RE: [xml-dev] XML Buzzwords. RFC

["Bullard, Claude L (Len)" <clbullar@ingr.com>]

There is no reasonable and workable solution to this 
problem.  It goes to the heart of the freedom of use 
of metalanguage standards.   Registration to ensure that 
available specifications and designs are publicly disseminated 
is a good idea.  However, only contractual requirements make 
them binding to any given project or process.

People just have to learn how to read, evaluate and choose 
well.  Otherwise, turn the web into a public utility, 
regulate it from whatever government turns your crank, 
and get ready for the walls of communication so carefully 
dismantled in the last decade to go back up fast and furious.

Be careful what you ask of your babysitter.

len

-----Original Message-----
From: Joel Bender [mailto:jjb5@cornell.edu]

>I just feel that there is now more XML APIs than I can
>keep track of,  so I want it all to go into one place ;-)
>Kinda pragmatic thing. CPAN is pragmatic.

There is an article that just floated through my inbox about OASIS 
work that is at least related (see below).  I would rather not have 
to be an OASIS member to get my buzzwords registered, and besides, 
your database would probably have more than one entry pointing to one 
of theirs :-).


Joel
------------------------------------------------------------
XML Specifications
Where are the standards?
by Rich Seeley


The rapid and unchecked proliferation of XML-related
standards for a variety of specialized and vertical market
applications is becoming a headache not only for developers
and software vendors, but also for standards advocacy groups.

Outside a select group of metadata analysts and XML gurus,
who knows how many standards are in the works and which are
unique and which overlap? The Websites for various standards
bodies are like the proverbial blind men washing the pachyderm.
Each one has detailed information on one part of the beast,
but few if any have a concept of the whole elephant.

An attempt to remedy this situation will be made at the
Interoperability Summit in Orlando, Florida, scheduled for
Dec. 6 and 7. On the agenda of the meeting, sponsored by
standards bodies including HR-XML, OASIS, OMG, UN/CEFACT,
and XBRL.org, are plans for creating a Standards Metadata
Registry. If it were successful, the registry would be a
place "where common metadata can be stored for standards
efforts, promoting interoperability of specifications across
different consortia," organizers say.

"A Standards Metadata Registry will allow groups to publicize
their specifications and discover what other organizations are
doing," according to Karl Best, director of technical operations
for the Boston-based OASIS standards consortium. "This will
lead to better communication between the various standards
bodies, resulting in less overlap of efforts and
interoperability of completed work."

For more information: http://www.omg.org/interop/.