Re: KD 002 [was: Comments on Web Arch WD - 2004-07-05]

On Tue, 2004-09-28 at 12:55, Karl Dubost wrote: 
> Le 22 sept. 2004, à 16:29, Norman Walsh a écrit :
> > | * KD 002
> > | Global identification. This is a very important point which is a lot
> > | wider than identification in terms of URI but relies on the social
> > | benefits of shared decision (mostly by consensus). The Web can work
> > | because there's one XHTML not because there are two competing
> > | solutions. Trying to always bring the competing solutions in one and
> > | unique forum is better than having to fight outside on implementation
> > | taking the users in hostage.
> >
> > Hi Karl,
> >
> > The TAG discussed this comment on 13 Sep, but we really weren't sure 
> > what
> > you meant. Could you explain what you mean in a little more detail? 
> > Thanks.
> 
> Simply :) what you are saying about URI (and then identification) is 
> valid for all languages defined on the Web.
>
> """
> In order to communicate internally, a community agrees (to a reasonable 
> extent) on a set of terms and their meanings. One design goal for the 
> Web, from its inception, has been to build a global community in which 
> any party can share information with any other party.
> """
> 
> I would not only stress that is valid for URIs but that is very 
> important for *any* standards made on the Web.
> 	XFoo is useful because it has been decided at consensus with the wider 
> community possible.

After consideration of your comment, we added some text to clarify:

"To achieve this goal, the Web makes use of a single global
identification system: the URI. URIs are a cornerstone of Web
architecture, providing identification that is common across the Web."

-- section 2. Identification
  Editor's Draft 19 October 2004
  http://www.w3.org/2001/tag/2004/webarch-20041019/#identification


> It's good to have agreement on identification, it's also fondamental 
> for languages which define application on the Web.

Well, it's actually not fundamental for languages (nor protocols)
the way it is for URIs. While consensus on lots of languages is
valuable the Web architecture allows for a spectrum of data formats,
from ubiquitously deployed formats like HTML to propritary
spreadsheet formats to single-afternoon hacks. And it allows for
a similar variety of protocols. But to choose an identification
system other than URIs is to choose out of Web architecture
altogether.

Thanks for your detailed review. I hope you find this response
satisfactory, or at least acceptable. Please let us know
whether you do or not.


-- 
Dan Connolly, W3C http://www.w3.org/People/Connolly/
D3C2 887B 0F92 6005 C541  0875 0F91 96DE 6E52 C29E