> How can you say that XML has achieved it's popularity > solely on vendor actions? The spec and idea came first; > vendor support followed.
There are many specs and many ideas; few make it to fruition and become useful products. XML is popular because there are a bunch of products that use XML, and because it embodies a really good idea and does it tolerably well. > I think that the circumstances are all different. Standards > bodies don't, as a rule ever drive development they, well, > standardize it. That's essentially my argument, in a nutshell. The original post that started this all off was arguing that standards drove development, if I recall correctly. My counterargument is that they may channel development, but they don't drive it, typically. > In the case of Flash vrs SVG it's not a fair comparison. > Flash is an application platform with full scripting and > animation capabilities. SVG is simple a file format for > vector graphics like an open CMX or WPG. I think that > it's VERY likely that Flash will accept SVG graphics as > input soon (just as it now accepts PNG, another W3C standard, > as input) but the two technologies aren't in competition. My comparison may not be fair, but I think it's accurate. While Flash is now considered an application platform, that's not how it started - back when it was called FutureSplash or whatever, it was a vector graphics and animation tool. As for SVG, the W3C might argue that it's more than just a file format for vector graphics: http://www.w3.org/TR/SVG/interact.html http://www.w3.org/TR/SVG/script.html http://www.w3.org/TR/SVG/animate.html But yes, really, there's no comparison - SVG isn't anywhere near Flash as far as what we can do with it, today. Dave Watts, CTO, Fig Leaf Software http://www.figleaf.com/ voice: (202) 797-5496 fax: (202) 797-5444 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Archives: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/index.cfm?forumid=4 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/index.cfm?method=subscribe&forumid=4 FAQ: http://www.thenetprofits.co.uk/coldfusion/faq This list and all House of Fusion resources hosted by CFHosting.com. The place for dependable ColdFusion Hosting. Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.4
