Re: AJAX vs. Xforms

Mark Birbeck wrote:

> So you will understand if my frustration at the fact we haven't won over
> people like yourself is far, far overshadowed by the fact that you don't
> mind making assertions that are either unfounded or out of date. Speaking
> for my company, our processor is a 100% implementation of XForms 1.0 and is
> not 'flakey'. It is being used in a number of multinational companies, in
> situations such as managing remote devices (such as CCTV cameras and petrol
> pumps), in remote working situations (such as CRM), in mortgage application
> systems, risk management systems, and more. 

And it's completely irrelevant to me because:

1. It's closed source
2. It's Windows only

Such a product lets you work in some closed intranet environments, but 
it's totally unsuitable for the Internet. AJAX works on the Web today. 
No plugins. No muss. No fuss. XForms doesn't.

> I have personally demonstrated
> elaborate XForms at conferences (and you will recall that I was eager to do
> demonstrations at SD Best Practices session on AJAX and XForms that you
> kindly asked me to speak at, but you felt it would be best not to).

Round tables don't normally have A/V at that particular conference. I 
still think the talk went well. You're welcome to submit a longer 
session for next year's show that would give you the opportunity to 
present more compelling demos. However, in our experience the audience 
prefers sessions that focus on broader, open technologies that they can 
use today on their platform of choice. if there were multiple different 
implementations of XForms for different platforms, then certainly you 
could demo FormsPlayer in the context of a broader talk about XForms; 
just as you could use IE to demo AJAX.  The difference is that just 
because the presenter is using IE on Windows, doesn't mean the 
programmer in the audience can't use Mozilla on Linux instead. As long 
as FormsPlayer is the only reliable option, though, then it starts to 
look like a product pitch.

-- 
Elliotte Rusty Harold  elharo@metalab.unc.edu
XML in a Nutshell 3rd Edition Just Published!
http://www.cafeconleche.org/books/xian3/
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=0596007647/cafeaulaitA/ref=nosim

Received on Monday, 31 October 2005 12:22:02 UTC