[OS X TeX] Slightly OT: MathML alert - Netscape

[Richard Seguin]

I just received this email from Design Science, and I thought most 
people on this list would be interested. They are alerting us as to 
decisions being made about MathML support in Netscape.

Richard Seguin

> Dear Math on the Web Enthusiast,
>
> Netscape Communications is currently considering whether to include 
> already
> developed MathML support in the next version of their browser. Recently,
> they solicited comments from people interested in
> math on the web.  You registered your interest in math on the
> web when you joined our Design Science mailing list on that
> topic.  So we want to make you aware of this opportunity to
> help make the case for MathML to Netscape.
>
> The person to contact is Dave Barrowman <barrowma at netscape.com> and you 
> can
> read the email asking for comments at:
>
>   http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/www-math/2002May/0000.html
>
> Later this summer, Design Science will release MathPlayer, a free,
> high-performance math display engine that adds MathML support to Windows
> Internet Explorer.  We hope MathPlayer will be a significant step toward
> support for math on the web.  However, MathPlayer is limited to Internet
> Explorer on Windows, and so Netscape support is very important for 
> reaching
> audiences on other platforms such as MacOS or Linux.
>
> Design Science believes in the goal of free, widely-available math on 
> the
> web.  It's important for the free flow of scientific communication, and 
> it's
> good for business.  We also think that the best path to get there is 
> MathML
> support in web browsers.  MathML is an XML encoding for mathematics 
> that has
> been standardized by the World Wide Web Consortium, and it is 
> increasingly
> being used by scientific software makers.  See our Math on the Web 
> status
> reports for more information [1].
>
>   [1] http://www.dessci.com/webmath/status/
>
> To better understand what Netscape is considering, take a look at the 
> open
> source Mozilla browser project [2].  A volunteer effort lead by Roger 
> Sidje
> has already implemented MathML in Mozilla. Since Netscape bases their
> commercial browser on the Mozilla code, they are deciding whether to 
> leave
> it enabled, or whether to remove it in order to make the download 
> smaller.
>
>   [2] http://www.mozilla.org/
>       http://www.mozilla.org/projects/mathml
>
> Thanks for your time and interest.
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