comments and concerns

When dealing with entity resolution and catalogs, my principal 
preoccupation

goes to the applicability and usability.

I'm not sure whether these should be formulated as comments or 
as formal

issues, but I'll enumerate them here, subject to 
discussion:

 

a) Interoperability/compatibility

Many of the XML processors (not all, I recognize) also deal 
with SGML and

are expected to perform well in both environments.  In 
the opinion of software

developpers and implementers (which I am not), do we feel that 
the new syntax

and formats can be treated equally well in a "dual" 
processor?

 

b) Migration

 In many areas, complex SGML applications are being 
migrated to simpler,

swifter XML applications.  Would it be conceivable that 
tools be developped

to migrate SGML (OASIS) catalogs to the new XML format?  
Coudl OASIS

entertain the notion of subsidizing the development of such 
tools?

 

c) Explicit catalog reference

In all SGML catalog applications, 
the processor was responsible for locating

and resolving the catalog entries in a processor-specific 
manner; many of us would have

liked, is the ability to indicate explicitely in the instance, 
the catalog to be used,

overriding the processors' defaults.  There might be an 
opportunity here to implement

such an option, perhaps via the use of a "recommended" 
processing instruction.  

 

Looking forward to read everyone's comments.

Normand (the other Norm)

--- Haec sed satis, vale et me ama 
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