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Claim SSLW - SSL wins on Internet

Category: Science & Technology:Internet JUDGED at 100
Owner:20
Judge:97, Loophole
created:1995/03/25
due date:1998/01/01

The Claim

There two standards being promulgated for secure Web communications. They are:

  1. Secure HTTP (SHTTP) which is backed by CommerceNet and EnterpriseIntegration Technologies
  2. Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) which is backed by Netscape Communications

The claim is YES if the SSL standard wins out over SHTTP by virtue of: the majority of Web server offerings use SSL and not SHTTP.

The claim is NO if

  • SSL and SHTTP continue to compete (the majority of server offerings support both)
  • SHTTP becomes the dominant security standard (the majority of server offerings support SHTTP only).
  • at any point Netscape announces that it will support SHTTP only in its future product offerings.
  • a unification strategy is used. That is a new third standard is put forth that
    • has a different name than either `SHTTP' or `SSL' and
    • incorporates the features of both SHTTP and SSL.

The breadth or the unit-count of Web clients that support SHTTP or SSL are irrelevant to this claim. The unit-count of Web servers is irrelevant to this claim -- only the breadth of server offerings counts. The criteria will be judged by a survey of press release statements made by EIT, CommerceNet, and Netscape as well as any relevant trade publication articles or marketing surveys.

Netscape Communications Corp News Release:
Industry Leaders Support Secure Sockets Layer For Internet Security
Broad Support for Open Protocol Enables Electronic Commerce

Judge's Statement

I will judge based on the wording of the claim unless it is found to be ambiguous. Such ambiguities will be resolved based on my perception of the author's intent.

See IWorld's survey of web server features for an example of the kind of resource I plan to use for judging.

The Market

Price Plot for life of SSLW
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