Re: working SGML package

[Gary Lawrence Murphy <garym@canada.com>]

>>>>> "V" == Vern Hoxie <vern@zebra.alphacdc.com> writes:

    V> After chasing my tail around all the references given on this
    V> list, it's my opinion that there are no current tools.

Oh-oh. You found out!   Darn, and it was such a swell hoax.

You're right.  There are none.  There is not even the mythical
MS XML module for Word.  None of it exists.  Stop looking.  There
is nothing to find.  It is a wild goose chase perpertrated by wackos
like me who delight in distracting people.

Seriously, yes, it is a mess with a capital M.  It gets even worse if
you want to use SGML to produce something more aesthetic than the
dead-ugly default DocBook layout (remember, remember, it's _free_)

... *but* it was not long ago when you could have said the same about
C (in 1980 the only C compiler was a freebee from Dr.Dobbs), about
object oriented programming (in 84 all I had was XLisp and a broken
subset of Smalltalk, and in 1987 I had to reverse engineer class libs
fetched by email from Switzerland) the web (in 1992 we had only a few
example pages to pillage for tutorials) or Java (how many spinning heads
did *you* write?)

What we are seeing with XML today is the transfer of something that
was the sole domain of large corporations being only now made
available to the unwashed masses.  You can't buy a book on DocBook
(yet), but you can attend an XML conference in Belgium in two weeks to
fill your ears with success stories.  Pioneers are expected to roll
their own.

My advice: Like Linux on laptops, keep *all* your notes and make a
name for yourself by simplifying the process and building new tools.

-- 
Gary Lawrence Murphy <garym@linux.ca>: office voice/fax: 01 519 4222723
TCI - Business Innovations through Open Source : http://www.teledyn.com
Canadian Co-ordinators for Bynari International : http://www.bynari.com
Moderator, Linux Education Group: http://www.egroups.com/group/linux-ed


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