Lazy headlines on the JavaScript 2 free-for-all

Brian Dillard, Monday, November 5, 2007 @ 10:44 am

It's always interesting when the wider tech media picks up on a turf war that would otherwise be visible only to its participants, their peers and the followers of obscure programming blogs. Ars Technica and Slashdot are now reporting on ECMAScript 4/JavaScript 2 dust-up that's been big news on Ajaxian all month. These fairly insidery sites aren't losing too many of the story's nuances. But several more generalized IT publications have picked up a story from IDG News Service's Chris Kanaracus that reduces it to a "Mozilla vs. Microsoft" thing. Even Slashdot and Ars Technica can't resist the easy headline:

• Ars Technica: Mozilla, Microsoft reps argue over the future of web scripting
• Slashdot: MS, Mozilla Clashing Over JavaScript Update
• Computer World: Mozilla, Microsoft drawing sabers over next JavaScript
• Info World: Mozilla, Microsoft drawing sabers over next JavaScript
• PC WorldMozilla, Microsoft At Odds Over Next JavaScript

From where I'm sitting, the headlines tell only part of the story. Yahoo's Douglas Crockford has very reasonable concerns about the future of browser security, but that's getting left out of most of the coverage - mostly, I imagine, because it isn't as sexy as open letters and blog bitch-slaps with an easy "David and Goliath" subtext. Meanwhile, plenty of everyday developers have strong opinions about the proposed spec, and they're the ones who are actually going to be using the language - whatever it becomes.

The Slashdot and Ars Technica forums provide an interesting vox populi on the issue. But for pure entertainment value, you can't beat the comments over at Ajaxian, particularly the first comment on this post, by someone called Roustabout, which adds colorful though NSFW metaphors to an already, um, sticky debate.

Technorati Tags

• JavaScript
• Mozilla
• Microsoft
• Yahoo

agile ajax

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