RE: [xml-dev] More predictions to mull over

["Len Bullard" <cbullard@hiwaay.net>]

At some point, the OSI networks became inconvenient given the changes in the
network environments, thus, they were replaced.  The Fortran apps are
typically islands and can go on as long as there is support.  When making
predictions, two things are necessary:  knowledge of the environment and
knowledge of human nature.  The first may change rapidly and that can be
unpredictable in unstable domains (uninsulated domains that are exchanging
imperatives at some frequency); the second hasn't seen a new model in 6000
years so tends to be very stable (DNA for humans is statistically identical
across the populations so evolution is imperceptible).  

Given only one dependent variable, one might say ODE is a sufficient physics
model for this problem. :-)

len


From: Michael Kay [mailto:mike@saxonica.com] 
 
> On the other hand tech like CORBA and OSI that never achieved 
> orbit or even left the launch pad in the first place are 
> thoroughly dead.

It's a common fallacy in the US that OSI never left the launch pad. Huge OSI
networks were built in Europe, and some of them ran for 20 years. The
difference between an OSI network and a Fortran app is that it's easier to
keep a Fortran app alive as the world around it changes. So most of the big
OSI networks have indeed been dismantled in the last few years. It might be
dead now, but it's not true that it was never alive.

Not entirely sure of the relevance, but I hate to see wrong historical
statements, especially when used to justify predictions about the future...