Re: vCard - Old vs. New?

Dear all:

 From the messages in the thread, I conclude that:

1. There is an actual problem.
2. There are good reasons to converge the two vCard variants for the 
Semantic Web.
3. This will require additional discussion and work, both on the 
technical and organizational side.
4. Until this will have happened, there is no rush to update existing 
applications that create output using the old vCard specification. (Due 
to the masses of "old" vCard data, it would not be prudent for any 
data-consuming application to accept only "new" vCard data anyway - see 
my SWOOGLE figures from the initial mail - 230,000 vs. 470 datasets - 
which implies that continuing to create "old"-style vCard should be 
tolerable.)

Or am I wrong in any of those points?

Best
Martin

PS: Research in the economics of standardization shows that the 
migration to a new standard requires technology to reduce the switching 
costs for everybody involved (at least users and application 
developers). Otherwise, positive network externalities for the 
established standard cause inertia that may eventually prevent the broad 
adoption of the new standard. So just publishing a new version may not 
be sufficient given the strong position of the old vCard spec. We need 
conversion tools etc.

Renato Iannella wrote:
>
> On 7 May 2009, at 12:08, Sandro Hawke wrote:
>
>> Interestingly, it doesn't seem like this question has ever come up
>> before. If there were a Working Group with this in scope, it could
>> (following appropriate process) publish a new version at that same
>> location, but short of that, there's no handy solution. Harry and I
>> have talked about it, though, and will try to come up with something.
>
>
>
--------------------------------------------------------------
martin hepp
e-business & web science research group
universitaet der bundeswehr muenchen

e-mail: mhepp@computer.org
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 	http://www.heppnetz.de/ (personal)
skype:  mfhepp 


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