Re: new names for OWL lite/fast/large

I take Jim's points and personally prefer OWL as the name for the "large 
OWL", and have the other variations use qualifiers.  The language version 
that has the unqualified name will have a certain special status, and I 
don't think anything but the large version has a right to be thought of as 
"the true" OWL.  I'm sure no one proposing to call "fast OWL" simply OWL 
means it to be true OWL (or maybe they do), but it will be interpreted 
that way.

I like Peter's ideas regarding actual OWL species, and in fact had been 
browsing the web for names as well.  It may be cute, but there is no 
reason we can't adopt actual owls as a "logo" or "nickname" for each of 
the language levels.  In fact,  it might be better, given that taxonomies 
will be a large part of what OWL ontologies will contain, to capture the 
scientific taxonomy of OWLs in our nicknaming. 

Large OWL, for example, is really a syntax and semantics for, potentially, 
a whole order of languages.  Owls, coincidentally, have their own order:


Kingdom: Animal
Phylum: Chordata (having a hollow dorsal nervecord and flexible skeletal rod)
Sub-Phylum: Vertebrata (having a backbone)
Class: Aves (Birds)
Order: Strigiformes (Owls)

And under strigiformes there are two families, four subfamilies, and a 
large numer of genera.

Businesses may not like cute, but they do spend a lot of time and money 
coming up with logos.  Take the variations of the Java logo, for example. 
There's no reason we can be just as ... clever.

-Chris

Dr. Christopher A. Welty, Knowledge Structures Group
IBM Watson Research Center, 19 Skyline Dr.
Hawthorne, NY  10532     USA 
Voice: +1 914.784.7055,  IBM T/L: 863.7055
Fax: +1 914.784.6078, Email: welty@us.ibm.com

Received on Sunday, 20 October 2002 10:05:17 UTC