xml-dev - RE: power uses of XML vs. simple uses of XML

["Gavin Thomas Nicol" <gtn@ebt.com>]

> The problem is that we're not providing the tools. We're providing the
> specs. That's a whole different ball game. If tools existed for actually
> making really interesting use of RDF and XLink and XInclude then people
> would use them.

I think this is somewhat debatable. People don't want platforms, they
want applications (as Dave Winer correctly noted). From experience I
would say that in order for technology to be *really* successful, it
needs to be buried beneath the covers of a well-designed application.
One way or another, the market for technology is limited to 
technologists, and unless there is a compelling reason to use a 
technology, the adoption rate will be slow even if there are tools
available.

> I think namespaces is something different - the more people use XML in a
> variety of ways the more likely they are to need namespaces eventually.

I'm not sure about that. If you control the application in a given
domain, then you control the semantics of the encoded data, and in
such cases, even if you are embedding XHTML in your content, you
don't need namespaces to tell you that.

I think namespaces are really only useful in a limited number of cases
(where arbitrary embedding is common) unless they are being used 
gratuitously.


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