"Then there's the social problem of how standards like this are developed. Very occasionally a standard is developed and succeeds as a group effort. But in almost all other cases, a single (more or less benevolent) dictator in the form of an individual or organization drives the standard forward and makes it happen. So we have Ev and Blogger creating the first. And Dave and Userland creating the second. The rest of us can scream and shout and moan that they got it wrong and we may think that they have a duty to listen and take our comments on board. But in reality, there is no duty . The standard will succeed or fail on a combination of it's merits and the extent of the deployment. We may not like this, but it's the way it is."