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August 10, 2005 5:08 PM PDT

U.S. Copyright Office poll: IE-only OK?

Signaling a new addition to the list of browser-specific Web sites, the U.S. Copyright Office solicited opinions on a planned Internet Explorer-only zone.

The office, a division of the Library of Congress, invited comments through Aug. 22 on an upcoming Web service for prospective copyright owners that may launch with support for only limited browsers.

"At this point in the process of developing the Copyright Office's system for online preregistration, it is not entirely clear whether the system will be compatible with Web browsers other than Microsoft Internet Explorer versions 5.1 and higher," the office said in its notice. "In order to ensure that preregistration can be implemented in a smoothly functioning and timely manner, the office now seeks comments that will assist it in determining whether any eligible parties will be prevented from preregistering a claim due to browser requirements of the preregistration system."

The Copyright Office's request for comments goes to the heart of the battle over Web market share and Web standards. Web standards advocates have long argued that inconsistencies in the way browser makers implement standards--that is, W3C (World Wide Web Consortium) recommendations--force Web developers to write different pages for individual browsers. Another concern is that Web page and application developers have to perform quality assurance testing multiple times for different browsers.

The Copyright Office site in question is a preregistration system for unpublished, commercial works-in-progress. Scheduled to launch Oct. 24, the system would let a film studio preregister a movie, for example, so that the studio could prosecute copyright violations that resulted from scenes or copies prematurely distributed over the Net before the work was complete.

In its request for comments, the office made clear that it plans to support other browsers in the future. In an interview, an attorney with the office said that the sticking point was Siebel software that guaranteed compatibility with only selected browsers--including both IE and Netscape 7.02, a browser with negligible market share--in the current Siebel 7.7 software.

The Copyright Office said it planned to upgrade to Siebel 7.8, which supports Netscape 7.2, Firefox 1.0.3 and Mozilla 1.7.7, but not in time for the Oct. 24 launch.

Neither the Copyright Office nor Siebel said they planned to support other browsers like Opera or Apple Computer's Safari.

Siebel defended its selective support of Web browsers.

"We're running a business, and testing is extremely costly," said Stacey Schneider, director of technology product marketing. "We optimize against what our customers demand. For Siebel 7.8, it became clear, especially for the government sector, that there's demand for Mozilla. But there are hundreds of vendors out there with their own browsers. And not many applications support many more than what we do."

The Copyright Office said original comments and five copies should be mailed to Copyright GC/ I&R, P.O. Box 70400, Southwest Station, Washington, D.C. 20024-0400.

See more CNET content tagged:
Siebel Systems Inc., RFC, Microsoft Internet Explorer, office, Web browser

Add a Comment (Log in or register) 112 comments (Showing first 20 comments)
Taxpayers should demand Open Standards & Open Formats
by interoperate August 10, 2005 5:40 PM PDT
Government Departments, in the United States or any country, have a responsibility of justice to correctly use the money they collect from taxpayers.

Open Standards and Open File Formats are way to guarantee that there is transparency in the Government processes with true competitive options.

Supporting only Microsoft proprietary standards and formats is an injustice to citizens everywhere.
Reply to this comment View all 3 replies
Taxpayers should demand Open Standards & Open Formats
by interoperate August 10, 2005 5:40 PM PDT
Government Departments, in the United States or any country, have a responsibility of justice to correctly use the money they collect from taxpayers.

Open Standards and Open File Formats are way to guarantee that there is transparency in the Government processes with true competitive options.

Supporting only Microsoft proprietary standards and formats is an injustice to citizens everywhere.
Reply to this comment View all 3 replies
no browsers, no shippers, no email...
by 202578300049013666264380294439 August 10, 2005 6:08 PM PDT
And to note, to simply make a comment, you have to send your comments on paper, and include 5 paper copies at your expense.
Furthermore, these guys only accept personal delivery, $$ courier or US Mail. Absolutely no expedited delivery via UPS, FedEx, DHL, etc.

It's not like UPS/FedEx/DHL is the Opera/Safari of delivery services.

And why not just accept e-mails and simply forward them to the appropriate 5 other parties.

UGH!!!
Reply to this comment View all 2 replies
no browsers, no shippers, no email...
by 202578300049013666264380294439 August 10, 2005 6:08 PM PDT
And to note, to simply make a comment, you have to send your comments on paper, and include 5 paper copies at your expense.
Furthermore, these guys only accept personal delivery, $$ courier or US Mail. Absolutely no expedited delivery via UPS, FedEx, DHL, etc.

It's not like UPS/FedEx/DHL is the Opera/Safari of delivery services.

