If you look at how browsers are already chomping at the heels of Flash/Silverlight, it’s proof they don’t need specifications. WebWorkers are a perfect example of a simple JavaScript implementation to get multi-threading support in a simple way. Already supported in at least 2 browsers, yet Flash Player doesn’t have this? Even Silverlight has threads.

The point is, when Flash gets it, you can use it. Just because IE could get WebWorkers doesn’t mean you can use it; you’d need to have fallback, or just not use that functionality if you don’t have browser support in the browsers you’re supporting. There is a huge cost to this in application development, and the HTML5 crowd seems to glaze over this. If I get something in Flash, I can “use it” with confidence most people have upgraded in 8 months. I can’t do that with browser functionality unless I work in a company that ordains browser installations. There are a lot of those types of companies, but they are not the norm.

This is the most misunderstood thing that’s ever appeared in an article I’ve written. If you read Ian’s answer to my question carefully, you will see that HTML5 “the spec” will be done very soon. The 2022 number refers specifically to when it is expected that there will be two full and complete implementations that are 100% correct, and therefore it meets the requirements to become a W3c “recommendation”. By way of comparison, HTML4 (as well as previous versions) can *never* become “done” (aka “recommendation” status) simply because the spec is vague and no implementation will ever be provably correct.

HTML5 is, for better or for worse, near completion as a specification. It is getting very close to “Last Call” status. I would expect that sometime around late 2011 or early 2012, the HTML5 spec will be locked down and no longer be changing, even if it will take another decade for it to be formally moved to “recommendation” status.

J.Ja