[charleski]

Originally Posted by miklos.klaar

Here is a comparison of the major ones with the formats - notice the predominance of XMDF?

http://www.bunshunplaza.com/list_pc/index_pda.html

I noticed that DotBook is used by even more retailers. That chart doesn't exactly prove your point.

XMDF may be based on xml, but that's about as relevant as saying that humans are based on DNA, it doesn't mean that a hamster can drive a car. The standard's contents page (which is as close as you can get to finding out about it without paying) is littered with special-use attributes rather than defining a generalised and flexible framework.

It's good that Japanese publishers are looking to harmonise their fractured infrastructure. It's bad that their hubris dictates that they reinvent the wheel and waste their energies on cobbling together yet another incompatible format to inflict upon the world. Sharp's IEC process is little more than a landgrab that's too little and too late.