RE: [xml-dev] Re: determining ID-ness in XML

["Champion, Mike" <Mike.Champion@SoftwareAG-USA.com>]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Bullard, Claude L (Len) [mailto:clbullar@ingr.com]
> Sent: Thursday, November 01, 2001 10:31 AM
> To: Champion, Mike; xml-dev@lists.xml.org
> Subject: RE: [xml-dev] Re: determining ID-ness in XML
> 
> 
> Ever inscribe Arabic numerals into stone?  Requirements 
> count.

Thanks for elucidating a requirement that Roman numerals fufill better than
Arabic!  I hadn't thought of that ... and it does explain why you tend to
see Roman numerals on cornerstones and tombstones...  

Anyway, SGML *is* best for inscribing documents into "stone" so that they
can be read in 20 or 50 years.  XML evolved from it to meet use cases
requiring messages enscribed in "paper", and finding and cross-referencing
information is more important than persisting it forever.  xml:id is being
proposed because the requirement of cross referencing information easily
outweighs the requirement to leverage the SGML standards in many XML
applications these days.