>Here is where I think you will find the crux of the disagreement.
Indeed. The question is whether hyperlinks belong in layer 6 or layer 7.
The core XML specification belongs in layer 6, and should not be
polluted with stuff that has layer 7 semantics (like xml;lang). Of
course, XML browsers are free to recognize the layer 7 semantics of
particular namespaces if they choose.
I think the hyperlinking community has never been prepared to make a
proper separation between the information content of a link and its
presentation semantics. That is why it is has been so hard to integrate
hyperlinks into XML, which requires that separation.
Michael Kay
Saxonica
