HTML5 is all the rage. Everyone from mobile developers to Apple CEO Steve Jobs to Google CEO Eric Schmidt have backed the standard as the future. Everyone, that is, except for the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), the official standards organization of the Web.
An official for the W3C is calling for developers to hold off on all the HTML5, saying it’s a bit too early for the Flash-killer to be let loose on the general public.
Phillippe Le Hegaret, an official with W3C responsible for SVG and HTML specifications, told InfoWorld, “The problem we’re facing right now is there is already a lot of excitement for HTML5, but it’s a little too early to deploy it because we’re running into interoperability issues.”
According to Le Hegaret, the basic issue is getting HTML5 to operate the same in different browsers and using different video devices. He also noted that HTML5 currently lacks a video codec and digital rights management capabilities, which he said he does not expect to have in the upcoming specification.
The HTML5 specification should be “feature-complete by mid-2011,” he told InfoWorld, noting that we shouldn’t expect the death of Flash “anytime soon.”
