Re: URN's -- adequate and/or appropriate?

Mark Waks ([email protected])
Tue, 18 Apr 95 13:30:43 EDT


Don writes:
>I recommend we defer the whole series of other-than-URL issues until
>something is really working around the web. The excitement of
>building virtual worlds may kid us into thinking we can solve all of
>the world's problems at once...

In theory, I agree with you. In practice, I don't know if we have that
luxury. These issues are going to become *very* critical very fast,
because they touch heavily on how we lay out our VRML "world". URLs,
IMO, are inadequate to the task; they just aren't designed for an object-
oriented world. If we lock ourselves into them, we may find ourselves
locked into models that don't work well.

Similarly, the URI working teams may be treading down a path that is
entirely adequate for Mosaic, but wholly unsuited to us. If that's the
case (I'm not sure it is, but I suspect it might be), then we need to
start influencing that process *now*, and make sure that the standards
evolve into something we can use. We can't just assume that something
suitable will evolve for us; we've got to figure out what we need and
want, and start contributing to the other standards processes...

-- Justin
Who thinks that the URN/URC *concepts* have
real merit for us, but the current
*implementation* ideas may be unsuited...

Random Quote du Jour:

"Don't think of those people as mundanes;
think of them as medievally challenged."
-- Melisande de Belvoir