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Jim Waldo has a weblog post at
http://www.artima.com/weblogs/viewpost.jsp?thread=4840
which, while not mentioning XML, seems to relate pretty well to some of
our standards permathreads on xml-dev. He writes:
"I can't think of a single standard that was invented by committee that
has survived in the marketplace. The long-standing standards are those
that were first de facto standards, and were described (no invented) by
the standards bodies."
Perhaps XML is a counter-example, although one could object that:
- XML is a codification of SGML best practices for the web, and hence
was described, not invented. To me, XML seems like a bit of a hybrid,
neither invented from scratch, nor a straight documentation of existing
practice.
- It's too soon to tell. At five years old, XML seems to be doing pretty
well, but it certainly isn't up there with IP or ANSI C as long-lasting
standards go.
Some of the follow-on XML standards like XML Schema and XQuery are
clearly in the "invented" category. It will be interesting keep Jim's
comments in mind as we watch their progress
Jim
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