Hey John... (01)
Excellent points. (02)
John F. Sowa wrote:
> Bill,
>
> Just two points:
>
> 1. Immaturity is a relative term. You can have technology that
> is sufficiently mature to be useful even though it is far
> from what we'd like to have in the long run. As scientists,
> we have to take a long-term view. As engineers, we have to
> solve the problems we face today. (03)
Agreed. (04)
> So we just implemented a trivial translator to Prolog and/or CL.
> It's lightning fast, it works, and it doesn't fail. For output,
> we export to anything anybody asks for. (05)
Wonderful! I don't need to tell you that *all* large systems work (and
will work) that way. It's going to be the functionality at the API/UI
that counts, and nobody will give a damn whether there are gerbils on
habitrails running the thing inside. (06)
Standards are useful but are no panacea. I was working on a project
where I was shown a XML model in which the developers proudly proclaimed
that they used ISO 3166 as their standard data element for the "country
of birth" XML element. I looked at 3166 and came back to them "So, I
suppose nobody you're interested in was (or could have been) born in
Czechoslovakia, because it doesn't appear in 3166". (07)
> Bottom line: Give the customers what they ask for, but don't
> let them dictate what tools you use. (08)
Everybody listen to John. (09)
Bill Andersen
Chief Scientist
Ontology Works, Inc. (http://www.ontologyworks.com)
3600 O'Donnell Street, Suite 600
Baltimore, MD 21224
Office: 410-675-1201
Cell: 443-858-6444
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