(keitai-l) Re: QR versus Semacode?

From: Curt Sampson <cjs_at_cynic.net>
Date: 07/12/05
Message-ID: <Pine.NEB.4.62.0507121044480.17825@angelic.cynic.net>
On Tue, 12 Jul 2005, Gerhard Fasol wrote:

> Curt Sampson wrote:
>>      2. QR Code can be used for many other kinds of information, too.
>
> YES! QR code has NOT been developed for mobile phones!

Let me be more specific here:

I am not discussing applications outside of mobile phones; I think
that's irrelevant for a Semacode vs. QR-Code application. In other
words, if QR-Code starts to take over parts of the Semacode market, it
will *not* be anything to do with QR-Code's applications outside the
mobile space.

Comparing the two, I'm pointing out that, IN THE MOBILE SPACE, QR code
can be used for more than URLs.

> In the case of mobile phones yes and no. I have a QR code
> on my business card with name, address, phone number etc.

Just because it's on your business card doesn't mean that it
suddenly dominates the industry. I know that you give out a lot of
business cards, but I'd still bet that far, far more people see only
URL-containing QR-codes throughout the day than not.

> What people in this thread are mixing up is the QR code itself and the
> mark-up for information.

No, because we are not talking about QR codes themselves: we are talking
about QR codes as used in the mobile space.

The problem with Semacode is that it has a single defined markkup:
the contents are a URL. You can't change this to have further markups
without breaking backwards compatability. (Though potentially you could
introduce new URL types, such as a URL pointing to or even containing
address book information.)

The advantage that QR code as used in the mobile space has is that
there are defined markups for different types of information (albeit
incompatable ones from the various vendors--but that can probably
be resolved), and the default for "unknown markup" is, by general
consensus, "interpret it as text and look inside it for obvious URLs or
whatever."

BTW, saying "QR code as used in the mobile space" is getting rather
tedious; given that this is a mobile list, can we agree that when we
refer to "QR code," we're referring to "QR code as used in the mobile
space", and specify explicitly when we're talking about QR codes used
outside the mobile space?

cjs
-- 
Curt Sampson  <cjs@cynic.net>   +81 90 7737 2974

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Received on Tue Jul 12 04:53:26 2005