[December 20, 1999] "The Use of Profiling in XML Documents. Using Profiling for Personalized Information Delivery." By Tonua G. Brown [Program Manager, Document Management Solutions, Inc. (DMSi).] DMSi White Paper. December, 1999. "Businesses assign profiles to customers that describe their needs, requirements, and interests. These profiles are then used to target the audience of particular products. When we talk about profiling our data, we are referring to the way we mark up the data to indicate its target audience. Through the use of elements, XML allows us to mark up the data in such a way that the context of that data is described in the markup language itself. Additionally, attributes allow us to provide meta-data regarding that context. The target audience for the information is a type of meta-data and can be captured in attributes on each element. Therefore, by profiling our information according to its target audience, we can match the information profile to the audience profile in order to deliver the information that best meets the needs, requirements, and interests of our customers... there are many types of information profiles. Information can be targeted to a group, an individual, a characteristic of an individual, an output type, or even the product itself. All of these things can be combined in various ways to match specific customer profiles...profiling is a method for tracking the intended audience of your information. Profile classes define profiles categories. Each value in a class matches a specific profile for that category. Profiles can be combined to deliver highly customized information to your customers. Depending on your processes and delivery methods, you can choose to apply an information profile at the time you publish and deliver pre-assembled, tailored documents to your customers, or you can dynamically assemble the information when the customer accesses it by applying a profile that is associated with the customer's logon ID. Therefore, information profiles can be matched to customer profiles to provide your customers with information that best suits their needs." Note: now also on the DMSi web site.

[December 20, 1999] "Writing a data type-checking XML parser with Xerces." By Bob DuCharme. In IBM Developer Library. December 1999. "While most XML parser developers are waiting for the W3C Schema Working Group's proposal to become a Recommendation before they support it, the Xerces parser donated by IBM to the Apache XML project already supports much of the Working Group's September 1999 Working Draft. In particular, it supports basic data-type checking, one of the most eagerly awaited W3C Schema features. In this article, see how your XML Java applications can take advantage of data-type checking when using the Xerces parser... The first parser I know of that provided any support for the W3C Schema Working Group's XML Schema Definition Language (XSDL) was alphaWorks' xml4j-ea1, a special version of the xml4j XML Parser for Java Early Access release (see Resources). It included support for a subset of XSDL that was backward-compatible with XML 1.0 DTDs. In other words, if you rewrote an XML 1.0 DTD as an XSDL schema that didn't take advantage of any of XSDL's new features, an application using the xml4j-ea1 parser could validate a document against that schema. With xml4j-ea2 and the Xerces parser that IBM donated to the Apache project, the IBM XML Technology Group developers added the feature that developers were clamoring the loudest for: type checking. Because the Working Group still has some issues to work out in Part 2 ("Datatypes") of the XSDL Proposal, the Xerces parser doesn't yet support all the data types mentioned in the proposal. But real numbers, integers, booleans, and of course strings are supported, and your applications can take advantage of this support now." See "XML Schemas" for background and references on the W3C XML Schema work.

[December 20, 1999] "STC, Tibco boost transaction software with XML." By Eugene Grygo. In InfoWorld Volume 21, Issue 51 (December 18, 1999), page 12. "Software Technologies Corp. (STC) is readying an adapter for its e-Gate platform that positions the Extensible Markup Language (XML) as a universal link that could allow for expanded, non-electronic data interchange (EDI) participation in supply-chain management via the Internet. Dubbed the 'Universal Exchange,' the add-on marks another step by STC into the time-sensitive, business-to-business electronic-commerce space, said James Demetriades, chairman, CEO, and president of STC, in Monrovia, Calif. 'If your partners don't get the information in less than a second, they're going to go to someone else,' Demetriades said. The add-on is aimed at clients who need to do far-flung, business-to-business links via e-Gate, he says. Time and space constraints aside, wider acceptance of supply-chain management has been hindered by the high cost of EDI, especially for smaller suppliers that lack the resources for an EDI-based private network, said Tom Dwyer, an analyst at the Aberdeen Group, in Boston. The greater usage of XML will boost participation in supply chains, Dwyer said. 'It's all about 100 percent participation,' he says. For instance, the Universal Exchange add-on will give suppliers a view into the levels of their inventories at customer sites. This could lead to suppliers managing the inventories of their customers, Dwyer said. Also embracing XML for electronic-business, Tibco Software is including an XML parser and validation capabilities with an upgrade of its Java-based TIB/MessageBroker 2.5, a major rules-based data-exchange and translation piece of the TIB/ActiveEnterprise messaging suite. There's also support for the HTTP and FTP Internet protocols as well as new links to the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Transfers (SWIFT) network, used by financial institutions for back-office settlement.

[December 17, 1999] "Transcoding on the fly for the Web." By Nancy E. Dunn and Chris Rumble. From IBM DeveloperWorks. (November 1999). "IBM technology (now in beta) serves as a Web intermediary platform for XML and graphics conversions on the fly. A demonstration application shows how this technology makes it possible to convert Web pages (or other files) from one format to another in real time -- without changing the original pages on the Web server. Content providers or conversion service providers can use the technology for adapting Web pages for hand-held devices, for transforming XML data, and for dozens of other applications. In this interview, two IBM researchers explain how Web intermediary technology supports the conversions and provides a rich vein for more Web and XML conversion on the fly. Paul Maglio and Rob Barrett, researchers at the IBM Almaden Research Center near San Jose, have prepared a demonstration of transcoding on the fly. The initial conversions offered include graphics bit-depth and format conversion and XML conversions. Maglio and Barrett talked with developerWorks staff recently to explain how they used Web intermediary technology to support the Web-based conversion application... In the demonstration, we provide a service where people can perform some sample conversions of their data or graphics, either by inputting URLs or uploading content, and then selecting from a short list of transcoding options. We can convert graphics in a few ways -- compression, bit-depth, file format. We also demonstrate XML transcoding via XSL."

[December 17, 1999] "In commemoration of the re-birth of XHTML: The Parable of the Prodigal HTML. A self-refreshing slide presentation." Extensible Book of Luke 15:11-32. By John Robert Gardner. The referent is W3C's XHTML, which went PR with three namespaces (loud grumbling); going back, a new WD was produced, and then a new PR with one namespace (and three DTDs).

[December 17, 1999] "Object Databases Move To The Middle. Despite the prevalence of relational databases, vendors are making use of the technology." By Mary Stearns Sgarioto. In InformationWeek (December 17, 1999), pages 115-120. "... object databases are hardly extinct. Rather than fight a losing battle on the back end, vendors are finding new ways to exploit this technology on the middle tier. For the past 10 to 15 years, according to Gartner Group's Sanjeev Varma, object-oriented database-management system vendors competing on the database tier have not proven especially successful. 'In certain niches there is a lot of value to this technology; it's just that those niches aren't that big,' Varma says. According to John Singer, program director for application delivery strategies at Meta Group, object databases are finding a comfortable home as code repositories within more-specialized servers. 'While the highly granular nature of Web site visual components seem to be a natural fit for object-oriented database-management systems, we see the technology primarily as infrastructure embedded within other solutions,' Singer says. 'Object-oriented database-management products are evolving towards Java application servers, persistence managers, and XML interchange as a means of adding value above the basic database functionality. . . In spite of, or perhaps even because of, their advantages, object databases might never gain the same status as relational databases. Anne Thomas, an analyst at the Patricia Seybold Group, says she doesn't see a huge resurgence in the object-oriented database-management system market. On the other hand, she says, the Web is 'definitely driving renewed interest in object-oriented databases.' She explains that the language of the Web is objects--Java, XML, or Corba--and these map poorly to a relational database. 'That's where an object-oriented database excels. Storing by object is fast,' Thomas says. And 'fast' is what people want."

[December 17, 1999] "Directories to link up via XML." By Stephanie Sanborn. In InfoWorld (December 13, 1999). "Directory Vendors, including Novell and Bowstreet, last week formally proposed an Extensible Markup Language (XML)-based directory-services language that would provide enterprises with a standard set of programming commands to link network directories. A group of vendors led by Bowstreet and known informally as the 'DSML working group' last week submitted a draft version of the Directory Services Markup Language (DSML) to several standards associations. DSML 1.0, which is the result of a promise made in July to create a draft standard by the end of the year, is now in the hands of the Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards (OASIS), an international standardization group focused on data-exchange formats. Versions of DSML were also submitted informally to the World Wide Web Consortium and Microsoft's BizTalk group. DSML uses XML schema to represent information in the directory, becoming a common means to describe directory content. DSML-enabled directories can work together and share information without requiring knowledge of the directory interfaces. DSML also complements Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP)..." See the main news entry and "Directory Services Markup Language (DSML)."

[December 17, 1999] "Plugging Into XML. New XML support and the DB2 XML Extender will give DB2 a whole new range of e-commerce and Web-publishing possibilities." By Harold Treat. In DB2 Magazine Volume 4, Number 4 (Winter 1999), pages 36-41. "A new travel service, based on the XML grammar Wireless Markup Language, is being developed by The Sabre Group, IBM, and Nokia. The Sabre Group makes the computerized reservation system used by many traditional travel agencies and the Web-based service Travelocity.com. Once The Sabre Group converts its travel-related information into XML, the information can easily be filtered and adapted to different output devices so that, for example, a mobile phone can read the same information as Web browsers. This travel service is just one example of the kind of application XML makes possible. In fact, ever since the World Wide Web Consortium approved the XML 1.0 specification in February 1998, support for XML has grown rapidly among companies in computer and other industries. XML's popularity results from its usefulness in Web publishing and content management, application integration, and e-commerce, particularly as an enabler of data interchange for business-to-business e-commerce applications. To support these capabilities, DB2 Universal Database (UDB) v.6.1 for Unix, OS/2, and Windows includes XML support. And a DB2 XML Extender is now in beta testing. . . The DB2 XML Extender includes a visual tool for mapping the extracted elements from the XML document to the columns and tables where they are stored. This mapping, called document access definition (DAD), and the DTD describing the XML document are stored in tables managed by the XML Extender, so the applications accessing the document don't have to keep track of the DADs and DTDs. Once you've defined the DAD and enabled the XML column, you can use the UDFs provided with the XML Extender to simplify the load process. When the XML document is inserted into a column defined as type XML_Column, the elements specified in the DAD are automatically extracted from the XML document and loaded into the specified columns and tables, eliminating the need for the load application to handle this parsing, extraction, and insertion. When the contents of an XML_Column are updated, the elements that were extracted and stored in side tables are automatically updated. As support for this new standard grows, XML will become more and more a part of the database environment. Just as DB2 was Web-enabled a few years ago, it is now being XML-enabled, allowing you to store new data types, perform more powerful searches, and use XML-based interchange formats. I've identified some of the ways DB2 UDB v.6.1 and XML Extender can support business-to-business e-commerce applications. However, we can only guess at all the ways XML interchange formats will facilitate new e-commerce, CRM, and other e-business solutions. It should be fun to watch." ["DB2's XML Extender provides new data types that let you store XML documents in DB2 databases and new functions that assist you in working with these structured documents. Entire XML documents can be stored in DB2 databases as character data or stored as external files but still managed by DB2. Retrieval functions allow you to retrieve either the entire XML document or individual elements or attibutes..."]

[December 17, 1999] "Semantic Name Spaces." By Didier PH Martin. Posted to XML-DEV. PDF document. [Very very preliminary doc about semantic name spaces.] (December 17, 1999). "A name space topic map contains a topic with a name identical to the name space it represents. For instance the XSL name space topic would be named XSL. The XSL topic would also point to several documents or schemas useful for both documenting and validating the name space. [Most of the actual name spaces including the name spaces used by the W3 consortium are using URLs and more particularly URL based on the HTTP protocol. Some URL are effectively pointing to a resource. For instance the XSL name space identifier, a URL, points to an HTML page... Even if this is tremendously better that an HTTP URL pointing to the limbs, it is nonetheless hard for an automated processor to decode effectively the information pointed by the URL. Thus, the actual name space identifier are most of the time meaningless for automated agents. The present document propose to add more semantics to name spaces by having their URI to point to a topic map document."] Note 1999-12-18: document now posted on the Netfolder Web site; check for updated versions.

[December 17, 1999] "Creating XML Applications With Zope." By Amos Latteier. From XML.com (December 16, 1999). ['Are you looking for an open source platform on which to base your XML applications? You may already be familiar with Zope, an open source application server written in Python. Amos Latteier presents a hands-on introduction to using XML with Zope.'] "Zope is an open source application server that enables you to rapidly develop applications for the Web. Zope's unique object-oriented flavor make it an interesting choice for developing XML applications: Firstly, it allows you to treat XML content as objects. Then it allows you to write applications by creating methods for your XML objects. At the most basic level, Zope provides an object database and a web ORB (Object Request Broker) to store XML and publish it on the Web. In addition, Zope gives you a menu of services to use when developing your XML data into an application. You can edit XML through the Web, index and search XML elements, manipulate XML with standard DOM methods, add dynamic behavior to XML elements with web-editable methods, control access to XML via a sophisticated security model, and more. Since Zope treats XML as normal Zope objects rather than plain data, you can quickly breathe life into your XML... In this article we are going to look at the process of using Zope to develop a small web application centered around XML. We will build an FAQ viewer that stores its data in XML and allows browsing and searching. This article assumes that you have Zope installed and that you have some experience with Zope..."

[December 17, 1999] "Goldilocks and SML." By Rick Jelliffe. From XML.com (December 16, 1999). ['"Simplicity is as excellent as motherhood", says Rick Jelliffe. He isn't as sure, however, about the initiative to produce a Simplified Markup Language (SML).'] "Goldilocks saw three bowls of porridge on the table. The first was too big and could only be eaten with a complicated tool: the recipe was there, but she couldn't quite understand it. 'This SGML is too big!' she cried. The second was sweet but insubstantial: 'This HTML is too simple,' she lamented. Then she tried the third bowl: 'Mmmm, this XML is just right...and the international flavor is sure to be a hit at my pajama party...' My impression of SML is not that it represents some conspiracy against the one true path of XML, but rather that it shows that some people's technical or aesthetic needs are not being met by XML. The rallying cry is simplicity, which is as excellent as motherhood, but the rationales seem wildly divergent or vague. It will be interesting to see what is ultimately produced from the effort: a syntax, a methodology, an API, an entity manager, some implementation techniques. There is lots of room in the world for innovative ideas. Let's look at some specific areas for which XML is criticized... So I think that if SML has a future, it may be in the area of closed data transport and interprocess communication, where it is generated by API, and where human reader/writers do not touch it. But that area is the one that binary formats poach easily: some of the requirements may be better solved by more sophisticated entity management capabilities in MIME."

[December 17, 1999] "Reports from XML'99." By Edd Dumbill. From XML.com (December 16, 1999). "Last week XML.com provided coverage of the GCA's XML'99 conference in Philadelphia. Over 2,200 delegates gathered to attend tutorials, see the products on show in the expo and listen to the presentations. Edd Dumbill and Simon St.Laurent reported daily from the show on XML.com, highlighting the major news and sessions together with information on interesting and innovative products from the expo. Lisa Rein was also out and about on the conference floor, gathering opinions from delegates on recent happenings in the XML world."

[December 17, 1999] "XML - The Better HTML?" By Michael Classen. From WebReference "Exploring XML [Column]". (December 1999). "So is XML better? To be honest this question has no real answer: XML is a meta language, meaning a language for defining other languages, while HTML by itself is a more or less well-defined language. XML stands for eXtensible Markup Language, which is actually a bit of a misnomer as it should actually mean extensible Meta Language. The easiest way to understand the difference is to note that XML by itself does not define any tags, it only describes a way of defining your own set of tags and attributes, hence the name extensible. HTML in contrast has a fixed set of tags, and their meaning is defined in the W3C standards specifications or the implementation of a particular browser, whichever came first. So in directly comparing XML and HTML one would compare apples and oranges..."

