Richard, I wanted to hear from people that used XSLT in various instances, not from people (at aD) offering arguments validating their choices. I was not trying to attack the ACS 4.6-5 system's choice to use XSLT. I was only wondering whether it was worth implementing in a system. Bryan's post helped me understand what you were trying to do. Your post, unfortunately, muddled it further with more abstraction. Oh well.
I wanted to know about XSLT not only because of ACS4.6 but because it's either the Next Big Thing or a really bad buzzword. I had been studying it for a while and after reading aD's documents I had no idea whether they were good or not.
In most of my posts, I have mentioned that while I support aD, I am constantly dismayed that they choose to ignore a strong community that used to be an adoring fan base.
But there's been enough OpenACS vs. aD arguments around here lately. I want to say that I support and wish aD the best. They are doing something rare and very cool by trying to build a new product that is open source. I hope that aD succeeds and multiplies because I think their business model is unique and the right way to do it. I also hope, though, that aD begins to recognize the value of open source is the community that gathers around it. I believe that aD has made huge strides in the later point since it was very transparent throughout the development of ACS4.6, something that I appreciated a great deal. Also, I do appreciate the development and release of ACS4 tcl, which OpenACS has picked up and is doing a great job with.
When I posted announcements for the first OpenACS social, I made some silly comments poking fun at aD. I meant it in fun, and I apologize for that.
But I am always happy and pleased when aD'ers show up at the socials because there is some important cross talk that occurs at a much higher and amiable level than on these boards. Lars came to the first one, a bunch of aD'ers came to the second (Paul Hubers, Andrew Piskorski, David Tropiano and probably another 5 or so) and at the last social Dennis Gregoravic, Andrew Piskorski and Eve were there. This was important because both sides were able to share perspectives on the development of their systems.
I'm usually one to fight back whenever someone challenges me, but no one is benefitting from the silly wars that have been going on lately. It's becoming more and more clear that the aD people should stay on their side and we should stay on ours.
talli
