Many standards have failed for the web. Anybody remember VRML? Actually I like it that we have not a broad big big standard which includes MathML which only ~0,1% of people care about in the browser. MathML can stand on its own (encapsulated with JS like PDFs in Firefox) or you can abandon it entirely. You are free to choose. It's the best way for everybody.
Actually I like it that we have not a broad big big standard which includes MathML which only ~0,1% of people care about in the browser.
Did you read the article? That's exactly what we have right now. The author's #1 complaint is that MathML is currently a part of HTML5.
He would like it to be removed from the HTML standard so that MathML could evolve on its own, rather than being constrained by its status as a web standard that's not actually implemented by browsers.
Maybe in W3C specification MathML is a part of HTML5 and browsers will not crash when there is MathML inside (actually they also do not crash with custom tags) but many libs are not supporting the MathML tags or respecting them or working with them. Just one quick example... JQuery and open this in Chrome http://sdiehl.github.io/jquery-mathml/
So for the Chrome and Safari guys MathML is already dead and it even has flaws in Firefox. But what is written in W3C documents is not always the truth out there or common in the WWW ;) So yes I agree... rip MathML out of HTML5 specification.
I used VRML to render in realtime, 1994-99, using low end video game cards (overclocked) that output hi-res video, full screen Cosmo Player, record live to tape.
Retakes were trivial, frame rates were 100fps interlaced to video, silky movement - could even take live camera direction.
Otherwise rendering took weeks and most of the budget, mostly contracted for theatre backdrops & live VJing. IMHO VRML died because it was pre open source, Cosmo was locked up tight and never updated.
Realtime in browser 3D from 1994 to 1999, proto-machinima, fun times.