[December 17, 1999] "Passing profiles - Keeping the customer in mind. CPEX group tackles the sensitive issue of exchanging customer profiles." By Luke Cavanagh. In The Seybold Report on Internet Publishing Volume 4, Number 4 (December 1999), page 24. "Sensing the need to find a more efficient way for enterprises to keep customer information current, a number of industry players have formed the Customer Profile Exchange (CPEX) working group. Their intent is to create an XML standard and a set of guidelines for exchanging customer profiles among different systems. Started by Vignette just two months ago, the group's charter members include many of the leading players in personalization and profiling: Andromedia, DoubleClick, Engage, Net Perceptions, net.Genesis and Vignette, as well as industry heavyweights Oracle, Sun/Netscape, IBM and other smaller vendors. The group expects to publish its first draft specifications in the first half of 2000; we should begin seeing demos by next fall. Administration of the group's marketing and meetings will be handled by IDEAlliance.org, the new name for the research institute at the Graphic Communications Association. IDEAlliance also hosts the ICE and PRISM working groups." For references, see "Customer Profile Exchange (CPEX) Working Group."

[December 17, 1999] "Punching up TeamSite. Interwoven adds punch to TeamSite Web content management system." By Luke Cavanagh. In The Seybold Report on Internet Publishing Volume 4, Number 4 (December 1999), pages 18-19. "Reinforcing its position as a leading supplier of Web content management software, Interwoven last month released a new version of TeamSite. The new version, 4.0, builds on the features that make the product strong to begin with (solid workflow, hybrid file system/database architecture) and adds improved XML, metadata and templating support. According to International Marketing Manager Tim Hampson, TeamSite 4.0 'heavily leverages XML.' It does so especially in the area of metadata and content entry templates. The upgrade also features a tweaked workflow process aimed at creating shorter development cycles and allows greater control for customized workflow designs. . . The new metadata support allows users to set up XML-based metadata sets based on their specific business rules. Metadata is defined by individual project, by location, or by type of project. Once the metadata set is established, its attribute values are associated with templates and workflows. . . It appears as though the added XML support has been implemented smoothly and should hit the mark in making its intended improvements. Provided the new functionality is not too complex for companies to handle in customizing their systems -- and it doesn't look to us as though it should be -- Interwoven should continue to build on its success."

[December 17, 1999] "Poet leverages its XML expertise. Poet uses XML to open business-to-business e-catalog channels. Turnkey solution will free catalog content for Web use." By Mark Walter. In The Seybold Report on Internet Publishing Volume 4, Number 4 (December 1999), page 23. "Poet, a supplier of object database technology with expertise in both content management and XML, recently introduced its eCatalog Suite, a turnkey system for extracting and managing business-to-business catalog data and distributing it over the Internet. The suite includes a data server and database with tools for collecting catalog data (often by extracting it from your existing system), normalizing it, and then transforming it as necessary for different recipients. XML is going to be the language of interchange, and Poet's background is well suited for this type of XML data server. Though it faces competition from Object Design, Bluestone and others sure to follow, Poet is on the money with this application of its database."

[December 17, 1999] "XML still waiting for the spotlight." By Michael Lattig. In InfoWorld (December 17, 1999). "Although Extensible Markup Language (XML) is on the lips and in the marketing materials of almost any vendor whose products touch corporate data, the XML '99 show in Philadelphia this week proved there is still much work to be done. The reasons offered for the disconnect between XML's perceived value and the reality that users are still struggling to understand how it should be implemented were numerous, but the main stumbling block seems to be a lack of vendors offering real-world XML solutions. 'My estimation is the major breakthrough needed is to get critical mass of vendors to focus their attention on XML and allow us to move forward with turnkey projects,' said Chris Wolff, vice president of publishing technologies at the West Group, an information provider for legal professionals, in Egan, Minn. That critical mass, noted Wolff, needs to start with the development of more robust tools for XML development. Many tools vendors, however, do not seem to feel the urgency to jump on the XML bandwagon."

[December 08, 1999] "Delta to deliver flight info to mobile devices." By Carmen Nobel. In PC Week (December 7, 1999). "Because its customers are by definition mobile, Delta Airlines is testing a new service that will transmit data from its Web site to a variety of portable devices, including mobile phones and Palm Computing's Palm VII organizer. The service, which will roll out nationwide early next year, will include basic same-day travel information such as flight schedules and gate information. Later in the year, Delta plans to let customers buy plane tickts and change flights wirelessly, according to officials at the Atlanta-based company. The service is now in beta testing. Delta is developing the service with a user interface from Modern Media and Java and XML technology from IBM's Pervasive Computing Group. The companies, along with Delta's subsidiary Delta Technology, are using a Java application that translates Delta's travel information into XML (extensible markup language) and IBM's transcoding technology for handheld devices. Delta is the latest among a crop of companies that have teamed up with IBM lately to take their electronic services on the road."

[December 08, 1999] "XML Goes Vertical. Standard takes hold in a growing variety of markets." By Mary Jo Foley. In Smart Reseller (December 07, 1999). "In the past two days, Laura Walker has gotten some strange phone calls, including one from a gaming industry trade group and another from WebVan, the online grocery-delivery firm. Both wanted to know how they could benefit from XML, the Extensible Markup Language standard for data interchange that's seemingly taking the world by storm. 'It's like a light went on,' says Walker, the executive director of OASIS, the Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards, explaining the mounting industry interest in the standard. Vertical-industry associations suddenly are glomming on to XML as the panacea for sharing data in different formats across disparate platforms. Walker points to a growing number of XML working groups in finance, insurance, retail and other arenas as evidence of the standard's growing appeal and acceptance..."

[December 08, 1999] "Who Will Control XML? As XML takes off, standards processes and direction questions won't go away." By Mary Jo Foley. In Smart Reseller (December 08, 1999). "Microsoft and Sun Microsystems agree that XML, the Extensible Markup Language, is key to their future products and strategies. But in true rivalry fashion, the two agree to disagree on which groups are best suited for making sure XML remains a standard and doesn't splinter. At the XML '99 conference in Philadelphia this week, Sun and Microsoft participated in a vendor keynote panel, where they outlined their respective companies' Internet plans, which intimately revolve around XML..."

[December 08, 1999] "Oracle sharpens profile in XML standards body." By Lee Pender. In PC Week [Online] (December 08, 1999). "Oracle Corp. is getting serious about embracing XML standards for its integration technologies, and some customers say the move is coming not a moment too soon. The Redwood Shores, Calif., vendor, in an effort to further shape Extensible Markup Language standards, recently stepped up its participation in XML.org by becoming a major player in a group within the organization that is working to define horizontal XML standards, officials said last week. For instance, the group is creating standard XML formats for cross-industry items such as purchase orders and billing statements. The goal is to foster the use of uniform XML standards for basic items across industries. Nevertheless, it's not the standards themselves that have customers anxious; rather, it's lingering problems integrating Oracle technology with that of other vendors. While Oracle sells its own suite of integrated applications for ERP (enterprise resource planning) and CRM (customer relationship management), many users choose to blend 'best-of-breed' applications from several vendors. That task is not always easy..."

[December 08, 1999] "Sun, Microsoft Release New XML." By Wylie Wong. In CNet News.com (December 07, 1999). "Microsoft today published its BizTalk framework, a set of guidelines that will help tie together the e-commerce systems for different industries, such as banking or manufacturing, by using the XML Web standard for data exchange. Sun today released technology that links XML and the Java programming language together, allowing software developers to build applications that use both technologies. Unlike HTML, which has a predefined vocabulary, XML allows developers to define their own vocabulary for data, such as price and product. The result is more efficient data exchange and better Internet searching capabilities. Microsoft's BizTalk, previously available in draft form, provides a set of guidelines for specific industries to define their XML vocabularies. It also defines a common way businesses can handle and route data to each other."

[December 07, 1999] "Sun set to ship next Java version." By Wylie Wong. In CNET News.com (December 06, 1999). "Sun Microsystems tomorrow will release its next-generation Java standard for writing business software and announce new Java development tools. Sun is shipping Java 2 Enterprise Edition, a mix of technologies developed over the past year that gives developers a uniform way to build business software using the popular Java programming language, according to Sun representatives. At its core is the Enterprise JavaBeans (EJB) programming model, which lets developers write applications using reusable pieces of code. Java 2 Enterprise Edition also includes a guidebook that serves as a blueprint for companies to build Java-based e-commerce software. Sun is also announcing more support for Extensible Markup Language (XML) and Java in Forte Fusion business integration software. Sun will soon add support for the Extensible Stylesheet Language (XSL) Transformation standard, which will let developers easily use XML to tie together business software. XSL technology lets users define how a document is presented, specifying color and font. The XSL Transformation technology will let developers easily map different documents together without having to write a lot of software code."

[December 07, 1999] "XML Drumbeat Intensifies." By Michael Lattig. In InfoWorld (December 06, 1999). "Extensible Markup Language's (XML) march to the forefront of IT infrastructures took a big step last week as more than 150 companies, the Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards (OASIS), and the United Nations' Center for Trade Facilitation and E-business (UN/CEFACT) kicked off a crusade for a global, cross-industry framework for electronic business. At the same time, the number of options for companies looking to get a jump on using XML for business-to-business application integration continued to swell. The goal of the global XML initiative, said Bob Sutor, a member of the board of directors at OASIS, in Billerica, Mass., is to tap into the vast technical and business experience of individuals from a number of industries and use that expertise to develop a universal framework for XML, to be called ebXML. 'With all the [XML] excitement, people are going off in small pockets to do their own thing,' said Sutor, who is also vice chairman of the ebXML project. 'Primarily what we're trying to get done is interoperability, trying to build an overall framework that anyone can plug into.' The ebXML group, which met officially for the first time last week, has outlined an aggressive strategy and hopes to have its initial offering within the next six months. That would put the group on target for delivering a final ebXML framework in 15 to 18 months. The goal of the project is to develop a cross-industry XML standard for e-business and encourage the continued development of vertical XML standards, not to pre-empt industry-specific XML standards, according to Sutor. UN/CEFACT has, however, requested a moratorium on XML development among its member groups to allow the ebXML initiative to take lead as the lone standard for cross-industry XML, according to Klaus-Dieter Naujok, chairman of ebXML and a representative of UN/CEFACT." See "Electronic Business XML Initiative (ebXML)."

[December 07, 1999] "Schemas Top Delegate Wishlist at XML '99." By Edd Dumbill. From XML.com (December 06, 1999). "The W3C's Dan Connolly fielded questions from the floor in Monday morning's Standards Update session at XML'99. The progress of the XML Schema work was important to many attendees from the XML community. The desire for information and action on XML Schemas was reinforced by the lunchtime 'birds of a feather' (BOF) sessions, at which the schemas session was by far the most popular." A collection of references to W3C XML Schema work and related 'schema' initiatives is provided in the document "XML Schemas."

[December 07, 1999] "Standards Updates at XML '99." By Simon St. Laurent. From XML.com (December 06, 1999). "Developers gathered at the XML '99 conference were treated to a somewhat more frank standards update than is typical at these conferences. Leading a series of presentations from consortia involved in XML development, Dan Connolly of the W3C took questions from the audience rather than presenting a static list of progress reports. Supported by a few W3C participants, Connolly took some hard questions about schemas, links, and namespaces. Other groups, including the GCA's new IDEAlliance, OASIS, and Microsoft (reporting on BizTalk) presented a more traditional update. All of the organizations seemed to share a common belief that their work would move XML ahead, despite several overlaps and potential competition."

[December 07, 1999] "XML Processing with Python." By Sean McGrath. From XML.com (December 06, 1999). ['XML'99 got underway Sunday with tutorials from XML experts. Today we bring you a taste of those tutorials from Sean McGrath, who is teaching a course on XML with Python. Sean presents an overview of the popular language, and some sample XML processing programs.'] "A century ago, when HTML and CGI ruled the waves, Perl dominated the Web programming scene. As the transition to XML on the Web gathers pace, competition for the hearts and minds of Web developers is heating up. One language attracting a lot of attention at the moment is Python. In this article we will take a high level look at Python. We will use the time honored 'Hello world' example program to illustrate the principle features of the language. We will then examine the XML processing capabilities of Python..." For related references, see the section "XML and Python."

[December 03, 1999] "YML - The Why Markup Language." By Clark C. Evans. Posted to XML-DEV. History: Version .1, 03-DEC-1999. (December 03, 1999). "Summary: YML is currently an assembly of thoughts regarding the creation of a doubly recursive markup language and parser description. YML is an extension of the simple markup language ('SML'), which is a strict subset of the extensible markup language ('XML'). Further, YML is a unification of the XML document object model ('DOM') and the simple application programming interface for XML ('SAX'). Motivation: YML was motivated from two reoccurring debates on the XML list, under the titles 'SAX vs DOM' and 'element vs attribute'. It is interesting how they are interwoven. The SAX vs DOM debate often centers around which is better for processing information: random access method (RAM) or a sequential access method (SAM). Those from the DOM camp state that having the entire document in memory makes things easy to program; while those from the SAX camp point to efficiencies of stream processing...."

[December 03, 1999] "XML adds a dash of intelligence to the information age." By [Staff]. In The Sydney Morning Herald (December 03, 1999). "You can't actually see XML. It doesn't add any fancy animations or multimedia-rich content to a Web surfer's computer screen. So why does this programming language have everyone from Bill Gates to the teenager next door in such a spin? After years of consortium meetings, lengthy technical discussions on mailing lists, papers, proposals and more discussions, this new language of the Internet is ready to change completely how - and where - we use the Net and the way we do business on it. Microsoft chairman Gates, at last month's Comdex computer trade show in Las Vegas, said Microsoft's next major emphasis - previous 'major emphases' have included the PC desktop and the Internet - will be XML. 'XML is very central ... it speaks to interoperability at the semantic level,' he said."

[December 02, 1999] "XML at Work - Technical Publishing." By Bill Trippe and Sabine Ocker. In The Gilbane Report - News and Analysis of E-Content Technology and Trends Volume 7, Number 9 (October 1999). "Technical publishing has always been a challenge for software applications. The need to integrate a variety of structured and unstructured data types has strained database, document/content management, and publishing software. However the fact that much technical information is truly "mission critical" (e.g., the correct procedure for replacing the emergency shut-off switch on the nuclear reactor) meant that many companies were forced to tackle the complexities head-on, and was the reason a lot of them invested in SGML. It is no surprise then that many early implementations of XML are technical documentation applications. Technical documentation is not by any means what is driving the adoption of XML. The sheer size of the markets for e-commerce solutions, enterprise solutions, and all the application and information integration necessary to connect these front and back office systems ensures that they will be driving the growth and direction of XML. There is a lot to learn from early XML adopters, especially when they are already familiar with the benefits and difficulties of working with SGML, as many in the technical documentation field are. Bill and guest contributor Sabine Ocker take a look at three companies this month. We'll look at XML at work in e-commerce and other areas in future issues. . . the projects bring the issue of technical information delivery into focus. The basic needs haven't changed, but today electronic delivery means delivery to the web; which we all know is an impatient and hungry consumer. Development cycles are shortening, while the demands of quality and accuracy perhaps increase. DHL customers want their packages on time; Nortel wants fewer outages; Jeppesen needs to get that plane back into service. And, because of the global nature of these businesses, the information needs to be available in many languages."

