The folks who oversee the development of web standards are involved in a dispute that will shape the future of the web as we know it. As the web takes on an every increasing role in many facets of life, there is a natural tendancy to expect more – to want the web to be capable of more powerful things. An important area of growth might be described as interactivity – how information can be exchanged between the user, the server, and other applications. (Note: You are getting my interpretation here so you might want to explore my sources.).
The basic mechanism for passing information is the form. You know forms as the text boxes and buttons you select to enter information or choices. Forms also convey information you cannot see – in this case this is a good thing and not some sinister hacker tactic.
The basic question is how to move beyond present capabilities. The controversy stems from companies pushing proprietary solutions – new capabilities that will work with one operating system, one browser, etc.
It seems possible that to move ahead to new capabilities we will move backward to a time when certain web sites and services will only work with certain software/operating systems.
