Are W3C crazy?
No, not crazy, I would say, but idealist – and perhaps teasing the user community with a vision of perfection which is unlikely to be realised. And when Phil states they are “doing stuff for use in five or ten years’ time” it would seem he underestimates the timescales, as the WHATWG FAQ states, in response to a question on when HTML 5 will be finished: “Around 15 years or more to reach a W3C recommendation (include estimated schedule)”.