Thread Subject: Re: Concerns about our current definition of a"platform"

Note

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From: Peter Korn
Date: Mon, Aug 20 2007 10:30 PM

Hi Gregg,

I know that Sean had some concerns about the platform definition, and I
believe language around isolation and the explicit note about browser
plug-ins not constituting a platform came from him. When you say
"partially", you open potentially a big hole, sweeping into the platform
definitions things that only vaguely partially provide some software
components/services but that really shouldn't be seen as a platform. By
doing so, you subject a lot more things to the platform rule(s) for
which I think they really shouldn't apply.

Can you provide some specific examples of things you feel are platforms,
that can only be considered platforms with your language additions?


Regards,

Peter Korn
Accessibility Architect,
Sun Microsystems, Inc.


> Yes - I did edit old version.
>
> Nope - not intentional.
>
> Comments below. (marked GV:)
>
> Gregg
>
> -- ------------------------------
>
> Gregg C Vanderheiden Ph.D.
>
> > -----Original Message-----
>
> > From: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED =
>
> > [mailto: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = ] On Behalf
>
> > Of Peter Korn
>
> > Sent: Monday, August 20, 2007 9:55 PM
>
> > To: TEITAC Web/Software Subcommittee
>
> > Subject: Re: [teitac-websoftware] Concerns about our current
>
> > definition of a"platform"
>
> >
>
> > Gregg,
>
> >
>
> > You provided edits to the version in the 17Aug draft, not to
>
> > the proposal I put forth. Was that your intention?
>
> GV: Yes I did - but not intentionally.
>
> The key
>
> > for me is what the platform provides that defines it as a
>
> > platform (with what the bulk of applications use cementing
>
> > that definition or countering it).
>
> GV: Agree
>
> With such a definition,
>
> > we can then place requirements on anything that is a platform
>
> > (by that definition).
>
> GV: Don't follow that. What I edited into the provision was just an
> admission that some things serve as partial platforms. And that is in
> note 3
>
> >
>
> > Going into "partially", and "acting as", and "for those
>
> > aspects of an application" complicates matters significantly.
>
> > And I don't see what we gain by doing that. If something is
>
> > trying to be a platform, then it should obey the platform rules.
>
> >
>
> GV: Again - don't follow. Your note 3 below says the same thing. But
> by not having anything to that effect in the provision - the note
> contradicts the provision.
>
> Your new draft is below -- with edits
>
> *Platform software*:
>
> collection of software components that runs on an underlying software or
>
> hardware layer, and that provides a set of software services to
>
> applications which allows them to be isolated, partially or
> completely, from the underlying software or hardware layer.
>
> * Note 1: For our purposes, it is those software components/services
>
> provided to applications for the creation or manipulation of user
>
> interfaces and user input – and that impact accessibility – that are
>
> of concern for whether something is a platform or not. An
>
> application offering a compute service, such as a 3d rendering
>
> engine where a requesting application isn't using the software
>
> components/services to create a user interface and interact with
>
> the user, should not be considered to be acting as a "platform".
>
> * Note 2: If applications typically connect directly to the
>
> underlying layer, rather than relying solely on the platform
>
> software components and services, then it is likely that the
>
> software components in the middle are not acting as a "platform".
>
> For example, a program which hosts plug-in's is not a platform if
>
> the plug-in can directly access the underlying layer.
>
> * Note 3: A particular software component may play the role of a
>
> platform in some situations and not in others. Platforms can
>
> include such things as Internet browsers, operating systems,
>
> plug-ins to internet browsers or other software applications, and
>
> under some situations, byte-code interpreted virtual environments,
>
> and other "programming within another programming" environments.
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>

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