W3C to Microsoft - follow the process

While welcoming Microsoft's OData announcement, the W3C want Microsoft to put their open data project in the W3C Incubator. A few days ago Microsoft announced the OData protocol, an open data framework to enable interoperability in public or commercial data. In the announcement, Microsoft said that it was "looking to engage with the IETF and W3C to explore how to get broader adoption of the OData extentions and conventions".

In a posting on W3C blog, Ian Jacobs, Head of W3C Communications, has taken up Microsoft's offer and invited the company to create an "Incubator Group" for the specification. Incubator groups do not produce standards, but the W3C community can decide later on whether or not to move the API onto the W3C Recommendation Track.

Jacobs says that "Incubator Groups can smooth the transition from 'good idea' to 'widely deployed standard available Royalty-Free'". He also pointed out that the invitation was "not just for Microsoft" and that the W3C is interested in data access APIs adding "If you're working on an API and it has 'data' in the name, I encourage you to build community support in a W3C Incubator Group."

See also:

• W3C proposes hardware interface, a report from The H.
• W3C proposes non-SQL database API, a report from The H.

(djwm)