Flutterby™! : Microsoft on Smart Tags 2001-06-21 19:25:31+00

Microsoft on Smart Tags

2001-06-21 19:25:31+00 by Dan Lyke 2 comments

Dave Winer has an exchange with Microsoft employee John Wilcox on Smart Tags which makes me even more sympathetic to the concept. Of course I've been a big proponent of the idea that HTML is a content language, and users should be able to view it in any form they wish, and back in July of 1999 I was publicly thinking about looking up phrases in large public databases. If you're creating "art", use Flash or PDF, if you're writing, use HTML, and offer your users real value.

I don't know, Dan, on one hand I really like the idea of a richly linked document, one more richly linked than I have time to invest in most of my writing, while on the other hand I'm not so sure I want MS or Merriam Webster or anyone other than myself doing the rich linking. It's akin to editorializing on my writings using my pen and paper. I want to control who does that. Then again, I don't see much wrong with my typing General Motors and it automagically becomes General Motors.

I think that's why your glossary system has intrigued me so much. Here's a method where I can still be lazy and still have a richly linked document. It's also linked in a way that either I have setup or people that I truely trust have setup. I've heard Microsoft claim that a meta tag will be available to turn this off or on in the final version of it. Maybe that will take care of my concerns.