RE: The Best Technologies Don't Win

["Paul Topping" <pault@dessci.com>]

Juan R. said:

> [http://www.whatwg.org/]
>
> [http://www.w3.org/2004/04/webapps-cdf-ws/papers/opera.html]
>
> MathML has been rejected by most *mathematicians* and a few days ago
the
> Web Applications ceased to recommend the usage of MathML in the spec.

This is like saying English professors have rejected the OpenDocument
format. MathML is a computer representation for math, not something
humans (or mathematicians) are expected to type. MathML is alive and
well, thank you very much:

- MathML is in the process of being added to the next version of DAISY
(http://www.daisy.org/), an XML format for ebooks with special concern
for accessibility. DAISY is part of the NIMAS standard which  has been
adopted in the reauthorization of IDEA (Individuals with Disabilities
Education Act), a US federal law.

- "W3C Launches Math Working Group for MathML 3.0", 2006-06-28
(http://www.w3.org/Math/).

The W3C Web Applications spec has probably dropped MathML from the list
of formats they were working with because, unlike the name may imply,
they are really focussed on standardizing a set of XML languages to be
supported on mobile devices. MathML just is not important in that
context. I know, I went to their kickoff meeting some time ago.

It is one thing to have an opinion, but another thing entirely to simply
misrepresent the truth. Get a life, Juan!

(For the sake of complete full disclosure, my company's products support
MathML and readers may be reasonably concerned about bias. However, I
still stand by my position.)

Paul Topping
Design Science, Inc.