The URI<->URL equivalence that justifies "http:// namespaces" was a neat trick insofar as it means you can use the URL of the XML schema definition file (.xsd) as the URI of the namespace in a document that contains it - thus allowing XML readers to automatically perform schema validation when encountering a new schema.
...but given how well DNS-based package names in Java have worked out (i.e. poorly) I'm surprised they went in that direction.
...but given how well DNS-based package names in Java have worked out (i.e. poorly) I'm surprised they went in that direction.
On the bright side - URIs (and so, XML namespaces) don't need to use the http:// scheme - they could easily switch to urn: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/4116282/when-to-use-a-urn...