What should I use: RDF, DAML+OIW, OWL, XTP, Future Ontology Spec...

Ack!  There seems to be an explosion of Semantic Web standards being
created.  The extreme genesis of the different specifications is making
the decision to use one difficult.  What should I use?  RDF is the most
widely used (thanks to RSS).  DAML+OWL provides a lot of missing
features.  However, OWL will soon supplement DAML.  Still, RDF - and to
a lesser extent DAML - are current standards and are implemented in a
variety of applications.  Then there are Topic Maps, another 'mature'
specification in a parallel domain as the W3C's efforts.  Finally, XLink
also seems to provide an ad-hoc method to encode the Semantic Graphs
between resources.

I reiterate, what should I use?  Should I use OWL since for future
compatibility?  Should I use RDF since it's the most widely used?  How
about Topic Maps or XLinks?

This TLA soup of the Semantic Web is driving me crazy.  I'm tempted to
eschew everything in favor of SVG and encode the graphs as graphics!!!
(I'm just joking... ;)

Can anyone help me put all of this into perspective?

--
James F. Cerra

Received on Sunday, 13 April 2003 15:47:42 UTC