And why not just accept e-mails and simply forward them to the appropriate 5 other parties.

UGH!!!
Reply to this comment View all 2 replies
Injustice to innovation.
by Nael August 10, 2005 6:28 PM PDT
Simply choosing IE as the STANDARD is just a complete injustice to MANKIND. At a time when the goverment is strapped for cash, you'd think open formats is the way to go. I think the real problem is not having someone who knows how to code for all browsers.

Anything that the site will be written in ASP instead of a platform indepdent format such as PHP or JSP.

So the question to I pose to the goverment is do you have the right resources in place? By limiting to just IE, I'm assuminig you don't. Simply choosing to go with IE is just alienating people like me who USE MAC OS X with no IE support as I use Firefox and Safari and on Linux and Unix, you just lost the whole community.

So is this a way to have microsoft corner the market with more copyrights and patents.

I got an IDEA for all the copyrights and patents out there. Why dont we just get rid of copyrights and patents all togeather so innovation can take place in the market place. Why not just give credit where its due for the person who came up with the IDEA and not stealing it can saying its mine. You can make money off royalties but let other companies have access to duplicate the method.

Innovation is at stake here and as a memeber of internet community, I will not stand for this injustice.

Where does it end? When does it end? Is the end of innovation as we know it just around the corner simply because you dont have the right resources in place to hire a PHP developer.

SALAM,
NAEL MOHAMMAD
Reply to this comment
Injustice to innovation.
by Nael August 10, 2005 6:28 PM PDT
Simply choosing IE as the STANDARD is just a complete injustice to MANKIND. At a time when the goverment is strapped for cash, you'd think open formats is the way to go. I think the real problem is not having someone who knows how to code for all browsers.

Anything that the site will be written in ASP instead of a platform indepdent format such as PHP or JSP.

So the question to I pose to the goverment is do you have the right resources in place? By limiting to just IE, I'm assuminig you don't. Simply choosing to go with IE is just alienating people like me who USE MAC OS X with no IE support as I use Firefox and Safari and on Linux and Unix, you just lost the whole community.

So is this a way to have microsoft corner the market with more copyrights and patents.

I got an IDEA for all the copyrights and patents out there. Why dont we just get rid of copyrights and patents all togeather so innovation can take place in the market place. Why not just give credit where its due for the person who came up with the IDEA and not stealing it can saying its mine. You can make money off royalties but let other companies have access to duplicate the method.

Innovation is at stake here and as a memeber of internet community, I will not stand for this injustice.

Where does it end? When does it end? Is the end of innovation as we know it just around the corner simply because you dont have the right resources in place to hire a PHP developer.

SALAM,
NAEL MOHAMMAD
Reply to this comment
Taxpayers should demand less government waste.
by William Squire August 10, 2005 7:01 PM PDT
The article clearly states that it is cost-prohibitive to test and debug two versions.

The article clearly states that the software will get an upgrade in the future making it cross-browser compatible.

Taxpayers would be foolish to suggest that the government build and test two versions now, when one version will reach over 85% of the population in their own homes.

The rest of the population, if they actually need this type of copyright before the software is upgraded, may have to borrow a computer or take a trip to the local library to apply online.

Copyright Office Offers Low-Cost Solution:
http://www.inaniloquent.com/PermaLink.aspx?guid=84e78f4e-60e6-4e9f-9233-9457dbe196b8
Reply to this comment View all 2 replies
Taxpayers should demand less government waste.
by William Squire August 10, 2005 7:01 PM PDT
The article clearly states that it is cost-prohibitive to test and debug two versions.

The article clearly states that the software will get an upgrade in the future making it cross-browser compatible.

Taxpayers would be foolish to suggest that the government build and test two versions now, when one version will reach over 85% of the population in their own homes.

The rest of the population, if they actually need this type of copyright before the software is upgraded, may have to borrow a computer or take a trip to the local library to apply online.

