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RE: Registered namespace prefixes

• To: 'Jeff Lowery' <Jeff.Lowery@c...>, xml-dev@l...
• Subject: RE: Registered namespace prefixes
• From: "Bullard, Claude L (Len)" <clbullar@i...>
• Date: Mon, 10 Mar 2003 12:31:38 -0600

It hasn't gone unnoticed or unrecognized.  The 
association is mentioned in Costello's Best 
Practices page.  It is one of the URIUbiquity 
issues one has to mention when insisting on 
REST and being "on the web".  URIs can in 
practice take on trademark-like qualities. 
My sense of it is that this practice will 
become formalized as a result of civil actions 
until recognized by explicit laws.  Then, of 
course, what is "meant by assertions" in 
say, RDF, becomes a thornier issue.

len

From: Jeff Lowery [mailto:Jeff.Lowery@c...]

> In other words, it's useful for elements to have identifiers for 
> their class as well as their own nature, a genera as well as a 
> species. Very few people talk about this, but it is far and away the 
> most important use of namespaces.

What also goes unrecognized is the side effect of an implicit associative
authority inherent in using a URL as a namespace id.  People will assume
(with some justification) that namespace ids beginning with
"http://www.widgetco.com" will only be associated with components,
definitions, semantics, and documents that have been vetted by Widget Co.
Anybody outside of the company who's making up their own associations with
such ids are borderline con artists,  and run the risk of having them
collide with later associations made by the company itself.

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