Re: Diverse Tools (was HTML editors)

["Simon North" <north -at- synopsys -dot- COM>]

Keith Cronin said: 

> you can't say that
> it doesn't work at all, can you? Can 50 million web pages be wrong?

OK, I'll rise to the bait ... 

what would you call "working". 50 million pages, fine, but the best 
search technology we can offer is FULL TEXT SEARCH ! you call 
that working? It's the equivalent of walking into the library of 
congress, dumping the catalog cards on the floor and then looking 
for a passage in a book. My definition of 'working' requires just a 
little more than that. 

Without the contrived analogies ... the web works? my turn for a 
counter challenge ... c'mon, anything that relies on such a puerile, 
braindead mechanism as physically embedding hyperlink source 
points and target in documents is so patently worthless that any 
attempt to call it 'working' is frankly laughable. 

Compare HTML with the richness of HyTime linking: external links, 
one-to-many, many-to-one, many-to-many links; semantic 
identifiable links, transclusion (allowing the creation of composite 
'virtual' documents), add in architectural forms (warning: do NOT 
start me off on why namespaces suck!) a whole host of technical 
capabilities that so far surpass anything that HTML could do that 
you might as well compare Lego with concrete, bricks and mortar. 
HTML is a kiddies' toy. It does some cute things, but it is not 
engineering.    

OK, I'm not convinced that the Semantic Web is more than an 
idealistic dream (if you haven't heard the term, I suggest you check 
it out fast as this may well be what the Web of the the future could 
look like), but it's sure a step in the right direction. What you call 
"working" is an amateurish shambles. Amusing, a good prototype 
even, but not ready for prime time. 

Simon. 
 

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