Re: Making world/vrml a standard. (fwd)

Rzepa, Henry (h.rzepa@ic.ac.uk)
Sat, 11 Feb 1995 23:02:39 +0000

>To which Jon Postel <postel@isi.edu> replies:
>
>> Well you should first develop the specification and have it discussed
>> by the folks on the <ietf-types@uninett.no> mailing list.
>
>My reading of RFC 1521 is that a new top-level type (unlike a new
>subtype) MUST be defined by an Internet standards track protocol. So
>you would need to submit an Internet-Draft document proposing the new
>type, and get the IESG to charter a working group to consider it.
>
>
>Top-level MIME types exist to allow some default behavior for all
>members of the subtype (when details of the subtype aren't known) by
>mail user agents and/or gateways.
...
>My own opinion is that new top-level types should NOT be approved
>unless (a) there is some default behavior that could reasonably be
>applied to all of its subtypes, and (b) objects from the new type do
>not fit well into any existing top-level type.
>
>This might or might not be the case for the intended use of "world".
>(Though even if there is a need for a new top-level type here, "world"
>appears to be a poor name for it. I'd much prefer something that
>gives a better idea of what kinds of things fit into the type.)

I too read RFC 1521 for our chemical primary type proposal.
Nat Borenstein was kind enough to give me some
guidance. Chemical had been the
subject of an Internet draft. Nat's personal opinion was that
an Informational RFC was adequate for an additional new primary type, as an
adjunct
to the Standards track 1521. We presented our own case in (a), (b) above
in a document that is currently with the RFC editor.

As for world, I am not entirely happy with it as a descriptor of VRML.
One might almost imagine that interactive/vrml would actually fit the bill,
although a default action elludes me. After all, navigating a scene implies
interactivity?

Dr Henry Rzepa, Dept. Chemistry, Imperial College, London, SW7 2AY.
Tel: +44 171 594 5774. Fax: +44 171 594 5804. E-mail: rzepa@ic.ac.uk
URL: http://www.ch.ic.ac.uk/rzepa.html Sent using Eudora 2.1.1