Yowsa. In ecosystems, niches aren't a bad thing. They are the only thing. An ecosystem with only one application is just a very large and probably doomed niche. XML is dumb in some ways, but very reapplicable so it thrives. HTML is a box-display and that is the most common means of working with the page metaphor, so it thrives. VRML/X3D is a scene graph and that can be slow, but like the page metaphor, it is reapplicable to many tasks so it never dies.
The urge to focus on one single application is normal, but if you are building a toolkit such as VOS, it would be deadly. You're doing the right thing, but it violates two of the web myths: easy and simple. Simplistic analogies will sell it perhaps, but don't get trapped by your own press. VOS won't be a tool everyone can use. The niche that can can do a lot with it. I think that is Reed's point, yes? len From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Peter Amstutz Well, I guess you proved Reed's point by misinterpreting the analogy... The point isn't really about XML per se, it's that the acceptance of XML has created an ecosystem of tools that operate on generic XML, which means applications using XML can leverage those tools. We're proposing something similar in spirit, that a flexible runtime system can support the development of an ecosystem of applications that work together and are more powerful than the sum of their parts. Otherwise I agree, documents are not code, and there's an ocean of difference between the essentially context-free, declarative nature of documents and the essentially stateful, imperative nature of code. _______________________________________________ vos-d mailing list vos-d@interreality.org http://www.interreality.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/vos-d
