OWL is an extension to RDF  used to provide
(ontological) structure to RDF graphs and vocabularies. 
- Adds new terms (and combinations) to RDF vocabulary
- Upward compatible (i.e. proper "layering") -- RDF tools support OWL
- Based on  Use Cases  from a wide variety of domains
-  Web Portals, Corporate Web Site Management, Multimedia collection mgt, design documentation, Web Service composition, ubiquitous and mobile computing.
- Inputs from a number of domains
-  Medical, biological, e-commerce, EDI, Web services, Defense, Digital Library, Grid computing, ...
 
 
- Functionality/vocabulary scoped to DAML+OIL (By charter)