> From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
> Of course, the concept that we should redo all the RFCs into XML
> so they are
> more pleasing on a GameBoy-class display misses the point that rfc1.txt is
> still readable 32 years after being written, while both the XML and the
> display you're trying to support will probably be history within a decade.
I am not sure I agree with the statement that in 10 years XML will be history. One of
XML's greatest values is in the fact that it is a good format for long-term archiving
of written material. Some very old material (several millenia old) is available in
XML format -- that's more than the 32 years for RFC1. ;-) The reason old text has
been converted to XML is not so that people can read it on a GameBoy, but so that it
can be archived, indexed, converted to other formats, etc. An alternative point of
view is that in 10 years XML will have achieved a critical mass, so that it becomes as
entrenched as many other standards: ASCII, TCP/IP, C, etc.
My original point about XML is that you can convert to whatever format suits you. You
want plain ASCII text? Prefer to archive in plain text? You can. It's not taking
anything away, but it does offer a bit more.
--
Doug Sauder
