That positioning, however, is only one part of the three-part equation. The SGML solution must be subject to greater scrutiny. The next two questions are the most complex, and are those to which this discussion will now turn. Thank goodness for alternatives As any high-tech vendor will tell you, there is nothing more difficult than being the only vendor of a particular technology. Competition and alternatives provide the consumer with a framework within which they can understand a product.
Alternatives are critical to proving the viability of a technology.
As has been noted, SGML only became a formal standard in 1989. The world into which it was born was very different from the world in which it was conceived. This, of course, is irrelevant to those confronted with the today's issues of distributing document-based information. To those decision makers, a large number of alternatives that did not exist in 1989 are available and viable today. The number of word-processors available on the market today is significantly smaller than it was five or ten years ago.