[December 02, 1999] "Understanding Microsoft's XML Strategy." By Frank Gilbane. In The Gilbane Report - News and Analysis of E-Content Technology and Trends Volume 7, Number 8 (September 1999), pages 1-5. "We looked at XML support in Office 2000 back in our April issue and suggested that, while useful in itself, what was really important was that it signaled a fundamental shift in computing. The promise of distributed object computing has never been realized because of a bias in favor of processing over content. XML is helping to change that, and Microsoft's support for XML in Office, though not complete, was nonetheless an early indicator that this important change had finally begun. This shift is not limited to Microsoft. Oracle, IBM, Sun, and others are moving in the same direction, and we'll take a look at some of their strategies in future issues. The announcements Microsoft made this month are rich with information about their direction and strategy, and XML has a key role throughout their product line. Microsoft understands the shift in computing as well as anyone. But they also have more specific and immediate reasons for building "pervasive" XML support into their product line. Understanding their motivation is critical to making your own judgments about their commitment to the standard, and more importantly, to making decisions about the role of XML in your IT strategy. In this issue we look at why Microsoft has invested so much in XML...What Microsoft has laid-out is in the language, and with the spin, of their own products, but it is also consistent with the way information technology and software development have been evolving. The ability to deal with various schemes for sharing data and documents and code using XML messaging will stand you in good stead for integrating your applications with platforms from Microsoft and others. It won't always be easy to keep up with the changing and competing schemas, but at least you won't have to be as much at the mercy of the cruel joke that many APIs have been."

[December 02, 1999] "A Robots Processing Instruction for XML Documents." By Walter Underwood. [Announcement] posted to XML-Dev. (December 02, 1999). "The robots processing instruction ('robots PI') is a simple mechanism to indicate to visiting Web Robots whether a document should be indexed and whether links in the document should be followed. In HTML documents, the Robots META tag (Koster 1996) serves the same purpose. This differs from the Standard for Robot Exclusion (Koster 1994, Kollar et al 1996) in that the instructions to the robot are in the document itself instead of in a '/robots.txt' file. An author often does not have permission to change the /robots.txt file stored at the root of the web server, but always has permission to change their own document."

[December 02, 1999] "OASIS XML Consortium Brewing Standard." By Wylie Wong. In CNET News.com (December 01, 1999). "A consortium of tech firms is working with a United Nations organization to develop a common way for businesses to use Extensible Markup Language to exchange data. Extensible Markup Language (XML) is an increasingly popular Web standard for businesses, in markets such as finance, manufacturing and publishing, to exchange information with each other via the Internet. The consortium is dubbed Oasis, and it includes more than 100 companies including IBM, Sun Microsystems and Microsoft. It recently met with a United Nations technology group to work out plans to build a 'framework,' or a uniform model, for XML usage, said Robert Sutor, Oasis' chief strategy officer and IBM's XML industry standards liaison..." See the main reference page ("Electronic Business XML Initiative (ebXML)") and the recent press release, "Organizations from Around the World Gather to Launch ebXML Global Electronic Business Initiative."

[December 02, 1999] "XML: It's EAI for the Rest of Us." By David S. Linthicum. In Enterprise Development (December 1999). ['Extensible Markup Language offers an easy way to move data between applications, but that gain doesn't come without some pain.'] "XML has transcended its own name. Designed to support publishing data over the Web, Extensible Markup Language provided an efficient vehicle that freed you from having to understand anything about the system sending the data. But as Enterprise Application Integration problems started to loom over many businesses, network architects and developers saw the value of also using XML for EAI -- to move information throughout an enterprise and beyond. Those same companies now see XML as a common text format to move information between enterprises and support supply-chain integration. As a result, many are calling XML the next Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) system. Like Hypertext Markup Language (HTML), XML is a subset of Standard Generalized Markup Language (SGML), a venerable standard for defining descriptions of structure and content in documents. But while HTML gives you only a universal method for displaying information on a page, without context or dynamic behavior, XML takes the next step, adding context and meaning to data. As a common data-exchange format, XML encapsulates both metadata and data for movement over a network. This lets different applications and databases exchange information without having to understand anything about one another. To communicate, a source system simply reformats as XML-compliant text a message, a piece of information moving from an interface, or a data record. Then the system moves that information to any other system that can read XML. XML moves through the system by a simple file exchange encapsulated in a message, or by a request-reply scenario."

[December 02, 1999] "XML: Code Format of the Future?" By A. Russell Jones. In Technical Guide to Visual Programming (December 1999). ['Discover how XML will affect the future of programming by learning to translate code from one environment to another. Creating a universal code representation is now possible, thanks to XML.'] "The advent of Extensible Markup Language (XML) has created the potential for dramatic changes in programming languages. Although widespread changes haven't happened yet, I'll show you how to use XML to do a seemingly small task with wide-ranging repercussions for all developers. In this article, you'll learn how to translate code from one programming environment to another -- specifically, how to use Visual Basic to create Microsoft Windows Script Host (WSH) files. After I've shown you how to create these files, I'll discuss what the ability to translate code into an XML-based format means for the future. VB has also shown the world the financial advantages of widespread code reuse. Imagine the savings if code written in any computer language could be edited and compiled with any other computer language. An XML-code DTD would minimize incompatibilities between language versions. It would no longer matter if you were working in version 5 or version 6 other than inside the editor, just as feature improvements between word processors don't affect the document content. Changes and updates to the DTD could be handled generically rather than language-by-language. Finally, an XML-code DTD would eliminate the need for foreign programmers to learn to program in English. Because the code editor representation of a machine function is simply text in such a system, the keywords could appear in any language. The compiler would work on the XML representation of the code, not the code itself. XML has made a 'universal' code representation both possible and inevitable, given the business, social, and financial advantages that it creates. I'm looking forward to the XML code compiler."

[December 02, 1999] "BizTalk: Fluent in E-Business." By Kent Brown. In Enterprise Development (December 1999). ['BizTalk can make EAI and e-commerce work on a global scale. And Microsoft's shrewd support of XML could ensure its success.] "Once you cut through Microsoft's hype, you'll discover that the new BizTalk Framework is an ambitious and worthwhile EAI and e-commerce initiative. And despite the BizTalk Server being nowhere near a shipping product, it still behooves you to get up to speed on this framework. Especially since Microsoft appears to be succeeding in gathering together a critical mass of corporations that buy into BizTalk. BizTalk, though not exactly labeled as such, is essentially an attempt at a global solution to Enterprise Application Integration. The goal: for applications written independently of each other, running in different companies on different platforms, using different object models, and even communicating by different transport protocols, to be able to communicate with each other, using a modicum of custom "wrapper" or "glue" code. This would let us make the most of existing legacy apps. We could also mix and match "best of breed" apps from different vendors. There are three prongs to Microsoft's BizTalk initiative: the BizTalk Framework, the BizTalk schema library, and the BizTalk Server. The BizTalk Framework is a set of XML formatting rules and mandated tags to which every message must conform in order to be considered a BizTalk message. The library is a repository of published schemas submitted by participating companies, which is maintained on the www.biztalk.org site so that the schema for any BizTalk message is universally accessible. The BizTalk Server is a promised software product that will allow centralized configuration of the routing of messages and the translation between different schemas. Microsoft has already delivered the BizTalk JumpStart kit, which lets you convert your apps to use BizTalk messages. Then they'll work with the BizTalk Server once it's released..."

[December 02, 1999] "Take Advantage of XML Using VB and ASP." By A. Russell Jones. In Visual Basic Programmer's Journal (December 1999). ['XML provides a common method for placing content into the same file as meta-information about that content. Learn how to use Microsoft's XML parser to retrieve, update, and insert data. Use this introduction to the msxml parser to get started creating Web apps using XML.'] "If you learn only one new technology next year, it should be Extensible Markup Language (XML). XML provides a common method for placing content into the same file as meta-information about that content. That sounds difficult, but the beauty of XML is that it's anything but difficult (see Listing 1). If you've ever looked at a Visual Basic class file with Notepad, you'll notice that the code [in Listing 1] looks familiar, all wrapped up in tags (the text between the angle brackets). The XML describes a VB class module called CPerson... A database isn't much good without a way to retrieve, update, and insert data. You perform those operations with XML using a parser and a set of objects exposed by the parser. In this column, I'll show you how to get started using an XML parser. Several parsers are available on the Web, but you probably already have one; Microsoft includes an XML parser with Internet Explorer 5 (IE5). Microsoft's XML parser resides in a file called msxml.dll. msxml is a Component Object Model (COM) object, so you can use it with any ActiveX-compliant environment, including VB and Active Server Pages (ASP)."

[December 02, 1999] "DNA 2000: Opening new Windows. Will Microsoft Windows DNA 2000 usher in the next generation of the Internet?" By Kent Brown. In Enterprise Development (November 1999). ['Microsoft's Windows DNA 2000 initiative proposes to XMLify the Microsoft OS, tools, and services front to back. Will this end the proprietary platform wars, usher in the next era of the Internet and ultimately result in world peace and prosperity for all?'] "Windows DNA 2000 is, in essence, an extension of the Windows DNA model beyond the traditional Windows platform. DNA 2000 envisions the next step of Internet evolution as the proliferation of services that can be invoked remotely over the Web and integrated into customized solutions in the same way that enterprise developers use remote objects across their networks. Microsoft's outline for DNA 2000 presumes that a universal remote procedure call (RPC) mechanism is necessary to make this possible, and that this mechanism will involve messages carrying XML payloads to marshal the RPC requests and data exchanges across the wire. The rest of Microsoft's architecture plan is mostly just promised product enhancements to fill in the gaps in the Windows 2000 platform to support scalable distributed computing. In his speech, Steve Ballmer listed five areas of focus for the Windows DNA 2000 initiative: Extended programming model. Ideally, the programming model for using remote services within the enterprise and across the Web would be the same. But there are some big differences between these two environments, and while a worthy goal, a unified programming model will require a lot of compromises. Microsoft unveiled a new protocol proposal, the Simple Object Access Protocol, or SOAP, submitted to the IETF standards committee to address this problem. I'll take a detailed look at the SOAP protocol below because I think this is the most interesting aspect of the whole [MS] announcement..."

[December 02, 1999] "IBM, Extricity To Partner On B2B Solutions." By Ellis Booker. In CMPNet TechWeb News (December 01, 1999). "IBM and Extricity Software today are announcing an alliance to jointly deliver business-to-business (B2B) solutions worldwide. As part of the pact, IBM will resell and market Extricity's AllianceSeries XML-based e-commerce server platform. IBM, already the market leader with around 7,000 users of its MQSeries middleware product, believes the B2B extension is a natural addition to this enterprise application integration platform. 'We see this as enabling customers to quickly and efficiently create portals and exchanges between buyers and sellers,' said Rob Lamb, MQSeries business unit executive. For months, IBM has been adding XML support to its various software platforms, including MQSeries, as well as its DB2 database and WebSphere application server."

[December 02, 1999] "TSI To Offer B-to-B Integration Software." By Jeff Sweat. In CMPNet TechWeb News (December 01, 1999). "Enterprise application integration (EAI) vendor TSI Software on Tuesday will unveil the first fruits of its acquisition of application server vendor Novera Software -- an integration product that helps link businesses over the Internet. In the first quarter of next year, the company will roll out its business-to-business integration broker, the combination of Novera's application server and TSI's Mercator EAI software. The company said the product will transform data from legacy systems and packaged application platforms, such as SAP and PeopleSoft, into XML, which will make it simpler for businesses to share information with trading partners, customers, and suppliers. It will also transform XML into other data formats at either end of the transaction."

[December 02, 1999] "Object Databases Move To The Middle -- Despite The Prevalence Of Relational Databases, Vendors Are Making Use Of The Technology." By Mary Stearns Sgiaroto. In InformationWeek Issue 763 [Section: Application Development Java Messaging] (November 29, 1999). "The market tug-of-war between object-oriented and relational databases is long over, and it's clear that relational databases remain the chief custodians of business information...As more companies realize the benefits of the Extensible Markup Language, vendors are finding new ways to approach this market, and companies are seeing definite benefits to deploying object databases at the hub of their integration projects. The XML trend will continue to shake itself out, of course. Says Gartner Group's Varma, 'Most everybody has a story about managing in-memory data and XML. It's very early in the XML game and it's still too early for anybody to claim victory or defeat.' Hoping to end up on the winning side, Object Design Inc. in Burlington Mass., was founded on an object-database product, ObjectStore, and has positioned itself squarely in the XML space. The company sells eXcelon, a midtier, XML-based data-integration server that manages the flow of information between IT systems, business-to-consumer applications, and business-to-business information exchange applications. 'I think XML is going to explode,' says Coco Jaenicke, manager of product marketing and XML evangelist for Object Design. 'I think it's going to be the underlying format for all information. Technically, XML has every feature you need; it stands up to the job. And the industry is supporting it, so it's free of political perils.' XML and object databases would seem to be a potent combination. David Hoag, VP of development at Java engineering and consulting firm ObjectWave, says object-oriented database-management system technology is superior when it comes to storing XML. 'The component model for XML is complex enough that to store it in a relational database isn't practical,' Hoag says. 'In the relational-database world, you have to worry about foreign key references, the depth of the model. There is a lot more complexity in mapping an XML component model to a relational model.' Mapping an XML component model to a relational database requires hundreds and hundreds of round trips, Hoag says, whereas the object database simply returns the object structure. 'In an XML situation, the object database will win out in performance and simplicity,' he says."

[December 01, 1999] "Describing your Data: DTDs and XML Schemas." By Simon St. Laurent. From XML.com (December 01, 1999). ['Are you confused about which XML schema syntax to use? Concerned that your XML applications remain interoperable with future XML schema standards? Simon St. Laurent guides us through the maze of XML schema languages, focusing on DTDs and XML Schemas.'] "If you've been developing with XML for even a short period of time, you are likely to have reached the point of wanting to describe your XML data structures. Document Type Definitions (DTDs) and XML Schemas are key technologies in this area. Although neither are strictly required for XML development, both DTDs and XML Schemas are important parts of the XML toolbox. DTDs have been around for over twenty years as a part of SGML, while XML Schemas are relative newcomers. Though they use very different syntax and take different approaches to the task of describing document structures, both mechanisms definitely occupy the same turf. The W3C seems to be grooming XML Schemas as a replacement for DTDs, but it isn't yet clear that how quickly the transition will be made. DTDs are here-and-now, while XML Schemas, in large part, are for the future..." [For complete references, see "XML Schemas."]

[December 01, 1999] "Which Mailing List Should You Join?" By Edd Dumbill. From XML.com (December 01, 1999). ['Some of the best and most up to date help on programming with XML can be found in mailing lists and newsgroups. Our guide can help you to choose the right forum in which to get involved.'] "Subscribing to mailing lists or newsgroups is a great way to stay up to date on XML, contribute to discussions, and find answers to problems. There is a wealth of forums for the discussion of XML-related topics. In fact, there are so many options that it can be difficult to know where to start. The purpose of this guide is to survey the most popular forums, to communicate their strengths, and help you decide which mailing list to join." [See also: "SGML/XML Discussion Groups and Mailing Lists."

