This is the beginning of a work in progress. I'd like to get input and commentary from a wide variety of people on how to procede from here.

Some outstanding issues:

• Extensibility: I think this might point to a general solution of the extensibility problem, but I haven't resolved the details of how it might work by doing a sample implementation yet. But since VRML is a rendering language, and not a markup language per se, it is far more flexible and open to extensibility than HTML ever could be. For now, the (probably java) code to take a piece of extended Mcubed XML and render it in VRML could simply be pointed to as a resource from inside the XML. A good first demo of this might be to do a simple table implementation, where the handler code determines the positions of all the elements and adds any lines or borders.
• Degradability: Authors using VXML will be able to make pages that should print out well, either to a 2D screen browser using DHTML or to paper using Postscript. Out of line links could be added in the margins in print or stored in a separate window or page using DHTML. Converting information to a format readable by a handheld device shouldn't be too hard, either. A thought experiment: imagine 3D, 2D, print, and handheld versions of this whitepaper.
• Collaboration and Enabling Community: One of the main applications I see for this technology is for enabling community and collaborative work. This ranges from multi-user and avatar scenarios, to improved interfaces to the sprawling community sections that many sites are offering. But beyond offering a better interface to software like WellEngaged, I see the possibility of offering a better and more interactive interface to the web itself, based partially on the client side as well as the server. I'd like to be able to annotate any piece of text on the web and share those annotations with friends or coworkers.

The VRML files and protos used to create the screenshots and demos will soon be available. Please contact the author for more information or a live demo.