Alternatives to browsers (was Re: Alternatives to the W3C)

[Tim Bray]

At 03:56 PM 1/18/00 -0000, Miles Sabin wrote:
>I'm having trouble seeing why XML over HTTP is preferable to
>eg. CORBA or Java RMI 

Nobody would call it preferable in the general case.  The story I keep
hearing is that in comparison with XML, HTTP, string, and glue, frameworks 
like CORBA and RMI offer you, say N times as much (security, transaction 
semantics, etc), but cost M times as much time & money to deploy.  In some 
application contexts the relative values of M and N would predispose you 
toward CORBA, in others towards using XML.

If there's an underlying lesson, it's that the Web is all about doing
a lot with a little; the HTML/HTTP/URI trio have to count as one of the
great 80/20 point bullseyes in the history of technology.  With XML
messaging and HTTP piping, you can sometimes do a whole lot remarkably
quickly.

Doesn't mean CORBA's obsolete.  DCOM, maybe. -T.

xml-dev: A list for W3C XML Developers. To post, mailto:xml-dev at ic.ac.uk
Archived as: http://www.lists.ic.ac.uk/hypermail/xml-dev/ or CD-ROM/ISBN 981-02-3594-1
Please note: New list subscriptions now closed in preparation for transfer to OASIS.