[December 01, 1999] "Microsoft Submits XML Standard." By Aaron Ricadela and Rick Whiting. In CMP TechWeb News (December 01, 1999). "Microsoft submitted a network protocol for XML communication between Windows and non-Microsoft systems to the Internet Engineering Task Force on Tuesday. The draft specification is for version 1.0 of SOAP, a method for accessing objects over the Web. SOAP employs XML to let developers write apps that call objects built with Microsoft's DCOM, as well as non-Microsoft components that use Java and Corba. Microsoft hopes interoperability between its systems and computers running Unix will spur sales of Windows 2000." For other references, see "Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP)." [cn]

[December 01, 1999] "Global XML framework for e-business planned." By Michael Lattig. In InfoWorld (November 30, 1999). "The crusade for a global, cross-industry Extensible Markup Language (XML) framework for electronic business is officially under way, with backing from over 150 companies, as well as the Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards (OASIS), and the United Nations' Center for Trade Facilitation and E-business (UN/CEFACT). The goal, according to Bob Sutor, a member of the board of directors at XML standards body OASIS, is to tap into the vast technical and business experience of individuals across a number of industries and use that expertise to develop a universal framework for XML, to be called ebXML. To accomplish that goal, participating companies have been split into eight project teams based on their respective areas of expertise, and those teams will be working over the next six months to develop the first framework for the ebXML framework. Those project teams will cover marketing awareness and education; technical requirements; business process methodology; technical architecture; core components; transportation, routing, and packaging; registry and repository; and technical coordination and support. While the goal of the project is to develop a cross-industry XML standard for e-business, it is not designed to preempt the development of industry-specific XML standards. On the contrary, said Sutor, OASIS and the UN/CEFACT will encourage the continued development of vertical XML standards." See the main reference page ("Electronic Business XML Initiative (ebXML)") and the recent press release, "Organizations from Around the World Gather to Launch ebXML Global Electronic Business Initiative."

[December 01, 1999] "How XML Enables Internet Trading Communities and Marketplaces." By Bob Glushko. From Ontology.org. (December 1999). ['Bob Glushko, XML strategist and Director of Advanced Technology at CommerceOne, overviews the challenges the the EDI community face in building a new Electronic Business standard using XML. EDI's basic premise that it is easier to interconnect business systems using 'document-based coupling' than in terms of application interfaces. Is the same true in an XML world? Bob Glushko of CommerceOne thinks so. To be presented at XML'99.'] "This paper explains why XML is rapidly becoming the enabling technology for Internet markets and trading communities. It revisits EDI's basic premise that it is easier to interconnect business systems using 'document-based coupling' than in terms of application interfaces and shows how XML can breathe new life into this philosophy. It recognizes the value of preserving EDI's years of experience in designing messages that meet business process requirements and analyzes the technical limitations in both EDI and XML that make the transformation from EDI to XML challenging. But the ease with which anyone can invent new XML models for particular industries or subject areas is both a primary attraction and a significant threat to the interoperability of messages within and between trading communities. This paper reviews efforts to create standards for XML applications, emphasizing those that consciously strive for a balanced perspective that recognizes the need for EDI and XML to interoperate. Finally, the paper introduces the challenges posed by the need for documents to be customized for a particular trading community while still being understood and interoperable with documents in other communities. The paper briefly explains how a Common Business Library encoded in an XML schema language is used in the Marketsite Marketplace Platform to meet these challenges."

[December 01, 1999] "Tradeum: Pioneering Solutions for Internet Exchanges." By [Ontology.org Staff]. The featured 'site of the week' [1999-11-28] from Ontology.org. "Tradeum's XML technology enables real-time optimized matching of buyers, sellers and third-party services to create a dynamic trading exchange on the Internet. The technology respects all parameters, from technical specifications to availability of third-party services, commercial terms and trading partner preferences. The power of Tradeum's technology is impressive, yet even Tradeum admit 'For both buyers and sellers to maximize their advantage, they must understand each other in the fullest sense, and their computers must talk to each other to do so -- delivery dates, technical specifications, commercial terms and more. This requires that goods be described accurately and comprehensively in an industry-wide standardized manner.' [...] Tradeum provides pioneering technology and services that enable B2B Internet marketmakers to realize first-mover advantage. With Tradeum's extensible exchange solution and .net operation, a net marketmaker can be up and running now and then scale up smoothly without missing a byte... Tradeum's platform is based on XML. Why? For most goods and services, many-to-many trading faced an impossible-to-climb Tower of Babel of data formats, jargon, and terminology."

[December 01, 1999] "Controlled Access and Dissemination of XML Documents." By Elisa Bertino, Silvana Castano, Elena Ferrari and Marco Mesiti. In Proceedings of the Second International Workshop on on Web Information and Data Management (November 2-6, 1999, Kansas City) (November 1999), pages 22-27, with 11 references. "XML (Extensible Markup Language) is becoming the most relevant standardization effort in the area of document representation through markup languages. Through XML, it is possible to define complex documents, containing information at different degrees of sensitivity. Moreover, the processes of document exchange and acquisition, which can be very frequent in Web-based information systems, are simplified and standardized. In this scenario, there is a strong need for policies to control and regulate the access and dissemination of XML documents. In the paper, we discuss main protection requirements posed by XML documents and we present a set of authorization and dissemination policies that enable both a controlled access to XML documents in a given Source and the exchange of XML documents across different sources. [We outline] a set of authorization and dissemination policies for a controlled XML document access and exchange. Novel features of the proposed policies are related to the capability of dealing with the inter-linked, hierarchical structure of XML documents, with documents that partially conform to the existing policies, and with a dynamic subject population to which different views of the same (set of) document(s) have to be released. Future research work includes the enrichment of the set of policies we have proposed (for example, by supporting policies which appIy only to specific sets or collections of documents belonging to a given DTD), the development of a formal notation to specify the proposed policies, the implementation of access control and dissemination mechanisms enforcing the proposed policies, the development of tools supporting the security administrator. Other important research directions we plan to investigate are related to the dissemination of XML documents in the WWW environment. An important issue is how to support the Cryptolope approach with standard Web browsers."

[December 01, 1999] "Get Up to Speed With XML. Learn the basics of XML so you can get started using it in your own applications." By Boris Feldman. In XML Magazine Volume 1, Number 1 (Winter 1999/2000), pages 14-18. ['XML is designed to help you organize your data and easily exchange it with others. This overview gives you the basics you need to start using XML in your own applications.'] "If you've seen any computer magazine in the last year, you couldn't have missed the buzz surrounding the industry's newest darling, the Extensible Markup Language (XML). However, having heard of XML is not enough; you need to make smart decisions about how it will impact your business, Internet-related or not, and how you can best take advantage of this new technology. This article will give you a clear understanding of what XML is, what all the XML-related acronyms mean, and how you can best put XML to work for you. XML is a tag-based language similar to HTML that is designed to organize your data rather than format it. With XML you can standardize the way you exchange data with other companies, within your company, or within your application. By using XML, you concentrate on your business logic and avoid the dreary work of writing parsing code for your custom format..."

[December 01, 1999] "XML Glossary." Compiled by Stefan Grünwedel. In XML Magazine Volume 1, Number 1 (Winter 1999/2000), pages 20-21. "All the XML terminology you need to know, with definitions. Here are some common terms associated with XML that you'll come across not only in this magazine but in other XML-related contexts..."

[December 01, 1999] "Dun & Bradstreet Embraces XML." By Jon Udell. In XML Magazine Volume 1, Number 1 (Winter 1999/2000), pages 22-27, 34-35. ['Risk assessment for corporate insurance underwriters used to take days. With revamped data storage and delivery, it now can take minutes. Sure, Dun & Bradstreet's project had its minor glitches. But it's clear that XML middleware is uniquely equipped to leverage the Web's ubiquity and provide workable business-to-business solutions.'] "Users can deploy D&B's Global Access Toolkit on a server or a client, as a set of COM components or Java libraries. Harvey Bowring's credit underwriting application, for example, was built with the COM version of the toolkit and interacts with IIS, Active Server Pages, and SQL Server on Compaq servers running NT. The same COM toolkit can be deployed client-side, delivering realtime D&B data-awareness to a Win32-based application. An alternative Java version of the toolkit delivers the same functionality on non-Windows servers and clients. Either way, the toolkit hides a lot of the XML plumbing that's needed to negotiate transactions with the Global Access Server. It exposes a scriptable object model (see "The hidden middle: Global Access Toolkit's object model") to the programmer. For example, Listing 1 shows how a Visual Basic programmer might locate D&B records for IBM. Not an angle bracket or an XML parser in sight! Despite the object model's neat encapsulation, the XML machinery the toolkit hides isn't terribly complex. It's a request/response protocol called DGX (D&B Global Exchange), modelled on OFX (Open Financial Exchange), the Intuit/Microsoft standard that governs home banking (see Listing 2). OFX is currently based on SGML (Standard Generalized Markup Language), but is rapidly migrating toward XML. To create DGX, the Global Access team adopted OFX's SGML DTDs (Document Type Definitions) and recast them as simpler but equivalent XML DTDs."

[December 01, 1999] "XML Gets Businesses Talking. BizTalk and OASIS are standardizing data formats and network specifications with XML to improve business information exchange." By David Wall. In XML Magazine Volume 1, Number 1 (Winter 1999/2000), pages 36-39. ['As businesses move from paper documents and proprietary electronic formats toward electronic interactions with XML, there's a need for standard ways to identify all that important data properly. BizTalk and OASIS aim to please.'] "The case for XML-based exchange standards for business information gets a boost from the current sorry state of affairs in cross-application (in)compatibility. What exists now is a rat's nest of interfaces, preprocessors, translators, adapters, and converters in a typical large enterprise. If you have 10 pieces of accounting and management software in your organization and each program must talk to each of the others, there are 90 connections to be made. In many cases, building those connections is a manual job-the sort of thing you have to pay a consultant or in-house programmer a lot of money to accomplish. Heaven forbid you should ever decide to swap out one piece of software for a new one. This is why legacy software sticks around for so long. The technology and effort involved in dealing with software interoperability make up a huge industry. Not only do organizational (and contract) programmers spend too many hours building interfaces, but the entire Enterprise Application Integration (EAI) software industry-consisting of CrossWorlds (www.crossworlds.com), Bluestone (www.bluestone.com/main.html), Extricity (www.extricity.com), and others-is based on the fact that getting big management applications to talk to one another is hard. OAG's Connelly notes that managers would dearly love to save the vast sums of money they spend on integrating various applications' input and output. The OAG promotes a "common backbone" solution to this problem. It works like a bulletin board in a small-town grocery store. You can post information on the bulletin board or extract information from it. If you post something, you know to write legibly, concisely (and in the local language), and to include a way for someone to contact you. If you read a notice, you extract what you need from the bulletin based on its formatting. The common backbone that OAG promotes isn't a bulletin board in the traditional computer sense of the term, but rather a set of rules for publishing and accessing information in some kind of forum..."

[December 01, 1999] "When Do You Adopt XML? The tradeoffs involved in using XML mean you should pick your uses carefully." By David S. Linthicum. In XML Magazine Volume 1, Number 1 (Winter 1999/2000), pages 40-42. ['There's no denying that XML is great for data transfer. But throwing this hot new technology at too many problems can only dilute its value and cause mass confusion. Here's when to use it-and when not to.'] The vendors are all staking early claims to XML dominance. They also seem to be turning XML, which is really just a specification, into a technology, which may not be the best thing for XML right now. Some vendors see XML as a common information exchange mechanism; others see it as a database storage format; some look to the Web attributes of XML; the rest see XML as a mechanism to finally get metadata under control. The rush to make a product out of XML is pulling it in many different directions. Ariba Technologies Inc., for instance, just released Commerce XML (cXML), a set of XML DTDs that allows various organizations to define and exchange transactions over the Internet. Not to be outdone, Commerce One released Veo's Common Business Library (CBL), written in XML. CBL is part of the eCo Framework specification for business-to-business commerce, recently turned over to the CommerceNet Consortium. At the same time, Open Buying on the Internet (OBI), an existing standard defining a set of processes for Web-based procurement, is being redone as an XML-enabled standard. Moreover, we are also looking to redefine traditional electronic data interchange (EDI) as XML. You get the picture. Here's my take on it. XML, and the technology that accompanies it, makes for an excellent text-processing facility. It's able to follow a set of rules for creation and organization of documents, so we now have a common text format that many of us can agree on. This allows users of different types of middleware to share information easily. This is all possible because of the self-describing nature of XML data."

[December 01, 1999] "Oracle: Powered by XML and Java. Storing your XML in an Oracle8i database offers many advantages to managing your data." By Ken North. In XML Magazine Volume 1, Number 1 (Winter 1999/2000), pages 46-50. ['Databases belong in every XML developer's toolkit. If you are doing mixed projects with XML and other types of data, you'll want to use a product such as Oracle8i for common storage and querying.']The most recent release of the Oracle database, Oracle8i, features XML capabilities as one of the primary features of the newest version. Oracle8i lets you store XML and build XML-enabled applications. Storing XML in databases lets you take advantage of database administration processes, enforce rules about data and security, define type information, and improve search performance. Document retrieval and data retrieval are not synonymous. Oracle solves data retrieval problems, even though it can also manage XML as complete documents. It's harder to manage a document collection as it grows. Finding information is also more difficult when you must search hundreds or thousands of XML documents. This is a classic data management problem solved through the advent of the database management system (DBMS). Database managers maintain data integrity by providing uniform rules and consistent methods for accessing data. Software companies have refined database technology for three decades and today's DBMSs can manage tabular data, objects, video, audio, images, geo-spatial data, and text. XML is text that conforms to a hierarchy or tree structure. This structure lends itself to parsing and searching. It also lets Oracle provide section searches when you use it to manage XML collections. Oracle8i can store entire documents as columns and its internet File System (iFS) can access XML stored in external files or on the Web. Storing XML collections in databases lets you benefit from database administration tools and procedures such as scheduled backups. Because Oracle databases are not passive data stores, you can use them to enforce rules about data and security. By embedding rules and logic in a database, you can use it to block operations that compromise data integrity. XML developers understand rule processing because they can use a Document Type Definition (DTD) to express rules about documents. You can use a DTD to define the content model for a document, specifying elements, entities, and attributes. In Structuring XML Documents (Prentice Hall, 1998), David Megginson describes two types of DTDs: book-oriented DTDs and database-oriented DTDs. Database-oriented DTDs are used for data exchange and commercial transactions-for example, a DTD used to write and validate hotel reviews stored as XML."

[December 01, 1999] "From Office DOM to XML DOM. Document Object Models are the key to unlocking the power of XML." By Kurt Cagle. In XML Magazine Volume 1, Number 1 (Winter 1999/2000), pages 52-56. ['Although Microsoft Office doesn't really support XML, knowing how to use MS Office's DOMs lets you create complex applications with tools like VBA.'] "Microsoft identifies itself with the Extensible Markup Language (XML) more than just about any other company. The company produced a readily available component for XML parsing within months of the convening of the XML committee, and it pushed for a view of XML that emphasized its ability to transfer any data-not just documents. It also raised the awareness of Extensible Stylesheet Language (XSL) to new heights and started more people out with the query aspects of XML than the rest of the industry combined. Given that, you'd expect that Microsoft Office 2000, the company's flagship product, would carry the banner of data anywhere, any time, any way. Unfortunately, Office doesn't really support XML. That doesn't mean you can't put XML to use with Office-it just means that quite a bit of the work you'd like Office to do, you need to do yourself. I'll demonstrate a couple of techniques to take advantage of XML from within Office. The Document Object Models (DOMs) for all these tools are incredibly robust-perhaps too much so, but that's a different argument. With a basic grasp of XML and DOM manipulation, you can create sophisticated applications with tools like Visual Basic for Applications. Just don't expect Office to provide these things for you out of the gate."

