Tim Berners-Lee has opened up the XML and Namespace URI
issue to a wider audience, creating
a mail list to discuss
whether namespaces should be URIs in their fuller sense,
rather than purely being opaque strings.
Berners-Lee wrote:
This is a list set up - possible for a
short term - to hold the discussion
of whether XML namespaces should be URIs. Or, from my point
of view, to
persuade people of the importance of URIs in namespaces. I
am using this
mailing list, instead of just writing a note,
because it seems the differences in understanding are of the
sort which need
a back and forth
to resolve.
The list, hosted at the W3C, is archived
online and can be joined by sending a message to xml-uri-request@w3.org
with the subject line "subscribe".
Noting that his reason for setting up the list ("So when
a set of intelligent and thoughtful
people produce specifications which do not reference the URI
spec for their
global identifiers, then clearly I need to understand their
thoughts.") Berners-Lee goes on
to make the case for the use of URIs as namespace
identifiers.
In
a subsequent post, he responded to the anonymous
poster "Pope32767". Berners-Lee acknowledged the description
of the problem currently afflicting the W3C, and
addressed some of the personal comments made regarding his
position. He defended his stance of not making a unilateral
decision on the issue:
No one likes to be held up like this over
a fundamental point, but making
the
decision arbitrary to save time is not a solution IMHO. By
saying the lack
of decision
is a problem you speak for everyone.