Re: XML Fever

Alas, after reading your insightful article, Erik, I am afraid my diagnosis 
remains a mystery.   My condition falls into none of your writ ailments 
(although I have been known to catch the Ontology Overkill [see Patent Office, 
archives--search: Abandoned, US11/333,642]).   So I will try to explain my 
condition to you, and hopefully you can produce a name for it.  Somewhere along 
the way,  I mashed up the properties of electrons and XML datasets in my head.   
What I saw blended were orders of atoms, associated with electrons adjacent 
them, behaving in peculiar union with entire ontologies.  Datastreams became 
rivers of power, and power became the force which broke the straw over the 
camel's back.   I saw--much like life itself--electronic bits intertwined with 
the internet taking on behaviors, a life of its own, until--BLAM!--the bit hit 
the fan.   Perhaps I am betrothed with Delusions of Granularity?    How 
appropriate is XML as a segue way  to pure Artificial Intelligence, in that its 
responses to online activities are directly proportional to the physical 
environment?   
 
Michael A. Norton
 




________________________________
From: Erik Wilde <dret@berkeley.edu>
To: public-egov-ig@w3.org
Cc: Sean McGrath <sean.mcgrath@propylon.com>
Sent: Tue, August 31, 2010 8:27:38 AM
Subject: Re: Honest question

looks like people out there are still suffering from XML fever...

http://dret.net/netdret/docs/wilde-cacm2008-xml-fever.html

i think sean is correct in saying that the problem may not be XML itself, but 
the expectation that it solves all the hard problems which are inherent to 
distribution and decentralization... cheers, dret.

Sean McGrath wrote:
> Mike Norton wrote:
>> Am I the only one in the world who's been driven mad by XML? Links 
>>appreciated....
> Mike,
> 
> No, you are not alone:-) The biggest problem is not related to details
> of syntax etc. in my opinion. The biggest problem is the unrealistic
> expectations placed on XML to solve the worlds interoperability and
> semantic encoding problems. See http://xml.sys-con.com/node/40310.
> 
> regards,
> Sean
> 
> 
> 
> 

-- erik wilde   tel:+1-510-6432253 - fax:+1-510-6425814
      dret@berkeley.edu  -  http://dret.net/netdret
       UC Berkeley - School of Information (ISchool)