On 10/18/13 11:41 AM, Michael Sokolov wrote:
> Your vision is attractive, but it strikes me as impractical ... wouldn't
> it be nice if we could just all be adults and get along?
No, that's not going to happen. A large point of my point is that
expecting people to "just all be adults and get along" is pernicious
nonsense that the XML community has normalized through its legalistic
approach.
Confining battlegrounds to committee rooms isn't really a good way to
deal with communications.
> I think of
> schemas and structured conversations as the armor that you need when you
> go into a hostile environment.I don't think you make the environment
> less hostile by stripping off your armor. Well, you *can*, but you have
> to be willing to risk everything.
You're risking everything every day anyway. Armor makes it awfully hard
to move, and especially hard to move quickly. Hot oil makes armor a
serious disadvantage.
> Sometimes that may be worth it if you
> think there is a rational partner with whom you can negotiate. Certainly
> it's worth trying to create situations where looser agreements can work
> since everyone benefits.
I'm not talking about agreements. I'm talking about taking what someone
sends you and seeing what (if anything) you can do with it.
> But there can be situations (cooperating with
> natural enemies) where more explicit standards keep people from tearing
> at each other's throats.
There are certainly situations where the "natural enemies" can't imagine
doing it any other way.
Thanks,
--
Simon St.Laurent
http://simonstl.com/
