Universal syntax for Markdown

[Alan Hogan]

On Aug 10, 2011, at 3:23 PM, Alan Hogan wrote:


> On Aug 10, 2011, at 3:08 PM, Arno Hautala wrote:

> 

>> On Wed, Aug 10, 2011 at 16:29, David Chambers

>> <david.chambers.05 at gmail.com> wrote:

>>> 

>>> I don't understand why a significant number of people in this community feel

>>> that Markdown is a special case and that each of us should be responsible

>>> for extending it as we see fit.

>> 

>> It's largely because Markdown is open source, so anyone can change it,

>> but the owner is happy with where it stands, so the official line is

>> static.

> 

> I can't disagree, though I have one quibble. Open source ≠ fragmented standard. PHP is open source, but there is no MultiPHP, no wildly different versions of PHP for Windows vs Mac (analogous to JavaScript Markdown vs Ruby Markdown libraries, say).


(On reflection, Arno, I see I was being unfair to you; you clearly recognize this and only mention the open source nature as part of the situation leading to the fragmentation, as necessary but not sufficient, perhaps.)