[uf-discuss] Comments from IBM/Lotus rep about Microformats

[Costello, Roger L.]

Mike Schinkel wrote:

> The core problem is no strategies have been adopted to avoid naming
> collisions, and to avoid having the whole concept self destruct from
it's
> own weight of complexity. People who want to contribute but can't
because
> the centralized Microformat community is not interested will go off
and
> create their own and names start clashing, we'll just be left with
one big
> mess. 

> Most of the Microformat community seems to want to keep Microformats
a tight
> knit club focused on a small number of use cases that reviews and
approves
> everything, declining things they don't like, but I think there is
really an
> obligation to the Internet at large to address how to scale the
process
> because Microformats squat on a scare resource (names in classes.) 

Mike, you've raised some excellent concerns.  It fundamentally boils
down to an issue of interoperability.  If the Microformat's community
splinters and, say, multiple versions of hCard are created then we
immediately have an interoperability problem.  

Tantek calls namespaces an enabler of stovepipes. 

I hope that Tantek will weigh in on this issue.  In the past he has
addressed this issue, but a regular repeat is very worthwhile I
believe.  It strikes at the very heart of the Microformat's philosophy,
and the very heart of achieving interoperability on the Web.

/Roger