The fact is, this isn't about markup, Eric.  Markup is just plumbing and
really, the last part of client design.  This isn't about the document
metaphor per se which yes, has survived but not in its original media or
form.

It is about the characteristics of the client with respect to interactive
modes, latency handling, requirements for co-location, security, identity
handling, IP handling, and so on.

So no, you won't convince me.

len

-----Original Message-----
From: Eric van der Vlist [mailto:vdv@d...] 
  
> The day of the document as the focal point is past.  Why would that be a
> problem?  It isn't going away.  It is just one among many options.

It might be because I am a relatively new comer in the markup world (9
years only) and that I have not yet had the time to explore all its
possibilities but I strongly disagree with that analysis. 

Documents have been invented centuries ago and they've proved that they
can be used for pretty much everything and survive pretty much
everything. By contrast, applications usually last months or years at
the best and do not survive major software upgrades. 

I do believe that the document paradigm is the best one for the web for
this reason and a number of other ones and I think that fat client
applications should remain a niche in the web rather than the other way
round. 

Anyway, Len, I don't think I'll able able to convince you ;) but would
be curious to now what other people think on this list!

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