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Microsoft joins SVG work group


By Alex Handy
January 7, 2010 —  (Page 1 of 2)
Microsoft this week took a giant step toward unifying scalable vector graphics on browsers when it took at seat on the SVG working group at the World Wide Web Consortium.

Since 1999, the W3C has been working on a way to bring scalable vector graphics to the Web. After 10 years of work, the specification has become part of the HTML 5 starting lineup. But during all this time, Microsoft has remained on the outside of the SVG development process, choosing to largely ignore the technology.

That all ended Tuesday, when Microsoft's Patrick Dengler, senior program manager of the Internet Explorer team, joined the working group. Microsoft had previously been engaged in almost every part of the HTML 5 specifications process, so its refusal to acknowledge SVG was a major source of worry for the W3C and the open Web community, so much so that many early attempts to implement the specifications included workarounds to enable scalable vector graphics to be viewed with Internet Explorer.

Dengler was unavailable for comment, but he did blog about Microsoft's decision. “We recognize that vector graphics are an important component of the next-generation Web platform. As evidenced by our ongoing involvement in W3C working groups, we are committed to participating in the standards process to help ensure a healthy future for the Web. Our involvement with the SVG working group builds on that commitment,” he wrote.

Doug Schepers is the staff contact for the W3C on the SVG working group. He said that Microsoft's decision to come to the table is important, but it does not yet mean IE 9 will support SVG.

“It's possible the state of SVG in other browsers has reached the state where it is something they need to pay attention to. I've been talking with them for a couple months now, and all of my interactions with them have been technical and very positive, very productive discussions,” said Schepers.

Now that Microsoft is at the table, Schepers said that some workarounds will no longer be needed. He pointed out that the Canvas tag, which includes some capabilities that could be used to make SVG viewable in non-SVG compatible browsers, is still useful for other purposes. The Canvas tag, he said, can be used to rasterize images, allowing them to be presented as simple static pictures rather than scalable mathematically delineated objects.

 Related Search Term(s): Microsoft, SVG

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Comments

01/08/2010 10:39:32 AM EST

Microsoft was on the working group in the beginning. Microsoft has implemented SVG in SilVerliGht, they just changed the names of the elements and attributes to make it proprietary.

CanadaRick


01/13/2010 05:48:00 PM EST

Rather than reinventing things that have already been done, wouldn't it be nice if there was more an attempt to support things that already exist. Much of work like this was implemented by STEP-2D_DRAFT. While as I support research and development of new ideas and technologies, there is a certain point at which we should stick to commonly accepted and developed formats. Unfortunately for the majority of users, from a market lock in standpoint, it makes sense to force the market to play on your terms rather than play on theirs. Microsoft is following in the footsteps of other monopolies that have come before them and ones that have been established as laws by those previous companies.

United StatesWalter Heger


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