Slashdot Mirror
The Future is XHTML 2.0
An anonymous reader writes "As with its past, the future of HTML will be varied, some might say messy, but I believe XHTML 2.0 will ultimately receive widespread acceptance and adoption. A big move in this direction will be in Embedded devices such as phones and digital TVs, which will have no need to support the Web's legacy of messy HTML, and are free to take unburdened advantage of XHTML 2.0. This Developer Works article examines the work of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) in creating the next-generation version of their XHTML specification, and also their response to the demand for 'rich client" behavior exemplified by Ajax applications.'
One reason: Security. Anyone using Win95 and Win98 right now is living on borrowed time, on an OS with no support, not patches or updates, and no future.
You may say, "So what, that's their problem", but it isn't just they're problem. It's yours, mine, and everyone elses problem.
What nation is the largest provider of spam to the U.S.? The U.S. We like to blame it on China, Korea, or some other nation, but it's us. And the vast majority of that spam comes from compromised home computers, zombies. And I'd be willing to wager the majority of them are Win95, Win98, or XP without any service packs applied.
Who should I have to get 500+ spam emails a day because your grandma is too cheap or too stupid to keep her computer up to date in any sort of fashion? Why should my computer be constantly under siege from other computers that are compromised and doing constant port scans?
If people want to be part of something big, like the Internet, they need to take a little responsibility for their involvment and spend a very small amount of effort and/or money on being part of the solution instead of part of the problem.
Zombies and other security problems cost the U.S. economy billions of dollars a year to fight, not including the real cost, which is lost productivity. We probably haven't seen another Einstein because everyone with that potential is too busy trying to sift through their spam.
Spam filters are so strong now, especially among big ISP's like AOL, that email has lost much of it's value for business or serious communication. When I send someone an email I have very little confidence that they have received it, until I hear back from them. Way too many of the sent emails just disappear like a fart in the wind, without even a bounce message.
We owe much of that situation to zombies, and we all pay the price for the cheapness, stupidity, and laziness of the leechers who want to use the Internet, but don't want to put forth any effort to help it succeed.
Lose Weight and Feel Great with Isagenix