But while HTML5 is finished, a tug-of-war over how to set such standards -- and therefore how to chart the future of the Web -- is far from over. That's because a second organization, the Web ...

The same is often true for HTML5: the same markup doesn’t produce the same results, and to get the same results, you need to write different markup. This is the bigger issue.

My inner pessimist suspects that Microsoft will finally get around to implementing HTML 5 video at the same time that the H.264 patents expire, in roughly 2025.

Just as CDs replaced tapes as a more efficient means of playing music, and digital files replaced CDs to do the same, HTML5 is making Flash obsolete.

While HTML5 has anchored the open web platform, the platform itself has increasingly become bigger than just HTML, Jaffe said. So the W3C is working on security, performance, and streaming.

One of HTML5’s goals is to move the Web away from proprietary technologies such as Flash, Silverlight, and JavaFX, says Ian Hickson, co-editor of the HTML5 specification.