Is Microsoft finally listening to Web developers?

When Microsoft 'technical evangelist' Robert Scoble complained in his blog about being snubbed at a Texas conference, he probably didn't think he was laying the groundwork for a truce in the long-running war over Web browser standards.

But the snub, from one of Microsoft's most vocal critics, the Web Standards Project (WaSP), snowballed through blog postings and public apologies to produce a little-noticed detente in the long-running feud between Microsoft and Web standards advocates that has some developers hopeful the software giant is entering a new era of standards compliance.

A month ago, Microsoft entered into an unlikely partnership with WaSP, forming a joint task force to help Redmond get an array of software titles up to snuff on standards. The advocacy group, created seven years ago to goad Microsoft and then-rival Netscape into adhering to standards for Web programming, was known for often theatrical campaigns against Microsoft and its Internet Explorer browser.

"Weather forecast for Hell: cold and colder today," Scoble, a technology evangelist for Microsoft, wrote in his blog after news of the partnership broke. "Seriously, congrats to everyone involved. Hope this collaboration brings us some good stuff for developers."

Web developers and their clients took notice this week when it was reported that Microsoft's next browser, IE 7, would not pass a stringent standards test called Acid2.

But while the news led to vociferous griping on discussion forums around the Net, and to one widely blogged call by Windows IT Pro news editor Paul Thurrott for an IE boycott, the recent detente helps explain why WaSP was surprisingly nonplussed.

This is a dramatic shift. Developers -- that is, Web authors -- have been locked in a standards standoff with Microsoft for years. Seven years after WaSP launched, developers acknowledge some progress but complain that they're still coding browser-specific Web pages.

"Some colleagues and I launched the Web standards movement eight years ago precisely because we were wasting too much time -- and charging our clients too much money -- working around browser differences instead of focusing on brand and usability issues," said Jeffrey Zeldman, a WaSP founder who is no longer active in the group. "Years later, because of sometimes grossly imperfect standards compliance, we're still wasting time and money on browser work-arounds."

Peace on the standards front could have a significant impact on the Web. With its 90 per cent share of the browser market, Microsoft has a virtual veto over what industry standards Web authors can rely on and what kind of content and presentation users encounter. If Microsoft stuck more closely to Web standards, developers and standards groups say the Web as a whole would grow more quickly -- and more cheaply.

Real-world agreement on standards could let corporations and others with large Web presences save a bundle. Right now, discrepancies between browsers and the standards promulgated by the W3C (World Wide Web Consortium) often force Web developers to concoct elaborate work-arounds.

"The browser wars being waged on the standards level has caused so many problems, cost a lot of money and worn down a lot of good people," said Molly Holzschlag, a prominent Web designer and standards advocate. "As it stands, a lot of development money goes into special development for IE. What's more, developers and companies not using standards end up costing lots of money over time because code has to be constantly rewritten, constantly reviewed to address all these concerns."

Many credit WaSP's actions with influencing browser evolution, including Netscape's decision to abandon its legacy browser code in favour of the Gecko engine that underlies today's increasingly successful Firefox browser.