[December 01, 1999] "Expand on Visual Basic's Functionality. XML revolutionizes structured file storage by reducing development time and improving performance." By Nachi Sendowski. In XML Magazine Volume 1, Number 1 (Winter 1999/2000), pages 58-63. ['No longer do you need to invent a custom data file format, define a grammar, or build a parser. XML handles it all for you. You'll put XML to use today, building a hypothetical repository. Learn proven XML techniques to maximize VB performance and compensate for missing VB functionality.'] "In the good ol' days, you had to invent your own data structure, storage, grammar, and file format when implementing structured file storage for an app. You also had to code the read and write procedures for this data and-on occasion-write your own parser and possibly an editor to administer the stored data. Extensible Markup Language (XML) eliminates the need to jump through such hoops ever again. It provides a flexible and easy-to-use object model for accessing structured data programmatically. An application can easily traverse an XML document using the provided parser and object model and have sequential or random access to any eell-formed structured information. The data kept in XML is text-based, readable, maintained easily, potentially self-validating, and accessible with a variety of tools. In this article, I'll explain the basic steps for putting XML to use, walking you through the steps necessary to implement a hypothetical repository. Along the way, I'll show you a few tricks for using XML either to maximize performance in VB or compensate for missing VB functionality, using benchmarks to illustrate the relative performance difference between various approaches. At the same time, I'll try to punch through the hype, making the case for what XML can do today, as I cover its strengths and weaknesses in the context of other present-day technologies."

[December 01, 1999] "An Introduction to XML for Java Programmers. The Extensible Markup Language and Java are a perfect duo for data exchange and more." By Piroz Mohseni. In XML Magazine Volume 1, Number 1 (Winter 1999/2000), pages 64-67. ['Like Java, XML has emerged from an early hype phase to become a valuable tool in handling data. Learn how Java can make an XML document's data and metadata come to life in your apps.'] "XML has often been associated with HTML and discussed in the context of content markup, content management, search engines, and meta languages, but there are some aspects of XML that are also a perfect match for Java. XML is not a programming language-it is merely a language in which you can create a markup language. XML provides a method to represent data in a universal way. Data and the logic to process data (programs) have a long-standing relationship. It should come as no surprise that such a relationship exists and will emerge fully from XML and Java...The ability to define data structures in plain text makes XML useful as a data exchange mechanism among applications. But what does this have to do with Java? Just as a browser brings HTML to life, Java can bring XML documents to life. An XML document by itself is merely a collection of data and metadata. A programming language is required to process that data and perform useful operations using the data. In the remainder of this article, we'll take a look at how Java can leverage XML documents. It should be noted that XML is inherently language independent. Other languages such as Perl, Python, and C++ can also be used to manipulate XML documents."

[December 01, 1999] "Create Extensible Web Pages with XML and CSS. Learn how to integrate XML and CSS markup to create truly extensible Web pages using your own tag set and vocabulary." By Kurt Cagle. In XML Magazine Volume 1, Number 1 (Winter 1999/2000), pages 68-74. ['Using XML and Cascading Style Sheets, you can create truly extensible Web pages. Find out what's possible with XML in tandem with Internet Explorer 5.'] "If HTML and the Internet have changed the ability of people to publish, it has been somewhat tempered by two significant limitations. The first is the classic conundrum of the Web designer. In order to build pages with visual complexity, you are forced to choose between supporting a lesser subset of Web page implementation that ensures compatibility, or taking advantage of a larger set of features at the expense of limiting market penetration or maintaining multiple versions. The second, more pervasive limitation of HTML is the loss of context. HTML started out as a contextual language for viewing scientific documents. It isn't terribly well-suited for creating interactive advertisements, gallery walk-throughs, online book and CD superstores, and so forth. However, each Shockwave movie, each VRML world, every DIV-based HTML element that uses Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) loses just a little bit more information about the Web. We're on the edge of a revolution that will prove as profound in its way as HTML, or those first word processors, or that first copy of PageMaker. The harbinger of this new revolution is XML, and Microsoft's Internet Explorer 5.0 provides the first inklings about how powerful this new technology will ultimately prove to be... This article covers a lot of ground. My intent was to show the potential that XML offers as a markup language, and almost accidentally, I created a number of useful behaviors to help support it. Feel free to use them and modify them for your own projects. While it will take some time for XML browsers (and make no mistake about it: IE5 is an XML browser, which just happens to support HTML) to become commonplace, their use will unquestionably change the way we create Web pages. You can define your documents to best handle your own particular tasks, rather than tasks that fit best in a language meant to format physics papers. You can create complex functionality that can be referenced as easily as a simple paragraph tag, and you can change the functionality by specifying a different style sheet. With the click of a button, you can make a document more suitable for print, or for audible reading, or for displaying as a spreadsheet. Finally, the very meta-structure of the document becomes easy to navigate; what used to take dozens of lines of HTML-centered JavaScript code can be easily accomplished in a handful of XML-centric code lines."

[December 01, 1999] "Schemas Take DTDs to the Next Level. Use schemas to prepare XML for the demands of e-business and e-commerce." By Norbert Mikula and Ken Levy. In XML Magazine Volume 1, Number 1 (Winter 1999/2000), pages 81-82. ['The W3C XML Schema is far from being finalized, but it offers a promising direction for document type definitions (DTDs) to prepare XML for the demands of e-business and e-commerce.'] "For XML documents to make sense, the attributes and elements of the document must be defined prior to being parsed by an XML browser or application. Traditionally, a Document Type Definition (DTD) is used to describe the elements and attributes in an XML or SGML document. The format for DTDs is an existing worldwide standard and will likely exist and be improved upon for years to come. However, because of the inherent limitations of DTDs, and the increasingly data-oriented role that XML is being asked to assume because of developments in e-business and e-commerce, the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) standards body is promoting a new standard called XML Schemas, rather than attempting to push the current DTD standards any farther. We will describe the differences between DTDs and XML Schemas, the pros and cons of each, and will then offer a number of recommendations to help you decide which would be the best technology for your needs... To understand why XML Schemas are important, let's look at the two major shortcomings of DTDs as they relate to XML: a separate syntax and lack of support fordata-typing."

[December 01, 1999] "Transform Your Data With XSL. Here's a real-world example of how you can use XSL to convert an XML-based résumé into various data formats to suit your needs." By Kurt Cagle. In XML Magazine Volume 1, Number 1 (Winter 1999/2000), pages 76-80. ['The Extensible Stylesheet Language gives you the power to convert your data into different formats based on your needs. This real-world example shows how to transform an XML-based résumé into various formats using XSL.'] "XSL, or Extensible Stylesheet Language, is often compared to CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) as a way of applying specific formats to XML tags. However, this comparison is actually a little misleading. CSS reads each XML element as it is scanned in the document and applies styles in that order. In other words, CSS doesn't change the structure of the XML; it only changes the visual appearance of each node. If you put your name at the bottom of the XML document, CSS will place your name at the bottom of the document unless you explicitly position it elsewhere with position:absolute. Furthermore, CSS will treat each tag of a given type in exactly the same manner-there's no mechanism for doing things like placing a rule above the first paragraph in a set of paragraphs without explicitly renaming the paragraph class. XSL, on the other hand, is a transformational language. It can take an XML document (or a rigorously valid HTML document) and convert it to another XML document, an HTML document, a printable HTML document, a standard ASCII text file, a proprietary text format, or conceivably even a binary representation. Given that a significant proportion of all computer programs out there exist for the sole purpose of transforming one set of data into a different set of data, the potential for XSL is in some respects even broader than the already burgeoning interest in XML."

[November 30, 1999] "Microsoft Offers SOAP to IETF." By Bob Trott. In InfoWorld (November 30, 1999). "Microsoft plans to submit the first version of its Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) specification to the Internet Engineering Task Force on Tuesday for consideration as a standard, according to a company representative. SOAP, based on Internet standards such as HTTP and Extensible Markup Language (XML), enables Remote Procedure Calls to be sent as XML syntax across the Web's HTTP architecture. The specification will be built into forthcoming versions of Microsoft's Windows Distributed interNet Applications architecture. The goal, according to the company officials, is to offer a standards-based interoperability protocol that will enable 'new and existing applications to become Web services that communicate seamlessly.' The protocol is key to Microsoft as it gears up for the rollout of Windows 2000, which is due to launch Feb. 17 2000. After getting feedback from partners and major customers who are unhappy with the prospect of ripping out and replacing legacy and non-Windows systems, the company in the past couple of years has focused on interoperability with those and other infrastructures, such as Java. Microsoft officials hope that this approach will prove to be a selling point for Windows 2000, the upgrade to Windows NT 4.0." See "Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP)."

[November 30, 1999] "Microsoft Proposes Net software Specification." By Mike Ricciuti. In CNET News.com (November 30, 1999). "Microsoft today will submit a draft of a proposed Internet communications specification to a key standards body. The Redmond, Wash.-based software giant will publish and submit version 1.0 of the Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) specification to the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) as an Internet draft. SOAP, based on the increasingly popular Web standard for data exchange called the Extensible Markup Language (XML), will let business software programs communicate over the Internet, regardless of the programming model on which they are based. Microsoft is attempting to gain an advantage over competitors, including Sun Microsystems, IBM and others, by establishing SOAP as an Internet standard and incorporating it into its server-based software. In many ways, SOAP, and Microsoft's plans to establish it as a standard, represent a reversal of Microsoft's past attempts to steer the software development business. The company many times has been accused of attempting to control the market with Windows, a de facto proprietary standard. With SOAP, Microsoft is proposing an open standard that would nullify a competitor's proprietary advantage. SOAP, which doesn't require any Microsoft software, is a network protocol that lets software objects developed using different languages communicate with each other. Microsoft sees it as effectively leveling the playing field between Windows and development strategies based on Java. Instead of being forced to choose one model, companies will be free to select whichever is best suited to solving the problem at hand, Microsoft reasons..." See "Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP)."

[November 24, 1999] "Presentation and Exchange of Business Models With CIMOSA-XML." By Giuseppe Salvato, I.J. Leontaritis, P. Winstone, M. Zelm, Daniel Rivers-Moore [etc.]. In Computers in Industry [ISSN: 0166-3615] Volume 40, Number 2-3 (November 1999), pages 125-139. On CIMOSA (CIM Open System Architecture) and XML, see [a hint in] CIMOSA - News from Vol. 6/1, 99-02-15: "A working group in the PRIMA project with the CIMOSA Association and Rivcom, UK has developed the Document Type Definition (DTD) of the CIMOSA-XML Meta-model. This Meta-model is the basis for a common set of modelling constructs in order to build enterprise models, which can be presented in different views to different users. The presentation of the CIMOSA model starts from the functional hierarchy (decomposition) of the domain and enterprise functions (Domain Processes, Business Processes and Enterprise Activities). The behavioural description of the XML model is presented as a graphic representation. Information view and resource view are presented by listing Object Views, Capabilities and Capability Sets with a description of the enterprise functions that employ them as function inputs, function outputs, needed capabilities etc. The specification of a Document Type Definition (DTD) for most CIMOSA constructs has been based on their formal definition in EXPRESS language. The population of an XML file with data from a particular CIMOSA model with CIMOSA DTD enables the model representation into Manager, Business and Technical type of description. The partial CIMOSA model 'Quality Document Management' described in a business functional requirements study has been used as a DTD prototyping example. The benefits can be summarised as: Exchange of CIMOSA models in a neutral form, style sheets that give users the ability to interact more with the model and the definition of logical links between information elements. The results of this work are reported in the PRIMA project deliverables and in a paper titled 'Process Repository as a management tool' by G.Salvato et.al. to be published in the upcoming special issue of Computers in Industry." See further the table of contents for Computers In Industry, Volume 40, Issue: 2-3, November 1999.

[November 24, 1999] "Web DNA: XML Builds Powerful Publications." By Liz Levy. In Imaging & Document Solutions Volume 8, Number 11 (November 1999), pages 18-26. ['XML provides the structure for living documents. We look at two very different companies that are using XML to build applications that support the dynamic assembly of content and Web delivery.'] "They're two very different companies with two different challenges, but they've both found an answer in XML (eXtensible Markup Language). What they have in common is a need to organize and add structure to their documents with an eye toward delivering the content across multiple media including the Web. Read on to find out how Practitioners Publishing company plans to customize and reuse its financial reference material for delivery via print, the Web and CD-ROM. And there's Guidant, a leading maker of life-saving pacemakers and defibrillators. Using XML, this manufacturer is creating structured documents that can be dynamically composed for each product they manufacture. (1) Practitioners Publishing Company (PPC) offers a variety of reference materials used by CPAs and financial planners. There are 300 employees in PPC's office in Fort Worth, TX, where they publish more than 125 titles a year averaging more than 1,000 pages in length... XML facilitates the reuse of content by storing information at an element level rather than a document level. This fit PPC because some of their products have the same sections and subsections but they don't have the same chapters. (2) Guidant (Indianapolis, IN) is a $1.9 billion, 6,000-employee manufacturer of cardiovascular products. The company's Cardiac Rhythm Management Group is a market leader in defibrillator systems, which treat life-threatening rapid heart rhythms. Based in St. Paul, MN, the group also produces pacemakers and other products, all of which require thousands of pages of documentation to support manufacturing processes. The Guidant group decided to rewrite all of their manuals in XML (eXtensible Markup Language) to improve document structure, organization and creation..."

[November 24, 1999] "Web DNA: WebDAV Brings the Basics Online." By Lawrence Drinkwater and Doug Henschen. In Imaging & Document Solutions Volume 8, Number 11 (November 1999), pages 29-35. ['WebDAV is a new protocol that provides a way to write, edit and share information over the Web to and from any supporting application. We compare WebDAV to other document management standards and see where the industry is headed.'] The Web is struggling to move beyond a read-only medium. WebDAV is a new protocol that provides the basics for writing, editing and sharing information across intranets, extranets and the Internet. Not only has it gained broad, high-level support, it just may leave less Web-savvy standards behind. WebDAV (short for Web Distributed Authoring and Versioning) will enable distant collaborators to read and write documents across the Internet in much the same way they now can in local client/server environments. A document created with a word processing or Web authoring tool from Microsoft, for example, will be viewable and revisable using different authoring tools. WebDAV extensions to HTTP will let you store files in any file system (e.g., Unix, Windows, Mac) and manage them with any WebDAV-supporting application (document management, workflow, groupware, etc.)...Two document management standards are currently in the crossfire of this controversy: ODMA (Open Document Management API) and DMA (Document Management Alliance). The ODMA standard is a client-side API specification that provides interoperability between multiple ODMA-compliant clients or applications operating on a single vendor's (proprietary) document management system. In this sense, WebDAV is similar to ODMA in that it provides multiple Web-based clients running on a Web server to interoperate. DMA delivers the full breadth of document management capabilities, including some that are currently absent from WebDAV, such as cross-repository search, multi-property and multi-condition search and auto-discovery of document management system features (though some anticipate that this functionality will eventually be supported by WebDAV). DMA also addresses both client and server interfaces, whereas WebDAV's interoperability is currently restricted to the client side..."

[November 24, 1999] "[e.docs] - Keyflow Enables E-Commerce." By Liz Levy. In Imaging & Document Solutions Volume 8, Number 11 (November 1999), page 16. ['Keyflow Enables E-Commerce Joining workflow, XML forms and Web doc management.'] "Keyflow Commerce has three core modules: a Workflow Server, an Active Document Workspace and a new XML Engine. The software's use of message-based workflow in conjunction with online XML-based forms is quite powerful. The online forms will handle transactions such as online purchasing, user registration and bill presentment, and the workflow portion will speed the processing, improving customer service and relationships. Keyflow Commerce will support Microsoft's BizTalk Framework by employing an XML (eXtensible Markup Language) workflow schema. BizTalk is a set of guidelines for publishing schemas in XML,and it will allow software programs to work together.The schemas are used within Keyfile's XML forms to define how the information will be received and processed in an e-commerce transaction. This allows Keyflow Commerce to exchange data with any application or system that also supports BizTalk."

