Clarification request: OWL vs. RDF Schemas

Reviewing the OWL Guide version 1.0,
http://www.w3.org/TR/2003/WD-owl-guide-20030210/:

As a reader NOT participating in the working group (ie, not being part
of all the intricate discussions), the current document is very
confusing on the issue on how OWL and RDFS relate. The impression one
gets when reading the document is that OWL picks bits and pieces of the
RDFS document for its own purposes (rdfs:subClassOf, rdfs:label, etc),
but deliberately ignores or deprecates, for example, rdfs:Property or
rdfs:Class by introducing owl:Class, owl:ObjectProperty, and owl:Thing,
etc. I presume there is a clear model on how these notions relate to one
another, but I am afraid the current document creates real confusion to
the community. Adding a separate chapter describing the 'onion model' of
concentric possibilities offered by RDFS and the various OWL dialect
would be beneficial.

Ivan

--

Ivan Herman
W3C Head of Offices
C/o W3C Benelux Office at CWI, Kruislaan 413, 1098SJ Amsterdam, The
Netherlands
tel: +31-20-5924163; mobile: +31-641044153; 
URL: http://www.w3.org/People/all?pictures=yes#ivan

Received on Wednesday, 12 February 2003 09:54:25 UTC