Re: Formatting Objects considered harmful

At 05:43 PM 4/28/99 +0100, Guy Murphy wrote:
>1. Are you commiting to the arguement that use of a "semantic firewall" is
>a "bad thing" and that the W3C should take steps to stop such a practice?

I'm saying the use of such semantic firewalls basically kills off the
arguments behind the creation of XML by the W3C - delivering _meaningful_
generic markup over the Web.  Hiding your semantics or charging for them is
putting up a wall to intelligent search engines and agents as well as
cheapskates.  The self-interest of the business behind the semantic
firewall is well-served, but the community is poorly served.

>2. Are you suggesting that the W3C should impede what you have previously
>stated to be a sound business case?

I said it was a good business plan, but I hardly support every good
business plan.  For the reasons stated above, I certainly hope the W3C -
toothless though it is - discourages such practices.

>3. Are you suggesting that the W3C should take steps to discourage large
>corporates from placing their data on the Web?

In this form, yes.  text/xfo or whatever is a significant step down from
HTML, and doesn't begin to deliver on the promise of XML.

In reality, I expect them to do nothing of the sort.  But they could always
surprise me...

Simon St.Laurent
XML: A Primer
Sharing Bandwidth / Cookies
http://www.simonstl.com


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