The internet the information architecture as we know it evolved around humanitarian, and compassionate objective of improving the quality of life for HUMANITY thru the provision of one the most essential ,though intangible, necessities of life - information.
Looking at back at the period before the internet, one only wonders how humanity managed to cope, many today consider those years to be like a kind of 'information dark ages' for humanity esp. the underdeveloped countries of the world as a whole. But we couldnt be aware of our shortcomings until we were exposed to a better thing ,then we could really compare and contrast - shake our heads at the blindness that was upon us.
In the same vein, it will very pitiful if the one best thing to befall modern man, is basely subverted again.
This time by key players in the field.
With objectives running parallel (One driven by profit ) and the other driven by altruistic motives ,its clear that the regulators of the internet and the providers of internet technology will never fully agree,
it is this divergence of perspective that will affect the would be deployers of some of the technologies in the market today.
So the would-be or web developer, programmer etc will be directly affected by the antics of profit-spurred technology vendors, most notably
Microsoft,- browser technology and Adobe - multimedia capability,
their functionality notwithstanding,the impact on the long run on the developer cant be ignored.
For Microsoft to make more money more people have to use its technology,
which includes its web browser, no problem to the surfer, but to those who create content for such browsers it would mean investing resources and time getting acquinted with its technology i.e how to program for the browser and after such an investment(education time, resources etc) being made coupled with the market dominance of its browser and the inclination of people[develpers etc] to settle down with tools their conversant with, it would be hard for another technology to grab market share, infact competition will be stiffled.But, unfortunately for microsoft, the language browser's(html,css,javascript) understand was'nt invented under its roof neither is the protocol of the internet its product.(http).Futhermore,the standardization of these languages has meant browser makers have to standardize rather than differentiate.Good for the developer because it means he can now improve productivity by writing code once that runs on all browser platforms but if the browser maker is still intent on garnering market share to flush out competition he will still have to devise a means of breaking the sameness - introduce uniqueness ,that locks in the developer with its technology and so on.
Microsoft has been good at this, (so has oracle- Oracle certification stuffs, Cisco networking certifications etc ) fine, but as always its the production user[developers] of these technologies who surfer from the rapid turnover propelled by company antics. How productive is the developer in the midst of all these fleetiness, e.g so much code was developed in VB6 what happens to all that investment when VB gat replaced by VB.Net, almost overnight- again it's the develper who has to master dot Net 'overnight' to meet new coding conformance ,by contrast, html,css and javascript code of long ago are still valid,
how about Flash and dreamweaver, with flash in version 8, or so, and photoshop in anoda version ,the developer has to keep up piling new softwares to match up to current trends , trends that have to keep changing for the company's profit line sake.
For Oracle its a different ball game , just get ready to be certified yearly,
but not advocating stagnacy of improvements, the implication of instability on the 'information' high way's front-end is highly negative.esp change that dont cater for backward compatibility.
Oracle may change a thousand time a year, the web surfer isnt affectd, neither is the web programmer,but IE change or macromedia changes mean the web developer of tomorrow will be back to square one ,relearning new bells and whistles, instead of using his or her time more productively, do for a couple more years and ur ready to throw in the towel on this 'IT career' of a thing.
Come to think of it, there would be no web and flash versions ,if not for the stability and and standardization of its underlying technologies.
The wide acceptance of this open standards has increased the growth and explosion of the internet.The W3C didnt need any fancy flashy campaign to win html developers ,like Adobe is needing to promote flex and microsoft will be needing for whatever new stuffed package is coming with its new Operating system.

Why you focus on MICROSOFT and Adobe products that cause web technology problem?

There are different strokes for different people who buy their own computer system with different software applications installed on the follow below: Most people use special software to block Javascript, Flash movie, Java plug-in, or other popular plug-in to protect their virus attack security reasons. Other people still have older computer system that never upgrade newer version due to limited hardware issues and not afford to buy newer computer system---too expensive to them.

There are many different system operating platform out there:

[list]
[li]Microsoft Windows XP/Vista[/li]
[li]Mac OS[/li]
[li]Linux[/li]
[/list]

Many different internet browser platform out there:

[list]
[li]Internet Explorer[/li]
[li]Mozilla Firefox[/li]
[li]Safari[/li]
[li]Opera[/li]
[li]Netscape[/li]
[/list]

Many different software applications other than Microsoft and Adobe:
Enterprise software
 Accounting software
 Back office
 Business software
 Human Resource Management
 Enterprise resource planning
 Customer relationship management

Enterprise infrastructure software
 Business workflow software
 Database management system (DBMS) software
 Digital asset management (DAM) software
 Document Management software
 Geographic Information System (GIS) software

Information worker software
 Time and Resource Management
 Task and Scheduling
 Data Management
 Contact Management
 Spreadsheet
 Personal Database
 Documentation
 Word Processing
 Desktop publishing software
 Diagramming Software
 Presentation software
 Analytical software
 Baudline
 DADiSP
 JMP
 Maple
 MathCAD
 Mathematica
 MATLAB
 Maxima
 Minitab
 Computer algebra systems
 Statistical packages
 Numerical computing
 Neural network software
 Collaborative software
 Blog
 Wiki
 E-mail

Media and entertainment software
 Digitally Published Media
 Web browser
 Media players
 Hybrid editor players
 Entertainment software
 Arcade
 Computer and Video Games
 Console Emulations
 Handheld Game Consoles Games
 Video Game Console Games
 Wireless or Mobile Phone Games

Educational software
 Classroom Management
 Survey Management
 Training Management
 Sales Readiness Software

Media development software
 Graphic art software
 Image organizer
 Media Editing
 Image editing software
 Video editing software
 Sound editing software
 Music sequencer
 Hypermedia editing software
 Web Development Software
 Media Data Formats
 Raster graphics
 Vector graphics
 3D graphics
 Animation
 Video
 Digital audio
 MIDI
 Media File Formats
 Graphic file formats
 Video file formats
 Audio file formats

Product engineering software
 Hardware Engineering
 Computer-aided engineering
 Computer-aided design (CAD)
 Software Engineering
 Computer Languages
 Compiler Software
 Integrated Development Environments

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When the operating system changes, then everyone must upgrade newer version that affect existing flaw bugs/virus/hacker attack on older version. When web browser changes, then everyone must upgrade newer version. When software applications change, then everyone must upgrade newer version. In order computer system runs properly.

point i'm trying to make is 1) Proprietary solutions will ruin the web.
the web succeeds because it uses non - proprietary ,FREE standard solutions
and technologies (e.g javascript, html,xml,css,xsl etc)
2) why microsoft ,adobe etc :
there are other browsers. True. other browsers are a minority. ( less than 15% of market . Microsoft is about 90%+(if i'm not mistaken)
,Adobe is the main multimedia solution for the WEB not desktop,
the profit motives of these companies mean locking in market share is a priority and these will usually be done be frequent product introduction - though functionality stays the same.
3) for the interested web enthusiasts it means, more choice,but a deluge of technology to learn .Technology that will keep changing overnight.
these will increase work stress. interalia.

4) For the corporate world to be as profitable as it would like to be
a way-round the free - for -all approach of the web will be better a separate web. the only antidote to this is the open source alternative.

there's more to it but i'll stop here.