xml-dev - Re: XPointer's sleeping ???

["Simon St.Laurent" <simonstl@simonstl.com>]

At 12:35 PM 11/18/98 -0600, len bullard wrote:
>Simon St.Laurent wrote:
>> Hmmm... Eight months without a new draft, and everything past the draft is
>> member confidential.  You know, if the W3C had a more open process, we
>> might be a lot closer to the XLink standard we've all been craving...
>
>Wasn't SAX designed on an open list?  Hasn't the schema been designed 
>on an open list?

Uh, yes to both.  And in case you've forgotten, I was the fool who started
XSchema - and passed it on to another editor (for whose work I'm extremely
grateful) when I was too busy to complete it rather than sitting on it for
months.

> Most of the work XLink is based on is public.  All of
>the information 
>you need to create open hypermedia linking is in the HyTime documents.  
>All of the XML syntax data is open.  Take the XLink draft, clean it up, 
>put new names on it, then publish it and implement it.  If you can 
>do that faster, you may get a better result.  If you decide to 
>adapt XLink when it is released, you probably won't too far off 
>the mark.

Two things.

First, I am implementing the XLink draft (in Java - open source) as it
stands, with help from volunteers.  See
http://www.simonstl.com/projects/xlinkfilter/ for details.  The
implementation will be updated as the W3C drafts emerge.

Second, I've already been told to "go to your room" once on this list (yes,
that's a quote!) when I proposed work (XSchema) that overlapped with the
W3C's proposed work.  As it turned out, XSchema is done and the W3C's
schema work is only getting started.  On the other hand, I'd have to be
totally demented to pick up the WD, make my own changes, and publish it.
The W3C's work on XLink is in progress, however slow, and the W3C has an
effective monopoly on this work.  No one is going to implement _my_ draft
of their work except me.  As a result, it makes much more sense to wait for
the W3C (however difficult waiting may be) and implement what I can so that
my work is eventually compatible.

>If a closed society doesn't provide results, open one.  So far, VRML 
>is doing pretty well with that approach.

If I could open the W3C process, or start a new parallel open process, I
would.  Since neither of those things is possible (the W3C won't likely
open its doors if I just plain ask, and a parallel effort would have no
credibility), I'm pretty much left to suggest what might have been _if_ the
W3C had an open process instead of this closed process -> open standards
approach they take now.

So - back to the peanut gallery.




Simon St.Laurent
Dynamic HTML: A Primer / XML: A Primer
Cookies / Sharing Bandwidth (November)
Building XML Applications (December)
http://www.simonstl.com

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