xml-dev - Re: SAX (Introduction, Recomandations, Future...)

[David Megginson <david@megginson.com>]

Jon Bosak <bosak@boethius.eng.sun.com> writes:

> Despite its success so far, the process you've got now for SAX is
> not democratic.  It puts all decision-making authority in the
> hands of a single person.  The fact that the person in question
> happens to be above reproach does not change the fact that this is
> a benevolent dictatorship.  I don't buy the benevolent dictator
> model of standards development no matter how highly I regard the
> dictator of the moment.

I agree ... well, sort-of.  There's not a lot to choose from between a
benevolent dictatorship and a benevolent oligarchy -- neither is
properly democratic.  

There's also the issue of the free market: democracy is necessary only
because the government is an effective monopoly, so people necessarily
wish to have a say in how it is run.  Companies, on the other hand,
are (mostly) not monopolies, so consumers can express their choices
externally (i.e. eat at Burger King or Wendy's) rather than internally
(i.e. this is how Wendy's should be run).  It remains to be seen
whether specs like SAX are more like governments or companies.


All the best,


David

-- 
David Megginson                 david@megginson.com
           http://www.megginson.com/