Re: Open Systems

[Joe Fockler <jfockler -at- IPHASE -dot- COM>]

Point well taken. Thanks for the information. I am not familiar
with SGML so I must admit my ignorance.

Joe
According to Steve Fouts : +
+ Joe Fockler said:

+ (about format interchange between PageMaker and Frame)

+ |}
+ |} That could lead to a market monopoly. I like the fact that each
+ |} company must be innovative and clever. Makes the job tasks a
+ |} little more difficult, but gives us more products to choose
+ |} from.
+ |}

+ All those "Open Systems" folks would argue with you on that point. The
+ whole point to the SGML movement is the creation and use of a platform
+ and hardware independent file format.

+ The hope is that it leads away from a market monopoly of the likes created
+ when some monolithic software company creates a proprietary "standard" by
+ fiat. This situation tends to lead to survival of the largest, most popular,
+ etc.

+ The lack of a standard format that can be freely interchanged between various
+ software tools sometimes leads corporations to adopt corporate standards that
+ say "yay, verily, everyone must use the Iza Professional Writer when
+ composing pages for this company!" for everything from memos to 500 page
+ tech manuals. Ugly.

+     _______________________
+    /  ___  __/__\  \ /  / _\    Steve Fouts
+   /___ \|  |  ___\  |  /  __\   sfouts -at- ellison -dot- ti -dot- com
+  /   /  \  |      \   /      \
+ /_______/__|_______\_/________\ Unprovided with original learning,
+ uniformed in the habits of thinking, unskilled in the arts of composition,
+ I resolved to write a book.    -- Edward Gibbon