[November 24, 1999] "Web Profiling. Marketers collect data on your Web habits. Would you like to see what they see?" By Sebastian Rupley. In PC Magazine [Online] (November 23, 1999). "There's an old saying: 'The devil you know is better than the devil you don't know.' As online privacy issues have grabbed headlines in recent months, it's apparent that marketers are collecting far more information about our online shopping and surfing habits than most of us realize. At the same time, a large working group of companies, ranging from Compaq and Oracle to Net Perceptions and Andromedia, is working on a new standard, dubbed CPEX (Customer Profile Exchange), for how consumer information is collected and shared. Unlike most of the current subterranean efforts to collect information about your surfing and shopping habits, CPEX is designed on an open-source model where customers may have new levels of control over what they allow to be disseminated about them. The newly proposed CPEX standard for collecting online shopping and surfing information is gaining broad backing. CPEX is designed to integrate online and off-line customer data in an XML-based format for use by companies that want to gather information about consumers. As such, it has the potential to draw the ire of consumers." See "Customer Profile Exchange (CPEX) Working Group."

[November 24, 1999] "Simpletons vs. DocHeads. SML: Simplifying XML." By Robert E. La Quey. From XML.com (November 24, 1999). ['Do you think XML is too complicated? The proposers of a move to standardize a 'Simplified Markup Language' (SML), a cut-down version of XML, certainly do. They claim that many implementations just don't use the more esoteric features of XML, such as processing instructions (PIs). That's OK, but why standardize? Well, if everyone only uses a bit of XML, there'll be conflict with exactly which bits are supported and which aren't. Hence the effort to pare XML 1.0 down to the bare essentials that implementors can agree on. So is SML a brave continuation of the XML revolution, or is it a distraction from the business of developing higher level XML applications? This week, Robert La Quey gives some background on the recent SML discussions, and makes the case for a standard simplified XML.'] "Of late, there are those that are thinking beyond this simplification of SGML into XML, and are pushing for an even simpler standard. Simple Markup Language (SML) is the newly-coined name for a de facto stripped-down variant of XML being used by two groups of developers. The first of these groups of SML users comprises those who believe that the revolution stopped too soon. The second, a much larger group, started using the core of XML and have no need for additional complexity. The first group knows its XML history and believes that SGML revisionists added document-centric complications that complicate XML beyond what is really needed for data-centric applications both on and off the Web. In fact, the reality is that many developers are already using a Simple Markup Language -- essentially XML without DTDs -- to build useful systems. In a recent message to the XML developers' mailing list XML-dev, Don Park explored a definition of SML. He characterized it as a subset of Canonical XML (a standard form of XML being specified by the W3C), but having: No Attributes, No Processing Instructions (PI), No Document Type Declaration (DTD), No non-character entity-references, No CDATA marked sections, Support for only UTF-8 character encoding, No optional features. . . A number of the leading figures in the XML community have not been amused by the SML discussions. This is understandable -- any call for experts to re-examine their basic assumptions, to go back to ground zero, is guaranteed to evoke strong reactions. Especially when it comes at a time when the experts thought they had already done just that. XML is, after all, a vast simplification of SGML..." See also: "Simplified Markup Language: Your Responses."

[November 24, 1999] "Document Management for the Masses." By Patrick D. Coleman. In Server/Workstation Expert Volume 10, Number 11 (November 1999), pages 50-57. Thanks to the Web, and emerging technologies like XML, document management systems are at last providing users with a robust environment for gathering, storing, and sharing information..." [not online yet]

[November 24, 1999] "XML: The Language Of Integration. The meta-language standard provides an easy and available way to identify and share data." By Alan Radding. In Information Week Issue 759 (November 01, 1999), pages 141-148. "Application developers are suddenly finding a better way to achieve data integration. Instead of hammering out specialized data exchange formats, writing proprietary parsers to pull data out of messages, and maintaining custom data connectors for multiple applications and data sources, they are turning to XML, the Extensible Markup Language. Unlike electronic data interchange, a cumbersome, overhead-laden approach to data exchange, XML is lightweight, easy, and increasingly available. XML is popping up everywhere. For example, Microsoft's latest Windows DNA 2000 product-strategy announcement specifies XML throughout the product line. However, Microsoft is one of many vendors turning to XML. 'It's nice to get the approval of the industry's 800-pound gorilla, but XML wasn't waiting for Microsoft,' says Mark Driver, research director with the Gartner Group's E-Business Technology service. Many software vendors are rushing to support XML. XML is not a product or a platform. Neither is it the second coming of Java, nor a latter-day SQL. It is an enabling technology, like IP itself, Driver says. XML is a meta-language standard for specifying a document-markup language based on plain-text tags. It's a subset of the Standard Generalized Markup Language. HTML, another subset of SGML, is a similar tag-based cousin of XML, but where HTML tags tell the browser how to display various elements on a Web page, XML tags specify what those elements are."

[November 24, 1999] "Privacy plan tied to XML. Consumers would control information about themselves." By Jim Kerstetter. In PC Week [Online] Volume 16, Number 47 (November 22, 1999), page 3. "More than 20 vendors, ranging from net.Genesis Corp. and Vignette Corp. to IBM, Siebel Systems Inc. and Oracle Corp., are trying to offer a technical solution to consumer online privacy problems. Last week, the group held a series of meetings here and unveiled the Customer Privacy Exchange, or CPEX, a proposed XML (Extensible Markup Language) standard that, when completed, will allow companies to share information about consumers while allowing consumers themselves to control the information. Unlike many such efforts in the privacy space, developers say CPEX isn't about heading off government intervention in consumer privacy. Intervention, they say, is a foregone conclusion and has already happened in most European Union countries. 'Whatever the government decides to do, we want to make sure companies can deal with it,' said Matthew Cutler, chief e-business intelligence officer at net.Genesis, in Cambridge, Mass. CPEX is still far from completion. The initial specification is expected to be published as an open-source reference by the middle of next year. Developers said they hope to have interoperability demonstrations ready late next year. They also want CPEX to work with the varied XML schemata already in development, such as the Internet Content Exchange and Microsoft Corp.'s BizTalk." See "Customer Profile Exchange (CPEX) Working Group."

[November 24, 1999] "Gates: It All Starts With Software. Microsoft CEO discusses business transformation, software distribution, and more." By . In Information Week (November 22, 1999). ". . . take all these things about Extensible Markup Language and how people are having to think about XML standards. There's going to be so many standards, so how do you map from one XML schema to another schema? That's a tough software problem; in fact, there's going to be more innovation in computer languages in the next couple of years than there have been in the last 10 as we expand existing languages with XML and we get new computer languages that are really designed around XML. And that's partly why our strategy is language neutral. Visual Basic, Java, C, even the traditional languages ... and you can't tell people to go rewrite stuff because that's not where you get interoperability. By mapping their stuff in the schemas and then being able to map between schemas, we'll have a level of interoperability we've never had before. This XML thing has a lot of promise to it. Just because you use XML doesn't deliver the promise, it's just sort of the starting point of it. Again, a very tough software problem, fascinating software problem that we'll go after just like all these tool things that we've done. [Windows 2000:] There's a new version of SQL Server, which is the one designed for XML. SQL 7 has been doing super well, but this is the first time where we've got XML at the center of the database design."

[November 24, 1999] "XML unleashes data. Red-hot technology builds bridges between enterprise apps by letting data move easily among them, regardless of original format. [Cover Story]." By Timothy Dyck. In PC Week [Online] Volume 16, Number 47 (November 22, 1999), pages 36-38. "Providing a simple, universal way to exchange information between otherwise incompatible systems, XML is the closest thing to a Holy Grail of e-commerce data interchange that PC Week Labs has seen. Since Extensible Markup Language gained World Wide Web Consortium Recommendation status in February 1998, its text-based structure has proved easy to understand and use. The specification was written with such stringency that for 21 months it has remained immune to the kind of incompatibilities that have dogged HTML. In addition, steady work within many industries such as health care and finance over the past several months -- coordinated through sites such as xml.org --has further smoothed the data path. For example, the automotive industry uses XML to exchange information among component suppliers; technical publishers use XML to produce manuals; and human resources managers use XML to store and categorize candidate résumés. In many instances, businesses can exchange information without intermediate format conversions, provided they use the same XML document formats. XML is the best available interoperability technology for business-to-business communication, particularly if it is transmitted over a secure channel such as a virtual private network or a Secure Sockets Layer connection..."

[November 24, 1999] "XML smooths flow of object interactions in distributed architectures." By Peter Coffee. In PC Week [Online] Volume 16, Number 47 (November 22, 1999), page 38. "There is a tendency among managers, especially those not immersed in new technol ogy, to view new standards that address similar needs as substitutes for one another. As in most such cases, the situation isn't that simple in the complementary coexistence of DCOM, CORBA and the emerging XML. Microsoft Corp.'s Distributed Component Object Model and the multivendor Common Object Request Broker Architecture are distributed component architectures; that is, they both provide ways for computers to find and run software componentsthat lets them exchange information without rigid prior agreement on data formats. Microsoft is trying to bridge the gap between these two domains with SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol), a technology that merges XML's labels with DCOM/CORBA's underlying software agents..."

[November 24, 1999] "Execs foresee steady growth in use of XML." By Anne Chen and Antone Gonsalves. In PC Week [Online] Volume 16, Number 47 (November 22, 1999), pages 36, 38. "XML is gaining acceptance in corporate IT departments as a cross-platform vehicle for moving data, but the technology must mature before gaining a foothold within the enterprise, according to IT managers. Extensible Markup Language 'has a lot of potential, but the biggest flaw is actually taking that potential and implementing and executing on it,' said Fred Kauber, vice president of technology and operations at ClickMail Inc.'s Clickmail.com. 'You're seeing it in small departmental applications right now. But to have XML leverage its full potential within the enterprise, it's going to take a lot more work'."

[November 24, 1999] "Web technology development focuses on XML." By Jim Rapoza. In PC Week [Online] Volume 16, Number 47 (November 22, 1999), page 38. "Sweeping statements are not popular at PC Week Labs, but in the case of XML, we'll make an exception: Extensible Markup Language is the future of the Web. In fact, if the World Wide Web Consortium wants its moniker to reflect its mission, it should consider a name change from the W3C to the XMLC..."

[November 22, 1999] "Haskell and XML: Generic Combinators or Type-Based Translation?." By Malcolm Wallace and Colin Runciman. In SIGPLAN Notices Volume 34, Number 9 (September 1999), pages 148-159, with 16 references. Published in the Proceedings of the International Conference on Functional Programming (ICFP '99, Paris, France, 27-29 September. 1999). "We present two complementary approaches to writing XML document-processing applications in a functional language. In the first approach, the generic tree structure of XML documents is used as the basis for the design of a library of combinators for generic processing: selection, generation, and transformation of XML trees. The second approach is to use a type-translation framework for treating XML document type definitions (DTDs) as declarations of algebraic data types, and a derivation of the corresponding functions for reading and writing documents as typed values in Haskell. . . This paper is about processing XML using the functional language Haskell.1 Modern functional languages are well-equipped to deal with tree-structured data, so one expects the language to be a good fit for the application. Even so, a key issue is just how to represent documents, and in particular how to reconcile the DTD datatype definitions included in XML documents with the data types that can be defined in Haskell. We have investigated two complementary approaches: (1) Define an internal data structure that represents contents of any XML document, independent of all DTDs. (2) Given the DTD for some XML documents of interest, systematically derive definitions for internal Haskell data types to represent them. These definitions are closely based on the specific DTD. Advantages of (1) include genericity and function-level scripting. Generic applications handle a wide class of XML documents, not just those sharing a specific DTD. One example of a completely generic application is searching documents to extract contents matching some pattern. Our Xtract is an interpreter for a regular XML query language." [local archive copy]

[November 22, 1999] "XML to unify Web profiles." By Susan E. Fisher. In InfoWorld Volume 21, Issue 47 (November 19, 1999), page 18. "A frequent traveler books a hotel room online. When he gets to the hotel, he explains that he'd like to apply frequent-flyer points he's earned from a program affiliated with the hotel toward a free night's stay. The clerk at the hotel shakes his head; they have no record of the frequent-flyer award. The customer is dissatisfied and considers never doing business with the hotel chain again. The scenario - in which a customer's demands are unfulfilled because the failure of customer information to flow from one application to another - is not uncommon, according to electronic-commerce leaders pledged to solve this problem with the Customer Profile Exchange (CPEX) standard. The consortium this week announced the formation of a working group for CPEX, billed as a vendor-neutral open standard for sharing customer data across disparate applications and systems. For IT professionals who implement e-commerce solutions, trying to achieve that consistent view through application integration takes development time and money, they note. Because customer data resides in a variety of applications and offline repositories, e-businesses are hard- pressed for a consistent, unified view of customers. 'Wouldn't it be great if everyone had the same way of representing [customer] data?' said Steven Mason, vice president of e-business solutions at the Billerica, Mass.-based data technologies division at Harte-Hanks, a CPEX consortium member. The consortium's 21-member working group boasts leading vendors in the e-business and e-customer application arena. The standard they are developing will be based on Extensible Markup Language (XML), integrating customer profiles for back-office and front-office applications, and the Web. CPEX could potentially affect all aspects of how companies manage their customer relationships, including customer support, sales tracking, marketing campaigns, order tracking, enterprise relationship management, and decision support. According to organizers, CPEX will include a data model, transport, and query definitions. Plus, CPEX will encode privacy requirements with the customer data, so customers have a measure of control over what of their personal information is distributed. The need for such a standard is clear. More than 90 percent of companies interviewed by Forrester Research, in Cambridge, Mass., believe that a single, integrated view of the customer is critical. Yet only 2 percent say they have achieved it." For related references, see "Customer Profile Exchange (CPEX) Working Group."

[November 22, 1999] "XML and CORBA." By Dirk Hamstra. In Dr. Dobb's Journal Volume 24, Number 11 (November 1999), pages 98-100. "The XML/IT toolkit from CareFlow allows you to automatically tag the results returned from calls to CORBA-based services, and then format them using XML. It also includes utilities that support the conversion of XML-tagged documents to Java structures, and vice versa. In addition to assuming the existence of CORBA-based back-end services, XML/IT assumes the use of interface definition language (IDL) to Java compilers to generate Java stubs and skeletons, and uses CORBA's Dynamic Invocation Interface (DII) standards specification. The main client program routine (DIICall) can be embedded inside other Java-based clients, CGI scripts or Java servlets." See also the code listings. For related references, see "XML and CORBA.

[November 22, 1999] "XPath Tutorial." By Miloslav Nic (Department of Organic Chemistry, ICT Prague). November 22, 1999. ['XPath tutorial: XPaths are just wonderful. I really hope that they will be used as much as possible so there is my little contribution to their propagation.'] See also the larger collection of 'Zvon' tutorial materials by Dr. Miloslav Nic.

