Es4-discuss Digest, Vol 8, Issue 44

[Brendan Eich]

On Oct 30, 2007, at 3:09 PM, Douglas Crockford wrote:

>> Doug Crockford made some statements about TG1 members and motives.
>
> The speculations about motives were made by others on this list,  
> not by me.

Yeah, you have said little on this list, but somewhat more at that  
panel at TAE Boston. I wasn't there, but multiple people who were  
(some on this list) attributed statements or words to you. Perhaps  
they misquoted.

* The anonymous slashdot firehose post, which said "At The Ajax  
Experience conference, it was announced that an ECMAScript4 white  
paper had been released. The implication being that the white paper  
was the upcoming spec, which is untrue. Not to mention this is not an  
official ECMA site, but a site run by only some of the members from  
the ECMAScript4 group. These facts were later revealed by another  
concerned ECMAScript4 member."

John Resig confirmed that the "concerned ECMAScript4 member" was you.

* Kris Gray: "Crockford - Adobe, Mozilla, Yahoo and Microsoft. The  
first t[w]o support it, the later two oppose it."

* Ric Johnson: "However, Doug did strike a chord when he said 'the  
ghost of Netscape'".

Was Ric quoting you accurately, and if so, what did you mean?

* Ric Johnson again: "There are A LOT of accusations of backroom  
deals being made"

Whatever your exact words, what you did actually say raised the  
question of motive. People want to know the "why" when told the scary  
"what". Is there some back-room deal? Is there misconduct according  
to Ecma rules? And so on. Naming two (of four or six) companies  
working on ES4 is bound to cause speculation.

But for the record, I have no reliable eyewitness quoting you as  
saying "motive". The word may never have crossed your lips.

However, from the above, it seems clear that you did publicly call  
out Adobe and Mozilla as potentially misrepresenting ES4's status in  
Ecma, or the lack of consensus in TG1, or both. You apparently  
mentioned Opera too, but somehow left the distinct impression with  
multiple listeners that TG1 was split down the middle: Adobe and  
Mozilla vs. Microsoft and Yahoo!. These impressions immediately beg  
questions of motive. I think you can see that.

/be

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