[XML-DEV Mailing List Archive Home] [By Thread] [By Date] [Recent Entries] [Reply To This Message]

RE: Why can't we all work together? XML UI Languages Abound

• To: 'Gerald Bauer' <luxorxul@y...>, martind@n..., xml-dev@l...
• Subject: RE: Why can't we all work together? XML UI Languages Abound
• From: "Bullard, Claude L (Len)" <clbullar@i...>
• Date: Mon, 17 Nov 2003 12:13:58 -0600

We can and have but not in every case and in no case, 
for all time in all places.  Standards have come to mean 
'a game' instead of a credible professional goal.  Can 
that change?  Maybe.

1.  Develop international standards to cover all of the 
different groups contributions to a domain clearly 
in need of standardization.

2.  Stop the name calling and learn to develop relationships 
based on common needs instead of common ambitions.  Recognize 
existing standards and quit playing the politics of 
'free to ignore you but not free to ignore me', the game 
of more equal pigs described by Orwell.   Everyone 
is free to ignore everyone else.  Fact of life.  Common 
needs make for common efforts.  The politics of the launch 
of the W3C and in some aspects, XML itself, were witless, 
stupid, rude, and guaranteed balkanization.  No one holds 
the moral high ground; just the most popular brand today.

3.  Do not attempt to standardize until there is a clear 
need for it.  When there is, identify all of the available 
candidates and determine how the standard will address 
the requirements of these.  It isn't as simple as 
writing a schema or developing code.  Standards, as 
Rick Jeliffe pointed out, can enable specific systems or 
classes of systems.  Until there are multiple examples 
of a class, there is not a class and no need for a 
standard.

Alliances, consortia, vendors, government entities, 
private individuals, sourceforge, wikis, all of these 
are multiple contenders for the same resource.  That 
guarantees chaos but it is a natural outcome of today's 
industry.  If we want standards, we will have to accept 
standards organization authority and processes and the 
possibility that the market will operate with multiple 
incompatible systems until a standard can be developed. 
Standards processes that cannot keep up with the pace 
of technical development across a system class must be 
managed better.

The definition of non-linearity is multiple systems 
contending for the same resource.  Non-linearity is 
normal in evolving systems.  Standards are controls 
and they must emerge naturally based on intelligent 
observation of the impact of outcomes on the 
environment, the induction of relationships that 
are by consensus agreed to have value, and then 
and only then, the logical evaluation of choices 
of the best offers.

Until then, Spy Vs Spy, issue by issue.

len


From: Gerald Bauer [mailto:luxorxul@y...]

  Well, the hard part is now to figure out how to make
them all interoperate and how to avoid the
balkanization of the rich internet.

• Prev by Date: generating an xml file whitout schemas and DTD
• Next by Date: Word 2003 schemas available
• Previous by thread: generating an xml file whitout schemas and DTD
• Next by thread: Word 2003 schemas available
• Index(es):
  • Date
  • Thread