<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML><HEAD> <META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html; charset=us-ascii"> <META content="MSHTML 6.00.2800.1106" name=GENERATOR></HEAD> <BODY> <DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=503402520-16092005><FONT face=Arial color=#000080 size=2>Jake Ham wrote:</FONT></SPAN></DIV><BR> <DIV><FONT face=Arial><FONT size=2><FONT color=#000080><SPAN class=503402520-16092005>> </SPAN>I don't know about anyone else, but I don't like the "ecosystem" part of it.  To me, microformats don't <SPAN class=503402520-16092005> </SPAN></FONT></FONT></FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial><FONT size=2><FONT color=#000080><SPAN class=503402520-16092005>></SPAN>create any kind of "ecosystem".  They are "simple conventsion embeeded in HTML that" provide solutions <SPAN class=503402520-16092005> </SPAN></FONT></FONT></FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial><FONT size=2><FONT color=#000080><SPAN class=503402520-16092005>> </SPAN>to common problems. </FONT></FONT></FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial color=#000080 size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial><FONT size=2><FONT color=#000080><SPAN class=503402520-16092005> > </SPAN>I still feel that there is a better way to describe them than an "ecosystem".<SPAN class=503402520-16092005> </SPAN></FONT></FONT></FONT></DIV> <DIV><SPAN class=503402520-16092005><FONT face=Arial color=#000080 size=2></FONT></SPAN> </DIV> <DIV><SPAN class=503402520-16092005><FONT face=Arial color=#000080 size=2>I strongly agree, and since the message that I sent earlier this afternoon didn't show up, I'll paste it here:</FONT></SPAN></DIV> <DIV><SPAN class=503402520-16092005><FONT face=Arial color=#000080 size=2></FONT></SPAN> </DIV> <DIV><SPAN class=503402520-16092005><FONT face=Arial color=#000080 size=2>Ernie Prabhakar wrote:</FONT></SPAN></DIV> <DIV><SPAN class=503402520-16092005> <P><FONT face=Arial color=#000080 size=2>>After reading Tantek's dissection of RSS (doh! should've done that </FONT></P> <P><FONT face=Arial color=#000080 size=2>>sooner), let me amend my definition (Take 2)</FONT></P> <P><FONT face=Arial color=#000080 size=2>>Microformats are simple conventions that normalize existing tag usage<BR>>patterns using brief, descriptive class names embedded in<BR>>human-readable (X)HTML document that provide precise semantics for a<BR>>specific problem domain which enable a decentralized ecosystem of<BR>>resources, tools, and services.</FONT></P> <P><FONT face=Arial color=#000080 size=2>The long one looks good to me. I'd just change "a decentralized ecosystem" to "decentralized development." It's more prosaic, and that's a good thing--it's better to describe what we're doing directly than to take a metaphor from biology<SPAN class=503402520-16092005> just  </SPAN>because it sounds a little grander.</FONT></P> <P><FONT face=Arial color=#000080 size=2>Bob</FONT></P><FONT face=Arial color=#000080 size=2> </FONT></SPAN></DIV></BODY></HTML>