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> We've already seen W3C redefining the meaning of the common
> noun "XML schema" and someone pointed [1] me on the
> definition of the common noun "Web service" in the W3C "Web
> services glossary" [2]:
It's a long-established convention in the world of computing that
writers of specifications can define their own terminology. Like
Humpty-Dumpty, you can use a word to mean whatever you want it to mean,
with the proviso that you define your terms.
After all, Microsoft even called one of their proprietary character sets
"ANSI".
It's another established convention in computing that where a name has
local scope, it can be qualified to disambiguate it when used in a
larger scope. So other people are perfectly entitled to speak of "W3C
XML Schema" or "Microsoft ANSI" if they feel this is necessary to avoid
confusion.
Michael Kay
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