Was RDF started in 1989? Then why was it lost?

Take a look at the graphic [1] at the top of Tim Burners-Lee's original
proposal for the WWW [2].  The similarities between that image and a RDF
graph are remarkable!  Is RDF a direct descendent of that work?  Why did
the linking mechanism for HTML drift from "semantically useful" arcs to
generic anchors?  I mean, a lot of the issues that Dr. Burners-Lee
described (such as the inadequacy of keywords) were repeated with search
engines on the WWW.  Why was the originally intended linking concept
lost and supplanted with the less-effective system predominately used
now?
 
--
James F. Cerra 

[1] http://www.w3.org/History/1989/Image1.gif

[2] http://www.w3.org/History/1989/proposal.html

Received on Tuesday, 22 April 2003 22:32:29 UTC