Copyright Office Offers Low-Cost Solution:
http://www.inaniloquent.com/PermaLink.aspx?guid=84e78f4e-60e6-4e9f-9233-9457dbe196b8
Reply to this comment View all 2 replies
Well let see..
by i.p.Freely August 10, 2005 7:09 PM PDT
Maybe if you stuck with standards, you wouldn't have to worry
about working with different browser!
Reply to this comment
Well let see..
by i.p.Freely August 10, 2005 7:09 PM PDT
Maybe if you stuck with standards, you wouldn't have to worry
about working with different browser!
Reply to this comment
Typical government bullshit!
by August 10, 2005 7:26 PM PDT
Leave it to the government to require a piece of crap like EI to be
the only browser allowed. Is Bill Gates paying someome off?
Reply to this comment
Typical government bullshit!
by August 10, 2005 7:26 PM PDT
Leave it to the government to require a piece of crap like EI to be
the only browser allowed. Is Bill Gates paying someome off?
Reply to this comment
bull-puckey
by rdean August 10, 2005 7:47 PM PDT
Support the web standards and you get support for most recent browsers by default.
Reply to this comment
bull-puckey
by rdean August 10, 2005 7:47 PM PDT
Support the web standards and you get support for most recent browsers by default.
Reply to this comment
If they gave an Oscar for irony...
by ciropabon August 10, 2005 8:34 PM PDT
... this would be it. They are the Copyright Office and they are asking what we think of an IE only site? Besides, they accept comments only by snail-mail? This is one of the best jokes of the year. This Office should be privatized and delivered in its entirety to Microsoft for further development.
Reply to this comment View reply
If they gave an Oscar for irony...
by ciropabon August 10, 2005 8:34 PM PDT
... this would be it. They are the Copyright Office and they are asking what we think of an IE only site? Besides, they accept comments only by snail-mail? This is one of the best jokes of the year. This Office should be privatized and delivered in its entirety to Microsoft for further development.
Reply to this comment View reply
Siebel is partially to blame
by Rod Adams August 11, 2005 1:53 AM PDT
A careful reading of the story shows that the Patent Office is
trying to use COTS (commercial off the shelf) CRM (customer
relationship management) software (Siebel 7.7) to perform the
function of applying for preregistration of copyrights.

Apparently, Siebel's web interface was coded by people that
believed that a temporary market share number was indication
of an "industry standard", so they used MS IE specific tags and
hooks to Exchange and Outlook to help increase that
dominance. Based on what I have learned over the years about
business software alliances and deal-making, I would not be
surprised if I found out that Siebel is a Microsoft Partner who
purposely designed their product to require a certain platform.

Never forget that Microsoft is a convicted monopolist. It is quite
ironic that the same government that prosecuted the company
made a lot of purchasing decisions that helped MS establish that
monopoly in the first place.

Siebel will offer expanded support for some other browsers in its
version 7.8, but it will still not adhere to W3C standards.
Reply to this comment View reply
Siebel is partially to blame
by Rod Adams August 11, 2005 1:53 AM PDT
A careful reading of the story shows that the Patent Office is
trying to use COTS (commercial off the shelf) CRM (customer
relationship management) software (Siebel 7.7) to perform the
function of applying for preregistration of copyrights.

Apparently, Siebel's web interface was coded by people that
believed that a temporary market share number was indication
of an "industry standard", so they used MS IE specific tags and
hooks to Exchange and Outlook to help increase that
dominance. Based on what I have learned over the years about
business software alliances and deal-making, I would not be
surprised if I found out that Siebel is a Microsoft Partner who
purposely designed their product to require a certain platform.

Never forget that Microsoft is a convicted monopolist. It is quite
ironic that the same government that prosecuted the company
made a lot of purchasing decisions that helped MS establish that
monopoly in the first place.

Siebel will offer expanded support for some other browsers in its
version 7.8, but it will still not adhere to W3C standards.
Reply to this comment View reply
Just what are they using?
by Sentinel August 11, 2005 5:42 AM PDT
Such a site would undoubtedly require server-side scripting to process submitted applications. So why would there be browser incompatibilities? Server side scripting languages, like PHP, ASP, JSP or even CGI have nothing to do with the browser the client is using. The only way in which browser incompatibilities would be an issue is if the site's design, and not the underlying preregistration system, used IE-specific elements. If that were the case, other browsers would be able to use the site, only they wouldn't see it as it was meant to be.

Another way which could make the entire system IE-specific is that they are using a client-side ActiveX control that sends the registration info to the server. The development of such a control is probably more expensive than if they just used PHP, which is freely available and with many scripts that can be found premade on the Internet.
Reply to this comment
Just what are they using?
by Sentinel August 11, 2005 5:42 AM PDT
Such a site would undoubtedly require server-side scripting to process submitted applications. So why would there be browser incompatibilities? Server side scripting languages, like PHP, ASP, JSP or even CGI have nothing to do with the browser the client is using. The only way in which browser incompatibilities would be an issue is if the site's design, and not the underlying preregistration system, used IE-specific elements. If that were the case, other browsers would be able to use the site, only they wouldn't see it as it was meant to be.

Another way which could make the entire system IE-specific is that they are using a client-side ActiveX control that sends the registration info to the server. The development of such a control is probably more expensive than if they just used PHP, which is freely available and with many scripts that can be found premade on the Internet.
Reply to this comment
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