- From: Waddell, Cynthia <cynthia.waddell@ci.sj.ca.us>
- Date: Thu, 7 Oct 1999 09:43:27 -0700
- To: "'uaccess-l@trace.wisc.edu'" <uaccess-l@trace.wisc.edu>, Dan Rogers <danro@MICROSOFT.COM>
- Cc: WAI Interest Group <w3c-wai-ig@w3.org>
Al, Thank you for your comments. Cynthia D. Waddell --------------------------------------------------- Cynthia D. Waddell ADA Coordinator City Manager Department City of San Jose, CA USA 801 North First Street, Room 460 San Jose, CA 95110-1704 (408)277-4034 (408)971-0134 TTY (408)277-3885 FAX http://www.rit.edu/~easi/webcast/cynthia.htm http://www.aasa.dshs.wa.gov/access/waddell.htm -----Original Message----- From: Al Gilman [mailto:asgilman@iamdigex.net] Sent: Thursday, October 07, 1999 10:01 AM To: Dan Rogers Cc: WAI Interest Group; uaccess-l@trace.wisc.edu Subject: Re: xml?[Fwd: News or idle rumor?] At 05:55 PM 10/6/99 -0500, David Poehlman wrote: >it has been said that microsoft plans to develop something propriatary >and perhaps sinister surrounding xml. here is the response to that >missive. > >-------- Original Message -------- >Subject: News or idle rumor? >Date: Wed, 6 Oct 1999 14:48:11 -0700 >From: Dan Rogers <danro@microsoft.com> >Reply-To: uaccess-l@trace.wisc.edu >To: "'uaccess-l@trace.wisc.edu'" <uaccess-l@trace.wisc.edu> >CC: "'jn@tommy.demon.co.uk'" <jn@tommy.demon.co.uk> > [snip] > >Point 3. The writer of this incorrect missive states that Microsoft >is using XML in a proprietary way. This is patently rediculous. How can >you use the standard (W3C XML) in a proprietary way [?] The XML specification per se doesn't tell you enough about any document written in XML to write a competent application processing that document. It tells you some preliminaries enough to write a pre-processor module in that Ap. So it is perfectly possible to use XML in a way which is totally open or effectively closed. That is well understood in the XML community. The W3C is still engaged in vigorous debate about just how to share the rest of what you should know about a given XML application profile. This is not to argue that Microsoft is or is not using XML in their applications in a way that is improper. I just want to observe that the established body of W3C Recommendations does leave room for worry. XML is not sufficient for open. Open is not necessary for accessible. For WAI purposes, proprietary vs. open is not the right issue to be homed in on. What we are striving for in our dialogs between the WAI and the XML activity in the W3C is to lay the foundations for universally-understood methods of "graceful transformation" (see WCAG) for XML document content, with sufficent markup and constraint infrastructure to support those. Dan, would you consider including in your "welcome to the library" message to people who join the BizTalk service a note to the effect that access for people with disabilities for XML applications is still under development? We really need a few more people who are actually developing application profiles beyond just the DAISY digital talking book involved to add a few grains of reality checking to the effort. Al
Received on Thursday, 7 October 1999 12:46:52 UTC