XML Information Set Requirements, W3C Note 18-February-1999

[Paul Prescod]

"Simon St.Laurent" wrote:
> 
> It seems that some of XML's original denizens aren't too happy about
> proposals for making XML useful in a broader set of fields than document
> publishing and interchange.  Paul pours cold water on having the Infoset
> group ponder anything new, and James says he'll be disappointed because XML
> is no longer focused on its original problem set.
> 
> Why so glum?  

I'm not glum. It just is not the mandate of the infoset group to invent
new purposes for XML. The infoset group is exactly like a supreme court
interpreting -- but not changing -- the constitution, which in this case
is the XML specification. The terminology used in the XML specification is
"document". Therefore that should be the terminology used by the infoset
people.

As far as a "document focus" being limiting: XML's current popularity in
all sorts of fields indicates that that is not the case. If you take a
database and encode it for transmission over a wire then you have a
document. If you encode a message from one computer to another then you
also have a document. I don't see this view as in any way limiting XML's
problem domain.

-- 
 Paul Prescod  - ISOGEN Consulting Engineer speaking for only himself
 http://itrc.uwaterloo.ca/~papresco

"Intel has a big bull's-eye on its forehead because everyone is gunning
for it. But they have to be as nimble and aggressive as they were when
they were a small company," Mr. Howe said. "It's easy to be nimble when
you're a $5-billion company, it's a whole other thing when you're a
$40-billion company." 
    - http://www.globeandmail.ca/gam/ROB/19990217/RPENT.html

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