📸 Photo

weaving the web

list of calls. They joined, and people at other companies—from upstart Netscape to stalwarts like Hewlett-Packard and IBM— quickly followed.

Membership was open to any organization: commercial, educational, or governmental, whether for-profit or not-for-profit. The annual fee for full membership was fifty thousand dollars; for affiliate membership it was five thousand dollars. There was no difference in benefits, but to qualify for affiliate status an organization had to be not-for-profit or governmental, or an independent company with revenues less than fifty million dollars. Netscape joined for the full fifty thousand dollars despite qualifying as an affiliate; it insisted that it join as a big company on principle. Members had to commit to a three-year term of membership, after which they could renew annually. In return, members were free to attend any meeting, and sit on any working group or other ensemble we would put together. They would also get exclusive access to in-depth information on all activities under way, whether they were directly involved or not.

Though we didn't have the motto at the time, the consortium's purpose was to "lead the Web to its full potential," primarily by developing common protocols to enhance the interoperability and evolution of the Web. To do this, we would stay ahead of a significant wave of applications, services, and social changes, by fulfilling a unique combination of roles traditionally ascribed to quite different organizations.

Like the IETF, W3C would develop open technical specifications. Unlike the IETF, W3C would have a small full-time staff to help design and develop the code where necessary. Like industrial consortia, W3C would represent the power and authority of millions of developers, researchers, and users. And like its member research institutions, it would leverage the most recent advances in information technology.

The consortium would also take great pains to remain a "vendor neutral" forum for its members. A small, core staff housed at