It
does do some things.
1. A public ID is recognized as Just A Name
2. A public ID has a means to be resolved that is
indirect and extensible.
3. A public ID is clearly an identifier for an owner,
class description, version number, and language.
4. A public ID may use a registry process. For
those who like that sort of thing, it is possible. It
does
enable those who choose to cooperate a
means.
5. As a level of indirection, it is no worse than
URI
to RDDL. RDDL isn't a standard and
isn't even widely deployed. Domain control
is
fine and you have that. Others might consider
it
worthwhile to control a namespace without
reference to the Internet, DNS, or other systemic
resources. They may wish to clearly and functionally
state that the owner of the namespace is Owner,
that
the Class is Class, that the Version is Version,
that
the Language is Language, and so on. That
is a
bit more flexible than the Domain name, actually
for
most of the reasons you point out. It is precisely
because companies go out of business or change
organizations that some prefer public identifiers for
published resources. It is less corrosive.
It
is an alternative being explored to avoid reinvention.
That
alone may be worth some time invested. One
should look at the other options.
If one insists that a namespace label is only a label
and
want to avoid the wink-wink nudge-nudge that
has
been the way of the Namespace Rec since
it
was published, an alternative is to use the
form
of that which is clearly Just A Name, and
the
standard from OASIS that provides a means
to
resolve that to a location should one so choose.
All
things on the Internet Are Not The Web. All
things in XML are Not On the Internet.
len
Using PUBLIC ids instead of
URIs/URLs/URCompletelyConfusedByAllTheAvailableAcronyms doesn't solve the
problem in the slightest, just moves it somewhere else. Companies will go
out of business or change the organization of their publicly available
resources. Networks will go down and computers will do things for "no
apparent reason"(TM). Hackers will spoof web sites and send viruses instead
of whatever it was you really wanted.
If two people choose to use the same string for their
namespace URI, tough. It can happen, learn to live with it. If I use a URI
that starts with my domain name, I can be fairly sure that no one else can
control what is "there"(TM), hackers notwithstanding. If I choose to use
someone else's domain name, then I can hardly complain if my applications
break because of it.
It is an imperfect world, learn to live with it.
John
_______________________________________________________
John Anderson
CTO BarbadosoftTM
The XML Management Company
+31 (0)20 750 7582 / +31 (0)6 55 347 448 / www.barbadosoft.com
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