Who controls HTML?

Several groups control HTML.
The established channels to add to HTML standards are to write Internet Drafts which are published, tested, and commented, and when finalized become Document Type Definitions, which are used as standards for WWW browsers and HTML authors.

This process is sometimes circumvented by browsers authors, who add to HTML and support the additions in their particular browsers. These kind of additions may eventually be codified as current practice or may be abandoned depending on how well the WWW community likes them and uses them.

CERN and NCSA

Although HTML came from CERN and NCSA produced the first free Web Browser, these two entities have been superceded, mostly by commercial concerns. They do not seem to be much involved in HTML now.

W3C

W3C [2] (The World Wide Web Consortium) is hosted by the Laboratory for Computer Science at MIT, by INRIA, and Keio University with support from DARPA and the European Commission.

The Consortium is international; jointly hosted by the MIT Laboratory for Computer Science in the United States and in Europe by INRIA who provide both local support and performing core development. The W3C was initially established in collaboration with CERN, where the Web originated, and with support from DARPA and the European Commission. For details on the joint initiative and the contributions of CERN, INRIA, and MIT, please see the statement on the joint World Wide Web Initiative.

Who can join the W3C?[4]

Any organization or company which can sign the membership agreement....Although the W3C cannot take individual membership, you can participate by subscribing to the World Wide Web Journal, the official journal of the W3C, published quarterly by O'Reilly and Associates.

How much does joining the W3C cost? [3]

The total Membership fee for becoming a Full Member (ed. note:if your company has gross revenues over $50 million,) is One Hundred Fifty Thousand ($150,000) Dollars, and the total for becoming an Affiliate Member is Fifteen Thousand ($15,000) Dollars. One-third of the total fee is due at the time the organization joins, and one-third is due in each of the two subsequent years. The due date in each subsequent year will be the first day of the calendar quarter in which the member joins; i.e., January 1st, April 1st, July 1st or October 1st.

The purposes of t he Consortium [5] are to support the advancement of information technology in the field of networking, graphics and user interfaces by evolving the World Wide Web toward a true information infrastructure, and to encourage cooperation in the industry through the promotion and development of standard interfaces in the information environment known as the "World Wide Web." MIT and INRIA's role is to provide the vendor-neutral architectural, engineering and administrative leadership required to make this work. The Consortium began operation October 1, 1994.

IETF

The first IETF (Internet Engineering Task Force ) meeting was held in January, 1986 at Linkabit in San Diego with 15 attendees. [6] The 4th IETF, held at SRI in Menlo Park in October, 1986, was the first at which non-government vendors attended. The concept of Working Groups (WG) was introduced at the 5th IETF meeting at the NASA Ames Research Center in California in February, 1987. The 7th IETF, held at MITRE in McLean, Virginia in July, 1987, was the first meeting with over 100 attendees.

The 14th IETF meeting was held at Stanford University in July, 1989. It marked a major change in the structure of the IETF universe. The IAB (then, Internet Activities Board), which until that time oversaw many Task Forces, changed its structure to leave only two: the IETF and the IRTF (Internet Research Task Force). The IRTF is tasked to consider the long-term research problems in the Internet. The IETF also changed. Those changes are visible in today's hierarchy... To completely understand the structure of the IETF, it is useful to understand the overall structure in which the IETF resides. The Internet Society (ISOC), formed in January 1992, provides the official parent organization for the IETF. The ISOC Board of Trustees appoints the members of the IAB (Internet Architecture Board). The IETF and IRTF Chairs are also IAB members. The IAB provides the final technical review of Internet standards.

Browser Manufacturers

Although there are many Web browser makers, Netscape is the main player here - the one that took all the talent from NCSA and began extending HTML with little regard to spec.

Netscape

Marc Andreessen is senior vice president of technology for Netscape Communications. Andreessen developed the idea for the NCSA Mosaic browser for the Internet in the fall of 1992 while he was an undergraduate student at the University of Illinois and a staff member at the university's National Center for Supercomputing Applications in Champaign, Illinois. He created the friendly, easy-to-use navigational tool for the Internet with a team of students and staff at NCSA in early 1993. In his role at Netscape Communications, Marc sets and oversees the technical direction of the company. He received a bachelor of science degree in computer science from the University of Illinois in 1993.

In addition to Andreessen, Netscape Communications' core technical team includes five of the six other original NCSA Mosaic developers from NCSA: Eric Bina, Rob McCool, Jon Mittelhauser, Aleks Totic, and Chris Houck. The team also includes Lou Montulli, author of Lynx, a text-based browser for the Internet; other University of Illinois alumni; and several top-notch software engineers formerly with Silicon Graphics, Lucid, and General Magic Corporation. [8]

[2]http://www.w3.org/pub/WWW/Consortium/
[3]http://www.w3.org/pub/WWW/Consortium/Agreement/Full.htm
[4]http://www.w3.org/pub/WWW/Consortium/Prospectus/FAQ.htm
[5]http://www.w3.org/pub/WWW/Consortium/Agreement/Appendix.htm
[6]http://www.cis.ohio-state.edu/htbin/rfc/rfc1391.htm
[8]http://home.mcom.com/comprod/exec_team.htm

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