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[XSL-LIST Mailing List Archive Home] [By Thread] [By Date] [Recent Entries] [Reply To This Message] RE: 1.0 and 2.0 and suitability for tasks
 Assessment of risk in moving to a new technology is something that each organisation has to do for itself. I personally find it difficult to understand why some organisations are much more prepared to take these risks than others - it seems to have very little to do with any objective assessment, more on subjective attitudes. There are a lot of organisations using Saxon 8.x successfully for applications that are definitely mission-critical; at the same time I can't fault someone who advises against it on grounds of caution. Yes, this is a subtle problem. For many organizations, it amounts to a question not only of "is X a fact" but also of "how can I be reasonably sure that X is a fact". Lacking local, trusted knowledge that 2.0 is strong, well-suited to the tasks for which it is proposed, and won't blow up (or do whatever else you're afraid of), broad uptake and support from a range of vendors, plus a reputation for portability/interoperability earned outside a particular proprietary framework, serve as warrants that "even if I don't yet understand personally why it's so much better, I won't be stuck high and dry if I go there". Then too, what's prudent caution for one outfit in one context might be head-in-the-sand delinquincy for another in another context. "Let's wait and see" is often the best approach to take until the exact moment when it isn't. It's knowing when that moment is, that's tricky. (So yes, these decisions are often made subjectively.) BTW, as for learnability -- it's true that learning to be a power user of XSLT 2.0, where doing sophisticated things shouldn't require knowledge of baroque workarounds, may prove to be more straightforward than 1.0. Yet just as much allocation of long-term memory as 1.0 demands, if not more, may be necessary to handle all the new stuff in 2.0, with all its ins and outs. Allocation of human long-term memory -- the development and refinement of our own skills -- is famously expensive. Honestly, I think the jury's still out on this one. So I think the best thing we XSLTers can do for now is try 2.0 and assess it on our own, not paying too too much attention to the marketers either way. Cheers, Wendell
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