Re: ***MATH*** (fwd)

Once upon a time Lineaer Algebraiker shaped the electrons to say...
>What I really want to know is: will we have something soon (ie. a math =
>standard and support from 'most' browsers) or should I start my own =
>alternative to the W3C, which, after all, functions far from ideally from=
>point of view?

1. No timetable has been announced for math and it is not in Wilbur or
Cougar so you are looking at *least* several more months before it shows up
in a spec.  (Unless they shock us and put it in Cougar - I doubt it.)
2. You are free to start your own group - and you will have as much, or less,
luck in getting it adopted as 3.0 had.  Since all of the major browser
companies are in the W3C and the W3C is working on their own standard - I'll
wager you'd get a VERY cold shoulder from all of the major browsers.  Sure,
maybe some small time browser picks up on it - but then you may as well just
use 3.0 and Arena.  And one of the reasons it got trashed was that Maple
and Mathematica joined and the spec as it was was unacceptable for portability
to and from their programs - the new effort is aiming to make a standard that
allows for display, transport, and reuse of the formula - not just display.

-MZ
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Received on Tuesday, 16 July 1996 14:02:11 UTC