Is XLink Dead? Apparently Not

After the thread a while back about the 
death of XLink, I keep finding examples 
of it being cited, particularly in the 
OGC literature.

It seems it lives.  I have to wonder 
what implementations there are and if any 
of them interoperate past spelling it the 
same way.  Or is this an example of yet 
another abstraction that has been adopted 
not by the consensus as to its utility, 
but the mere fact of standardization and 
a consensus not to reinvent that which 
has already been spec'd elsewhere 
regardless of the implementation status?

I wonder of there is a term for this 
phenomenon: polite inclusion of other 
works that are not successful in terms 
of ground support, and which become a 
drag on the uptake of the standards/specs 
which include them.

len