[November 22, 1999] "IBM's chief XML evangelist examines how the language will change e-commerce." By Martin LaMonica. In InfoWorld (November 22, 1999). ['Imagine being a small division that recommends strategic directions to a technology behemoth like IBM. Several years ago, you proposed that the company invest heavily in Java, an untested technology owned and branded by one of your competitors. To your amazement and delight, IBM agreed, betted heavily on Java to bridge its multiple platforms, and became a driving force for a technology that quickly became commonplace. To hear the full story, talk to Simon Phipps, IBM's chief Extensible Markup Language (XML) and Java evangelist, because that's exactly what he did. With Java well entrenched in IT shops, Phipps' latest kick is XML, a simple technology that he predicts will become the assumed data format by the end of 2001. After his keynote speech at the Software Development East conference in Washington, D.C., two weeks ago, InfoWorld News Editor Martin LaMonica sat down to discuss the quickly evolving role of XML in electronic business.'] [Phipps:] "... you have to first of all understand that the most important XML standard is actually XSL [Extensible Style Language], not XML. What's going to happen with XML is that people are going to represent their business data structures as hierarchical data structures marked up with XML. Let's assume that you and I are in the same business. We have a different business model because we are in different businesses. Therefore, it's likely that we will have different hierarchical data structures for the way we represent data. So, just for you and me -- in the same business -- to express ourselves, we will probably need to have slightly different vocabularies. Consequently, the lifeblood of all business to business in XML is going to be transformation. And if the lifeblood of XML is going to be transformation, it doesn't really matter if vendors produce slightly different XML standards because at least the data's all marked up. If you are great at transformation, you can go from his version of whatever it is to their version of whatever it is. So, I don't think that's a big fear for me. What's more of a fear is that vendors will try to do proprietary branding on technologies and introduce changes to the technologies to try to prevent technologies from being freely available. I think that's more of a worry. There's one blatant example of that now, but I'm sure we'll see other attempts to try to organize XML. And it isn't about having diverging standards. It's about taking the standards that are diverging and branding them or trademarking them. What do you do if the vocabulary that you thought you were going to use, one of the key words, is a trademark of the company that's providing it to you? You're going to have to cite [its] trademark. And what if the repository Web site has a legal statement that makes everything there [its] property? That means that proprietary vendor is going to end up owning everything you do. That's why we are so behind XML.org. We see it as a neutral ground to reach agreement. There will be different vocabularies, that will be a fact of life, just like you can't get the Canadians to speak all English or all French..."

[November 22, 1999] "XML Stumbling Blocks. E-commerce companies in vertical industries face the challenge of taking XML forward on their own, with conflicting standards and support from vendors." By Michael Lattig. In InfoWorld Volume 21, Issue 47 (November 22, 1999), pages 34-35. "In the past month alone, many leading vendors, such as Oracle, IBM, and Microsoft, expanded XML support in their development tools, databases, and application-integration infrastructures, generating a great deal of exposure and anticipation for the potential business benefits of the standard. However, like most standards, XML is experiencing growing pains, many of which stem from the inevitable vendor tug-of-war that follows the emergence of almost any truly useful technology. For XML, the issues go beyond how the standard itself will evolve. Because XML on its own merely defines data, which means it must be properly formatted to provide any real-world benefit, questions have surfaced about how and where the technology should be implemented, and who -- vendors, vertical industries, or individual companies -- should dictate that decision...Another problem posed by the simplicity of XML is that the standard was designed to be highly extensible. That, combined with user confusion over how and where it should be implemented, has left the standard open to a variety of interpretations that some worry could splinter it... One of the most glaring examples of potential XML appropriation is Microsoft's BizTalk program, which provides a framework for developing XML schemas that are an integral part of any XML implementation. Without such a framework, says James Utzschneider, director of business frameworks at Microsoft's business solutions group, in Redmond, Wash., XML's potential may never be realized. Dror Liwer, chief technology officer at Context Integration, in New York, a Web systems integration company that is involved in a number of digital exchange projects, says that XML is clearly the language of choice for digital exchanges between companies within their respective industries, but the overarching question of who will define the XML standards, or vocabularies, remains, and XML's greatest strength -- its simplicity -- may also be its weak point."

[November 22, 1999] "XFDL: The Extensible Forms Description Language." By John Boyer. In Dr. Dobb's Journal Volume 24, Number 12 (December 1999). "The Extensible Forms Description Language is an XML extension language that addresses key problems involved with doing electronic commerce on the Web. Additional resources include 'xfdl.txt' code listings." See "Extensible Forms Description Language (XFDL)."

[November 22, 1999] "Expert Viewpoints on the role of XML." By Amy Lincicum. In Dr. Dobb's Journal (November 1999). "As web sites deliver increasingly data-rich content, panelists Kurt Kanaskie, Elliot Rusty Harold and Christian Gross see a role for XML 'everywhere' during a Thursday afternoon power panel.' SD '99 Conference.

[November 19, 1999] "The Birth of XML: A Personal Recollection ." By Jon Bosak [Solaris Global Engineering and Information Services]. From 'Java Technology' - java.sun.com (November [?] 1999). "XML arose from the recognition that key components of the original web infrastructure -- HTML tagging, simple hypertext linking, and hardcoded presentation -- would not scale up to meet the future needs of the web. This awareness started with people like me who were involved in industrial-strength electronic publishing before the web came into existence. I learned the shape of the future by supervising the transition of Novell's NetWare documentation from print to online delivery. This transition, which took from 1990 through 1994 to implement and perfect, was based on SGML. The decision to use SGML paid off in 1995 when I was able single-handedly to put 150,000 pages of Novell technical manuals on the web. This is the kind of thing that an SGML-based system will let you do. A more advanced and heavily customized version of the same system, built on technology from Inso Corporation, is used today for Solaris documentation under the name AnswerBook2. You can see it running at http://docs.sun.com, which looks like an HTML web site but in fact contains no HTML; all of the HTML is generated the moment it's needed from an SGML database. (You can get XML from this site if you know how -- but that's another story.)..."

[November 19, 1999] "Working with XML." By [Staff]. From Java Software [java.sun.com]. November, 1999. Java Software [java.sun.com] Presents an XML Tutorial. "Confused about XML? Not sure of what it is or what it can do for you? Then be sure to read 'The Java XML Tutorial,' a new feature now making its debut on this Web site. You can read the tutorial online, and there's source code that you can download and experiment with while you're learning XML... Using step-by-step walkthroughs and lots of code examples, the Tutorial is divided into three major parts that cover the following topics: (1) Understanding XML and the Java XML APIs explains the basics of XML and gives you a guide to the acronyms associated with it. It also provides an overview of the Java XML APIs you can use to manipulate XML-based data. (2) Serial Access with the Simple API for XML (SAX) tells you how to read an XML file sequentially, and walks you through the callbacks the parser makes to event-handling methods you supply. (3) Manipulating Document Contents with the Document Object Model (DOM) explains how to create a hierarchy of objects from an XML document so you can randomly access it and modify its contents. This is also the API you use to write an XML file after creating a tree of objects in memory."

[November 19, 1999] "Ask Expresso Man." By Ron Kleinman [Chief Technical Evangelist for Sun Developer Relations]. From Sun The Java Developer Connection (JDC). (October 1999). JDC welcomes Espresso Man and Little Grasshopper whose Q & A sessions have been a long-running feature in Sun publications. In this session, they discuss the more important implications of the sudden emergence of the eXtensible Markup Language (XML) and the tremendous opportunities this provides to developers of Java applications. ... Before a pair of applications can exchange and correctly interpret a set of XML data messages, they must first agree on the type of data that the message will contain, and the tag names used to identify this data. In an exactly analogous manner, two CORBA programs must first agree on the interface to a service before the client can invoke methods on the server object that implements that interface. In the case of an XML message, transmitter/recipient agreement is achieved via publicizing a message schema, typically defined according to one of two widely recognized standards: (1) Document Type Definition (DTD), or (2) XML Schema. XML Schema is an improvement in that: Unlike a DTD, an XML Schema is itself an XML document. This allows creation of 'meta' XML Schema specifications (which define other XML Schemas rather than XML messages). [Also,] An XML Schema allows enclosed text to represent simple data types other than strings (example: integer customer IDs). These can then be automatically interpreted and verified for the message recipient, whereas with DTDs, such verification must be explicitly provided by the recipient code. The important point is that whether an XML Schema or a DTD is used to specify the data fields in an XML message, the actual contents of the resulting message are identical..."

[November 19, 1999] "A Beginner's Guide to the XML DOM." By Brian Randell. In MSDN Online Web Workshop (October 1999). ['Summary: This article discusses how to access and manipulate XML documents via the XML DOM'] "You are a Visual Basic developer and you receive some data in the form of an eXtensible Markup Language (XML) document. You now want to get the information from the XML document and integrate that data into your Visual Basic solutions. You could of course write code yourself to parse the contents of the XML file, which after all is just a text file. However, this isn't very productive and negates one of the strengths of XML: that it is a structured way to represent data. A better approach to retrieving information from XML files is to use an XML parser. An XML parser is, quite simply, software that reads an XML file and makes available the data in it. As a Visual Basic developer you want to use a parser that supports the XML Document Object Model (DOM). The DOM defines a standard set of commands that parsers should expose so you can access HTML and XML document content from your programs. An XML parser that supports the DOM will take the data in an XML document and expose it via a set of objects that you can program against. In this article, you will learn how to access and manipulate XML documents via the XML DOM implementation, as exposed by the Microsoft. XML Parser (Msxml.dll). Before you read any further, you should look at a raw XML file to get an idea of how a parser can make your life easier. The following code exposes the content of the file Cds.xml that contains compact disc items..."

[November 19, 1999] "W3C Finalizes Two XML Technologies." By Carol Sliwa. In InfoWorld (November 19, 1999). "Two technologies that are expected to help companies using the Extensible Markup Language (XML) for data presentation have reached "recommendation status," the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) announced Wednesday. Recommendation status is the final step in the W3C's process of creating technology for the Web. One of the technologies -- Extensible Stylesheet Language Transformations (XSLT) -- assists in transforming one XML document into another, restructured XML document. The other -- XPath -- is a language that lets users address pieces of an XML document. For example, a book represented by an XML document might contain chapter headings, paragraphs of text, and footnotes. Using an XSLT engine, the chapter headings could be transformed into a new XML document that serves as the book's table of contents. XPath would let the user associate a name with chapters 1, 2, and 3, for instance, so they can make sure those chapters are listed in the proper sequence in the table of contents. Vendors that wrote and developed the XSLT specification included Adobe, IBM, Lotus, Microsoft, Novell, Oracle, and Sun Microsystems." See the news item and the W3C announcement.

[November 19, 1999] "XML Bible XSLT and XPointer." [XML Bible XSLT and XPointer Chapters updated.] November 19, 1999. "I've updated the online versions of Chapters 14, XSL Transformations, and 17, XPointers, of the XML Bible to match the November 16, 1999 W3C Recommendations of XSLT and XPath. The main change in Chapter 14 is that a DOCTYPE declaration is no longer output by default for HTML files. Otherwise the changes were extremely minor."

[November 18, 1999] [XML.org and OASIS]. By Laura Walker. From XML.org (November 12, 1999). "At the XML One Santa Clara event, Laura Walker, Executive Director of OASIS, provided attendees with an update on OASIS, XML.org, domain applications of XML. The presentations are available online: (1) "OASIS and XML Industry Applications", (2) "OASIS and XML.org Overview."

[November 18, 1999] "Encoded Archival Description: An Introduction and Overview." By Daniel V. Pitti (Project Director, Institute for Advanced Technology in the Humanities, University of Virginia). In D-Lib Magazine [ISSN: 1082-9873] Volume 5, Number 11 (November 1999). "Encoded Archival Description (EAD) is an emerging standard used internationally in an increasing number of archives and manuscripts libraries to encode data describing corporate records and personal papers. The individual descriptions are variously called finding aids, guides, handlists, or catalogs. While archival description shares many objectives with bibliographic description, it differs from it in several essential ways. From its inception, EAD was based on SGML, and, with the release of EAD version 1.0 in 1998, it is also compliant with XML. EAD was, and continues to be, developed by the archival community. While development was initiated in the United States, international interest and contribution are increasing. EAD is currently administered and maintained jointly by the Society of American Archivists and the United States Library of Congress. Developers are currently exploring ways to internationalize the administration and maintenance of EAD to reflect and represent the expanding base of users." EAD is a major SGML/XML application currently implemented by over 38 institutions (research libraries, archive centers, museums, digital library consortia). See "Encoded Archival Description (EAD)."

[November 18, 1999] "TMWG Recommendations On XML." Techniques and Methodologies Working Group (TMWG). UN/CEFACT/TMWG/N089/Rev.5 (12 pages). 10-September-1999. "On behalf of UN/CEFACT's, TMWG has monitored closely the development of XML, the eXtensible Markup Language, and recognizes fully its potential to play a major role in facilitating all Web based business transactions. TMWG especially recognizes the opportunities that XML offers to small and medium sized companies, to developing countries and to economies in transition. It enables them to enter easily into the world of electronic business and, as a consequence, could bring very significant additional growth to world trade. XML has rapidly become the standard for defining data interchange formats in Internet applications. XML was developed by the World Wide Web Consortium to bring the power of SGML to the Web in a simplified form to overcome HTML's inherent limitations. XML makes it possible to encode information with meaningful structure and semantics in a very accessible notation that is both human-readable and readily processable by computers. Many forward-looking individuals and companies have started to work together to develop XML-based specifications for the information they most often need to exchange in a particular industry or domain. However, there is considerable redundancy to these specifications, because some of the information models they specify are common to multiple industries or marketplaces. Some concepts and constructs needed in these 'vertical' specifications apply to all business domains, but each new specification seems to 'start from scratch' and reinvent them. The overlapping scope and lack of standard content models and semantics clearly impedes interoperability. In principle, translating UN/EDIFACT directories into XML data elements seems like a way to provide a set of standard data elements that could be used by all XML vertical applications, thereby facilitating interoperability. However, there is as yet little agreement about the best method for encoding UN/EDIFACT data elements in XML. Recasting UN/EDIFACT semantics into Unified Modeling language (UML) Models first, while adding the missing process documentation into the models, would produce unambiguous XML vocabularies generated from the UML models..." See "Electronic Business XML Initiative (ebXML)."

[November 18, 1999] "Recommendations For ebXML Kick-Off Meeting." Techniques and Methodologies Working Group (TMWG). UN/CEFACT/TMWG/N104, 12-NOVEMBER-1999. "The UN/CEFACT Techniques and Methodologies Working Group met during the week of November 8-12, 1999 in Concord, CA. The XML Project Team met to continue its discussions on interoperability, and formulated recommendations for first ebXML meeting. The XML Project Team felt strongly that the first ebXML must have tangible outcomes. At minimum the team concluded that if project teams were formed, and deliverables were agreed upon, the first ebXML meeting would be a success. This document serves as a contribution from UN/CEFACT/TMWG to the first meeting of ebXML. It defines a proposal to structure ebXML into six project teams: (1) Messaging and Packaging; (2) Semantics and Message Architecture; (3) Semantic Foundation; (4) Registry and Repository; (5) Technical Support; (6) Marketing and Awareness. Attached is a matrix that addresses the main key issues that TMWG sees as essential that these project teams cover. We would like the ebXML attendees to review this document for consideration in the formation of project teams. With these working groups, the XML Project Team feels confident that interoperability of application to application data interchanges can be achieved..." See "Electronic Business XML Initiative (ebXML)."

[November 18, 1999] "Microsoft XML Parser (MSXML.DLL) Conformance." By David Brownell. From XML.com (November 18, 1999). ['More on XML parser conformance: Last September, David Brownell conducted a review of XML parsers for XML.com, testing them for conformance to the XML 1.0 specification. In this follow-up article, he tests Microsoft's MSXML.DLL parser, as found in Internet Explorer 5. The results of the tests gave the Microsoft parser a "pretty good" rating, in the top 25% for conformance. They did however reveal a serious flaw with DTD handling and validation, for which Brownell presents a workaround.'] "Some readers were also confused about Microsoft's Java XML processor, called 'MSXML' in that earlier review. Briefly, Microsoft has had several implementations of XML processor technology. While today one tends to only hear about the latest version of such technologies, they have all been called 'MSXML,' or 'MS XML,' in common usage, by numerous people, including some Microsoft staff. Since the Java processor hasn't been updated in well over a year, some confusion seems inevitable. The Java processor was formally called the Microsoft XML Parser for Java. I hope that helps to clarify the distinctions between the various packages; the details of the two reviews should also help. The version of the Microsoft XML (MSXML) processor reviewed here is the one that has been bundled with Microsoft's Internet Explorer 5.0 web browser. It can be accessed as 'MSXML.DLL,' and can be redistributed with other software, as part of Win32 applications. Since it provides a COM API, it can be used from JavaScript, C/C++, Visual Basic, and other COM-aware programming languages. It can even be used from Java, but for most Java developers, that support is not particularly useful since it requires using Microsoft's JVM, and does not support the standard SAX or W3C DOM APIs (org.w3c.dom.*)." For other references on XML/DOM conformance, see "XML Conformance."

