Re: intertwined specs

[Kimbro Staken <kstaken@dbxmlgroup.com>]

Another thing I see being part of the problem is that everything is so
new. These new specs are building on the (somewhat) older specs (many
that aren't even complete) as if they're solid well tested and proven
commodities. The reality is this isn't the case and far too many of the
specs coming out of the W3C amount to completely new technologies and
they're not being adequately proven through implementation before being
built upon. Did XQuery use W3C XML Schema because it is solid and well
proven, no they used it because it is "W3C" XML Schema. What I think is
going to happen is we're going to get this huge heap of technology that
no one other then the largest organizations can implement and in the end
nobody wants. Following 80/20 and having something that can at least be
used is better then going for 100 and ending up with something few can
understand let alone implement. Reuse is clearly a good thing but what
is being reused must itself be stable and good otherwise you just get
rubbish.

Tim Bray wrote:
> 
> At 12:23 PM 16/02/01 -0500, Simon St.Laurent wrote:
> >After writing about the new XSLT and XPath requirements documents, plus the
> >latest in query, I'm getting kind of concerned by how deeply intertwined
> >all of these specs seem to be getting, and how intertwined with Schemas
> >they're becoming.
> 
> One man's "intertwined" is another's "consistent".  I think a lack
> of interconnectedness would be a bigger problem.
> 
> The real problem, the one that I think is actually causing Simon's
> pain, is that these things are all too big, too complicated, and have
> a contemptuous disdain for trying to hit 80/20 points.  Missing the
> point of the Web, I call this.  Mind you, having been through the
> closing months of getting XML 1.0 finished when it was already too
> big and every power player and their dog wanted to get just one
> more feature in, I can see how it happens.  Doesn't mean it's right.
>   -Tim
> 
> ------------------------------------------------------------------
> To unsubscribe from this elist send a message with the single word
> "unsubscribe" in the body to: xml-dev-request@lists.xml.org

-- 
Kimbro Staken
Chief Technology Officer
dbXML Group L.L.C
http://www.dbxmlgroup.com