developing standards can be done by people/companies who benefit from the standard, either financially or via other ways and those people/companies have their motivations to work on it.
I respectfully disagree. I’d much rather pay $50 for a browser, part of which goes to paying for the R&D and the standard, than have the status quo, where you have a de facto standard based on the implementations defined “by the companies who benefit from the standard.” Because that’s just turned into the ad tech industry dictating browser standards. I don’t think that’s healthy. It was way better when you had something like POSIX, which was defined by multiple competing vendors, where the R&D was paid for by license fees, than the “free” ecosystem where everything is bankrolled by ad money.