[topicmapmail] Simplifying XML Topic Map authoring?

[Murray Altheim]

Chuck Dyke wrote:
> Encourage all to examine:
>  
> http://www.titan.com/products-services/abstract.html?docID=318
>  
> This system purports to be much but do not have precise technical 
> background to accurately judge system.  Have used it and do not belive 
> that it is compliant to either ISO or XTM 1.0.  Significant in that this 
> system may be leveraged in such a way that use of it will color 
> perceptions (negatively) of many individuals in my community towards 
> topic maps.  Appreciate any thoughts you may have/comments.

Well, I don't recommend anyone bother to download their PDF file. First,
the link is funky, and the file is mislabeled as HTML. But the real
reason not to bother is that you don't gain anything more than is on
the web page for your 342K bother other than some pretty header
graphics.

They claim ISO 13250 and XTM 1.0 DTD support, but unless someone can
actually try this out it's difficult to determine if they're being
truthful. The sample screenshots aren't very impressive, nor is the
marketing blurbage, e.g., "With a simple mouse move, the TopicLynx
graphical user interface allows our clients to easily navigate large
Topic Maps." What does that really mean? There's precious little to
go on, and if navigating via menus (as is shown in their screenshots)
is the way, well, there's better ways. This might be a failure of
their marketing, or a failure in the product team to provide their
marketing people with better information. There's not enough info to
make an informed judgement.

I'd say that buying products from any of the Topic Map vendors who've
actually been involved in the development of the Topic Map standards
is likely to provide much better quality tools than buying from a
vendor making the overly-patriotic and grandiose claims they do about
their support for national security, War on Terrorism (caps!), etc.
They seemed to have jumped on the Topic Map bandwagon just like they
did the Homeland Security bandwagon. OTOH, maybe they bought the
expertise from someone in the Topic Map community. Dunno.

They also sell water purification systems, radios, and a "software
tool to estimate conventional casualties associated with air strikes."

Yuck.

Murray

......................................................................
Murray Altheim                    http://kmi.open.ac.uk/people/murray/
Knowledge Media Institute
The Open University, Milton Keynes, Bucks, MK7 6AA, UK               .

           "The current and future international political
            environment severely constrains this country's
            ability to conduct long-range strike missions." -- DARPA
            http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/3035332.stm