Now there are HTML tables and everyone understands them. The ratio of
CALS users to HTML users must be approaching zero by this point.
As a consequence, other schemas are now adopting HTML tables instead
of CALS. For example, the IDEAlliance DTD for the XML conferences now
uses HTML instead of CALS.
If we were starting over, I don't think any convincing argument could
be made for adopting CALS in favor of HTML.
The question is, should we be flexible and allow HTML tables in
DocBook so that users migrating to DocBook don't have to do any mental
gymnastics to get their tables working?