Well that's the argument, isn't it? Collaboration doesn't mean necessarily mean being in sync or following suit. When there's a hegemony then a level of collaboration might still exist, but if the interests don't align with the dominant party they can just go ahead anyway and more or less force others to fall in line – e.g. EME. Even if everyone syncs up, it's not necessarily good collaboration. Conversely, the dominant party can choose to just ignore other's contributions and ideas if their interests don't align, effectively making those contributions largely pointless.
Whether or not you agree is one thing, but I hope my point is clearer now anyways. :o)
Thanks for being respectful and well-reasoned in your response.
My opinion is that the collaboration is probably the best it's ever been right now. The example I gave lower down in this thread is that when WebAssembly was introduced, the Chrome team decided to deprecate their own solution, PNaCl.
> Thanks for being respectful and well-reasoned in your response.
Likewise!
WebAssembly is a very good counter example, but still my feeling – or fear, really – is that this is not in spite of Google's hegemony but because of it. Let's say they hadn't gotten on board with WebAssembly and instead doubled down on PNaCL or come up with a different competing proposal. Even if all other parties rallied around WebAssembly there's a very good chance the dominance of Google would make it stillborn. If it's not in Chrome, it's simply not worth bothering, purely due to its dominance.
I recognize though that this is a bit of a straw man argument, and one based more in my opionins and feelings in the matter rather than anything resembling objective truths. I suppose that's also why we'll have to agree to disagree. :o)
Whether or not you agree is one thing, but I hope my point is clearer now anyways. :o)