Why backward compatibility?

[Ben Overmyer]

Reading over the specs for possible new standards, I noted the strong emphasis on backward compatibility. Backward compatibility in hardware is something I understand; it's hard to modify physical items to conform to new media (e.g., trying to fit a VHS tape into a DVD player). Backward compatibility in web formats, though, confuses me.

With the rapid pace of development in web technologies, some might argue that in order for the pace to continue, backward compatibility is necessary - after all, users are less likely to adopt new standards if their old content doesn't work with it, right?

Well, in this case....shouldn't backward compatibility regarding web standards be something the browser deals with, rather than the standard itself? We already have DOCTYPEs to tell browsers what language a web document is written in. It shouldn't be tremendously difficult to code an add-on for a browser that allows it to render a completely new standard; after all, it happens all the time for different kinds of content. Following on from that, the logical next step is simply forging that new standard directly alongside the code for the old standards in the browser.

It's a lot easier to modify a web browser than it is to modify a DVD player. So why the backward compatibility?

[zcorpan]

Does this thread clear it up for you, maybe? http://forums.whatwg.org/viewtopic.php?t=113