[XML-DEV Mailing List Archive Home] [By Thread] [By Date] [Recent Entries] [Reply To This Message] Re: "XML is a subset of SGML" - True or False?
>--- In xml-dev@e..., Rick JELLIFFE <ricko@g...> wrote: > >Where there were differences, ISO8879 was corrected specifically to >make sure that XML was indeed a subset. In fact, Charles Goldfarb >even said at one stage "XML *is* the revision of SGML" (debate on the >revision of ISO 8879 had started years before: XML was the embodyment of >that). This message, while technically accurate, also contains a large element of the disingenuous. It almost makes it sound as if Charles Goldfarb was the initiator of the work on XML, as the logical next step in the evolution of SGML. It falls along the same lines as the "HTML is an application of SGML, so ISO should take credit for inventing the Web" logic that I've also heard. The reality is, the 10-year revision of SGML was proceeding at a glacial pace, when Jon Bosak perceived the need for a "global warming" to save SGML from being permanently marginalized. And at a time when Netscape was riding high with no interest in HTML as an "SGML application", that's exactly where it was headed. >In fact, XML is explicitly part of ISO 8879, through non-normative >Annex L: XML is used as an example of an "additional requirements" >document--it cannot be normative because the ISO WG thought that W3C was >an appropriate body to create and maintain an industry-lead profile of >an ISO standard. Again, this makes it sound as if ISO, in it's infinite wisdom, graciously decided that the XML work should go forward within the W3C. The reality is, the work had to be done within W3C, because the HTML Web-heads of circa 1996 weren't the least bit interested in listening to ISO. Even more to the point, W3C became the forum because that's where Microsoft agreed to work. Had Microsoft wanted to work within ISO, packing the meetings with their engineers, they could have done so. They chose not to. Whatever their reasons, it's unlikely it was because they couldn't afford the travel fees. REF *************************************************************************** This is xml-dev, the mailing list for XML developers. To unsubscribe, mailto:majordomo@x...&BODY=unsubscribe%20xml-dev List archives are available at http://xml.org/archives/xml-dev/ ***************************************************************************
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