Both standards have received considerable attention, and have mobilized many developers. Support for MathML2.3 and OpenMath is being introduced in many areas now that a future seems to profile itself.
The dominance of Java on the Internet today has made it a good candidate for offering a solution to the problem of publishing mathematics. The flexibility and power of Java applets can be used in conjunction with MathML or OpenMath to display mathematical formulae.
This approach is currently best represented by WebEQ [15]. WebEQ is a collection of programs and Java programming libraries dealing with all aspects of putting math on the Web. Because WebEQ is based on MathML, WebEQ tools can easily be combined with each other and with other MathML software to accomplish a wide range of tasks. The applet takes a representation of an equation as input, and displays it. The representation has to be some markup language which the applet supports (MathML or WebTEX ). Another Java application is ICEBrowser [16]. A browser component written in Java which will renders MathML.
By using a Java applet we encounter the same difficulties as when using embedded graphics. In addition to this, Java applets have a larger initial download overhead, which can be disturbing to some users. Java applets usually offer good equation displays, but different vendors supply different solutions and markup languages.
Another set of applications currently offering MathML support are plug-ins. The main distinction in principle between using plug-ins or Java applets is that plug-ins need to be pre-installed on the Internet browser for any rendering to take place. IBM Techexplorer [17] is a representative example under development. It currently supports MathML encodings. IBM's approach to the problem is definetely bordering the solution the scientific community is hoping to see. Techexplorer can display MathML and the quality of display is acceptable. Hopefully, IBM's techexplorer initiative will push other browser vendors and companies to adopt MathML as the leading standard.
But as with the other temporary solutions, plug-ins also have their limitations. Plug-ins have trouble getting the current HTML document font size, changing the size of the window to fit the display, or getting the current HTML document background color. Plug-ins such as IBM's are not yet widespread, and most people are not familiar with plug-in download and installation.
In the area of computer algebra, soon many computer algebra packages should have interfaces to both standards. An example of this is the MathML to REDUCE interface available in REDUCE 3.7, or the MathML interface built in Mathematica Version 4.
Various programs convert LATEX documents into MathML. This is important because of the large amount of documents written in LaTeX until now. An example of a program accomplishing this task is TtM [14] for instance.
Various equation editors such as MathType or Design Science's MS equation editor also support MathML. They manipulate expressions and offer easy to use graphical user interfaces. It is possible to export equations to MathML format.
Until now however, both Explorer and Netscape have not yet incorporated support for MathML, although they have committed themselves in doing so in the near future. Because these are the most popular browsers, it is important that they soon provide MathML facilities in order to boost the use of MathML.