Re: TAG Response to request to consider XML Schema 1.1

Rick Jelliffe asks:

> The TAG includes as members an editor of the Structures recommendation 
> (HT), an editor of the Datatypes recommendation (AM), a former member 
> (NW), a former staff contact (DC), and the TAG co-chair (NM) is also a 
> current member. I don't understand why this is "at least two", except 
> polemically. And, actually, it is a majority who have had ties to the 
> XSD work, not a minority.

> Since NH [I assume that's a typo for NM?] and HT are well-known in
> a decade of public comments and 
> actions to oppose any attempts to make XSD officially more 
> non-monolithic or layered

Sorry, I wasn't trying to do anything tricky when I said "at least two". I 
indeed had in mind Henry and myself.  Certainly I wasn't counting Norm, 
who is a former member and who plays no greater role than any other 
participant on www-tag in deciding what the TAG does. 

You are right that I had quite forgotten about Ashok and Dan's former 
involvement in XSD, for which I apologize.  It seems sufficiently distant 
now that I tend to forget about it.  Perhaps it will ease your mind and 
justify my forgetfulness that Ashok was the one TAG member who voted to 
take up your concern.  You are also right that Dan was also the XSD WG 
staff contact in the early days.  Dan can speak for himself, but I'll say 
that I don't think of him as someone particularly associated with the 
positions that you ascribe (more or less correctly, I think) to Henry and 
me. 

> and since I would expect that they will be deferred to (as key 
> members of the W3C XSD WG) by any other TAG members who may 
> unfathomably be disinclined to have much passion about schema languages, 


I can only say that if this is so, you and I have been watching very 
different TAGs the last few years.  I don't think I can recall once in 
this discussion when a TAG member not associated with XSD said anything 
like "gee, you're the experts".  I can recall several times when Henry or 
I said something about the state of play with XSD where another TAG member 
said words to the effect of:  "are you sure that hanging out with all 
those XSD folks isn't biasing what you're saying?" 

Rick, I can understand if not necessarily agree with your frustration with 
what the W3C and the XSD working group have done over the years and now. I 
can understand your disappointment that the TAG chose not to take up this 
issue, though I have felt from the start that independent of its technical 
or strategic merits, you would do better to work this through the regular 
comment process, as you are also doing.  I very strongly believe that your 
intuition that the TAG's actions on this are biased by the history that 
Henry, I, or other TAG members have with XSD is way, way off base.  I 
don't think it serves your cause well for you to look there for trouble. 
As I chair, I assure you that the TAG will make every reasonable effort to 
treat your concerns fairly, and appropriately, now and in the future. 
Thank you.

Noah

--------------------------------------
Noah Mendelsohn 
IBM Corporation
One Rogers Street
Cambridge, MA 02142
1-617-693-4036
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Received on Wednesday, 3 June 2009 14:25:12 UTC