Berners-Lee Issues a Call to Arms
"The Web is a commitment between people who exchange information that they will commit to interpret information in the same way," Berners-Lee said. "In the future, we will need more formal descriptions of the term 'meaning.' We need to be working on rules about how various headers will interact. We need to be able to validate documents."

Berners-Lee also reiterated his opposition to allowing any W3C-based specifications to be covered by patent restrictions. Over the last year, the W3C has been embroiled in a controversy after a proposal to allow royalty-encumbered, patented technologies into Web standards attracted intense criticism and debate. Berners-Lee used his keynote as an opportunity to comment that he believes standards should remain royalty-free.

"All the forerunners of HTTP were developed under the ethos that they were for the common all," he said. "Looking back at what we have, it doesn't take very much to realize … we should keep the same mindset. Nobody will do anything if they feel they're doing pro bono work for a company that will charge for new versions."

Berners-Lee said that, in order for the Web to continue to grow, every developer needs to have access to specifications without having to sign a licensing agreement or a non-disclosure agreement.

"What we're building on top is going to be much more exciting than what we've built underneath," he said. "This explosion happened because of you. You did it through interoperability and by keeping the Web open to all."
http://www.eweek.com/article/0,3658,s=701&a=26621,00.asp