[November 18, 1999] "An Introduction to C++ XML programming. [Tutorial.]" By Fabio Arciniegas A. From XML.com (November 17, 1999). ['Using C++ to write XML applications: SAX or DOM? Fabio Arciniegas A. examines the various libraries available, from expat to the DOM, and contrasts their suitability for different applications.'] "C++ is a popular programming language for which many XML related efforts already exist. The aim of this article is to introduce and analyze the different options available when using C++ for your XML applications. We will examine two things: the main APIs and strategies for parsing and manipulating XML in your C++ application, and the practical uses and tradeoffs of approaches to XML parsing. To get the most from this article, a basic understanding of the C++ language is required. Static model diagrams are illustrated in UML: the diagrams used show mainly inheritance and simple relationships and may not require previous UML knowledge. Nevertheless, we provide a basic UML guide containing all you need to know in order to understand the examples."

[November 18, 1999] "Death of a DTD. [Beyond HTML.]" By Michael Floyd. In WebTechniques Volume 4, Issue 12 (December 1999), pages 44-47. ['Will the proposed XML schema standard be the death of the DTD? What's the difference between internal and external DTDs?'] "Before I proclaim the death of the DTD, let me first say that although I believe DTDs will eventually go away, they're still very important. Despite its arcane appearance, the XML DTD syntax is actually quite easy to write. And understanding it will give you an appreciation for other proposed standards like XML schema..."

[November 18, 1999] "Self-Service Syndication with ICE. Building Informative Web Pages and Catalogs Automatically." By Dan Greening (Andromedia). In WebTechniques Volume 4, Issue 11 (November 1999), pages 57-63. ['While traditional customer support is mostly reactive, another model is emerging for moving content around the Web. Based on XML, the Information and Content Exchange (ICE) protocol provides structure to streams. Dan explains what this means for syndication, and how Andromedia is using the protocol to simplify some of its programming tasks.'] "Newspapers, product retailers, and Web portals face a common problem: How can they provide the most up-to-date content? They can invest in developing their own original content, as does Web Techniques magazine, or they can assemble material from several outside sources and rebrand it under their own name. [But] without a standard protocol, syndication doesn't scale very well on the Web... To address these problems, a consortium of application server and content companies, led by Vignette, created a standard syndication protocol based on XML -- Information and Content Exchange (ICE). XML is a simple standard to represent data-hierarchies using familiar HTML-style tags. The syndicate/subscribe model ICE defines is almost the same as what computer scientists call "publish/subscribe." And it turns out that ICE is most similar to binary publish/subscribe protocol standards, such as CORBA and DCOM. But in ICE, messages are delivered through XML, typically delivered over an HTTP connection, as opposed to a lower-level binary protocol. ICE is much easier to read and use, but it is also much more verbose. If you're constrained by network bandwidth, either compress the ICE packets or use something else. Finally, ICE defines many typical syndication operations and constraints that CORBA and DCOM leave to vertical industry implementations... The ICE protocol defines a set of request-response pairs coded in XML. The ICE standard doesn't specify the underlying transfer protocol, but does suggest an implementation using the HTTP POST/response mechanism called "ICE/HTTP". The body of the HTTP POST contains the ice-request, and its associated HTTP response contains the ICE response. As far as I know, all current ICE implementations use ICE/HTTP. This article assumes ICE/HTTP is the transport." See "Information and Content Exchange (ICE) Protocol" and the W3C NOTE: "The Information and Content Exchange (ICE) Protocol" (NOTE-ice-19981026, W3C Note 26 October 1998).

[November 18, 1999] "Oracle 8i, Java, and the Mustang Index. [Database Developer.]" By Ken North. In WebTechniques Volume 4, Issue 11 (November 1999), pages 30-33. ['Oracle's DBMS has continued to grow over the years, to where it now requires 50 times more disk space and 8 to 16 times more RAM than its ancestors. Ken North takes us on a tour of this expansion as he discusses what's new with Oracle 8i.'] "Right out of the box a DBMS can apply security and data rules, distribute processing, and encapsulate application logic in the database. Programmers can also augment out-of-the-box features by writing database extensions using Java or other languages. Web developers can also use databases for storing diverse information, such as entire Web sites, museum collections, and repositories for XML documents and document type definitions (DTDs). This month's examples show SQL and Java techniques for working with tables containing data such as images, HTML, XML, video, and audio. We'll see how to store and retrieve the HTML and background GIF image for Figure 1, a Web page with event-planning information. This month's examples work with Oracle, so before examining the code, let's explore the DBMS..."

[November 18, 1999] "Serving XML with Active Server Pages." [Beyond HTML.] By Michael Floyd. In WebTechniques Volume 4, Issue 11 (November 1999), pages 46-49. ['Combining Active Server Pages with the MSXML parser, Michael Floyd shows you how to deliver XML dynamically.'] "As it turns out, there are a lot of ways to serve XML. If you're a Perl programmer, you can use the XML::Parser module in Perl to load XML documents into the DOM. The XML::Parser module is definitively top-shelf software. The module was developed by Larry Wall, Perl's inventor, and later modified by Clark Cooper. The module provides an interface to James Clark's Expat parser, which coincidentally will be the parser of choice in the long-awaited Navigator 5. (I also have it on good authority that Infoseek uses the Expat parser in its add-on to Ultraseek Server.)... This month, I would like to look at another solution for delivering XML dynamically. That is, the use of Active Server Pages (ASP). By combining ASP with the MSXML parser, you automatically have a quick and reliable solution for XML. Of course, to deploy the examples presented here, you must have Microsoft Internet Information Server (IIS) running on Windows NT Server Edition. You can also experiment with these samples using Personal Web Server (PWS) on Windows 98. On Windows NT Workstation, you can use PWS or the older Peer Web Services. I should mention that you'll need some familiarity with ASP to use the techniques described here."

[November 18, 1999] "A Look Inside JavaServer Pages. [Lab Note.]" By Ethan Henry. In WebTechniques Volume 4, Issue 11 (November 1999), pages 71-76. ['Server-side includes, or Sun's answer to Active Server Pages? Regardless of the answer, JSP is a clever bridge between Jave servlets and HTML. Ethan Henry provides an overview of the technology and examples that demonstrate dynamic page generation and database access.'] "The new JavaServer Pages (JSP) API, part of the Java 2 Enterprise Edition (J2EE), gives Web and Java developers a simple yet powerful mechanism for creating these sorts of applications. JSP provides developers with two important abilities. First, it provides the ability to access remote data via mechanisms like Enterprise JavaBeans (EJB), Remote Method Invocation (RMI), and Java Database Connectivity (JDBC). Second, it lets developers encapsulate and separate program logic (Java code) from the presentation (HTML tags), to help maximize code reuse and flexibility. This separation of logic and presentation is a major advantage over other Web application architectures, like Java servlets and CGI scripts. A JSP page looks a lot like an HTML or XML page -- it contains text that's marked up with an assortment of tags. While a regular JSP page isn't a valid XML page, there is a variant JSP tag syntax that lets you use JSP tags within XML documents. What's different about JSP compared to regular HTML is that the tags aren't all processed by the browser -- the Web server processes the special JSP tags, allowing the page content to change dynamically. This is very similar to other dynamic page-generation systems, like Microsoft's Active Server Pages (ASP) or Allaire's ColdFusion..."

[November 16, 1999] "Extranets Automated -- Debut Product From Start-Up Bowstreet Uses Directories And XML." By Richard Karpinski. In InternetWeek Issue 789 (November 15, 1999) [Section: E-Business Applications]. "A closely watched software start-up touting directory services and XML as a means of automating the production and management of large-scale extranets released its first product last week. Bowstreet Software is championing a drastically different approach to Web and application development, leveraging the distributed power of XML and directories, as well as new concepts like e-services, to speed the development of business-to-business e-commerce. The company is also leading the push toward the Directory Services Markup Language (DSML) standard, which uses XML to mediate differences between proprietary directory structures. Bowstreet and other vendors-including IBM, Microsoft, Novell, Oracle and Sun-will publish the first version of the DSML draft next month. Bowstreet's first product, the Web Automation Factory, does just what it says: It lets users crank out thousands of extranet Web sites, almost like a factory. Today, users are depending more heavily on extranet links with their partners, but the technology to create such connections is complex, costly and time-consuming, said Bob Crowley, president and CEO of Bowstreet."

[November 16, 1999] "Vendors Debut XML Development Tools." By Ellis Booker. In InternetWeek Issue 789 (November 15, 1999) [Section: News & Analysis]. "To satisfy the growing interest in XML, several vendors introduced development tools last week for building applications that adhere to the Internet data format. Oracle last week debuted a free version of the XML development kit the developer has been using internally to access the XML features of the Oracle8i database and Oracle Application Server. Called the Oracle XML Developers Kit, the tool will be available for C++, Java and PL-SQL (Oracle's proprietary database scripting language). It includes an XML Parser; an Extensible Style Language (XSL) processor for designating format transformations; an XML class generator for creating XML documents from data; and XML Transviewer Beans, a collection of JavaBeans components that lets any Java development environment work with XML documents. Object Design Inc., maker of the eXcelon XML server, last week said it has begun shipping eXcelon Stylus, a visual development tool for generating XSL for XML documents into Web pages. At the start of October, ODI acquired Transformis LLC, maker of XSL Stylus, an XSL tool for building e-business applications. Pricing for the Object Design tool is $199. Bluestone Software Inc. announced the release of Bluestone Visual-XML 1.1, a new version of its XML applications design tool...."

[November 16, 1999] "Vendors Tag Team On XML Integration." By Richard Karpinski. In CMPNet TechWeb News (November 15, 1999). "Application integration vendor Active Software this week is turning to upstart Netfish Technologies for XML technology to fuel Web-based business-to-business integration. The partnership brings together Active Software's adapter technology for traditional front- and back-office apps and Netfish's expertise with the Extensible Markup Language (XML) and focus on Web-based collaboration. Active Software will use Netfish's XML Data Interchange (XDI) system to help fuel its 'project broadband' initiative. The initiative, due in the first quarter of next year, will target Web-based e-business integration, said Zack Urlocker, Active Software's vice president of marketing. 'This gives us the opportunity to offer an end-to-end integration solution,' said Urlocker. The Netfish XDI system is written in Java and uses XML to help users quickly establish links with partners and suppliers via the Web, regardless of the apps, formats and systems being connected. The technology will be integrated with Active Software's ActiveWorks 4.0 integration suite. Released earlier this month with new 'InterActions' templates, adapters and graphical tools, the suite speeds the integration of legacy and e-commerce applications..."

[November 16, 1999] "Distributed Development -- Enhanced Services In Windows 2000 Make It Easier To Extend Your COM Code Into The World Of Distributed Applications, Letting Your Business Finally Enjoy The Benefits Of Applications That Integrate Many Hosts." By Logan Harbaugh. In InformationWeek Issue 761 (November 15, 1999) [Section: Labs Windows DNA 2000]. "The new version is based on Windows 2000 Server, which contains the core of DNA, including COM+ services, Internet Information Services Web, and transaction and messaging services. DNA 2000 adds: (1) Commerce Server 4.0, which provides business-to-consumer commerce software for easier and better user personalization, additional site analysis tools, and new catalog features. (2) BizTalk Server, which allows integration of applications throughout the enterprise and between businesses via the exchange of Extensible Markup Language (XML) documents... (3) - Microsoft SQL Server 'Shiloh,' the next generation of the SQL Server 7.0 database server, which adds native XML support and integrated data-mining capabilities, and takes full advantage of Windows 2000 for greater scalability and availability... Most of these server updates add XML support. XML promises to make it easier for distributed applications to pass data between different platforms, in ways that are only starting to be explored. Among the electronic processes XML is expected to facilitate: billing, purchase orders, and other forms. Because most vendors have adopted XML as the core of the integration strategy, Microsoft's suitewide support for XML makes integration with existing non-Microsoft platforms easier, if you're willing to upgrade to the most recent release of these non-Microsoft systems. XML is likely to solve another problem common to tying these systems: directory synchronization. XML, for example, will be the basis for exchanging information between directory services such as Novell Directory Services and Microsoft Active Directory. Native support for XML throughout Windows 2000, DNA 2000, and Visual Studio 6.0 ensures that future applications will take advantage of XML as it becomes more widely used and supported throughout the business world."

[November 16, 1999] "XML Less Than It's Defined To Be." By Jon Siegel. In InternetWeek Issue 789 (November 15, 1999) [Section: Gray Matter]. "There's a lot of talk around the industry about XML and its role in interoperability, and sometimes people assume that XML is more than it's defined to be. For example, the article's sidebar was careful to refer to XML only as a data exchange format-which it is-but the headline implied that it could serve as a protocol as well. XML is only a data format-syntax, with no transport or semantics. To do anything with it, companies need to agree on transport (how to get your XML document from sender to receiver) and semantics (what to do with the message once it gets there). The requirements of Internet and enterprise computing will not be satisfied by giving XML just basic semantics, because these demanding environments require much more: transactional assurance, security, high throughput, fault tolerance, event handling, and integrated naming and directory services. How will the industry add these capabilities to XML? In the past, it has taken years to design, build, debug and optimize standard protocols and environments that meet enterprise needs..." [in response to "App Servers Branch Out" (Oct. 4, page 57).]

[November 16, 1999] "Internet marketers to develop data standard. Makers of Internet tracking and analysis applications plan standard way to create, store and exchange data on Web users." By Susan Kuchinskas. In ZDNet News (November 15, 1999). "Internet marketers should move a step closer to their Holy Grail of knowing just about everything about everybody in cyberspace on Monday, when nearly 25 makers of Internet marketing, tracking and analysis applications announce they are building a standard way to create, store and exchange data on Web users. Their moniker, CPEX, stands for Customer Profile Exchange. Release of the first version of the standard is targeted for June 2000. The CPEX standard would for example, let an e-commerce site that uses an Oracle Corp. database to store customer information combine the data with that collected by telemarketers for its print catalog. 'Businesses don't have a good picture of who their customers are and what they need, so they can't service them well,' said Matt Cutler, co-founder and chief ebusiness intelligence officer for net.Genesis, of Cambridge, Mass., a maker of Web site analysis software. 'It's our organization's point of view that having an integrated customer view is critical, because, in the Net economy, your competition is just a click away.' The announcement was due at the Personalization Summit, a conference sponsored by Net Perceptions on the role of personalization marketing, which uses the Internet to target marketing to individuals based on knowledge of their tastes and interests. Proponents of Web tracking like to call it personalization -- the back-end applications that let Web users sign up for regular stock quotes, get the local weather and be greeted by name when they log onto a portal. It is even more useful for marketers, who can use the same collected information to target ads and promotions based on users' profiles... 'It will remain the decision support system that differentiates companies,' said Brad Husick, vice president of standards and evangelism for Vignette. 'We're saying we shouldn't argue over the language we speak, but over what we do with that information and the certain conclusions we derive'." On the XML connection: see "Customer Profile Exchange (CPEX) Working Group."

[November 16, 1999] "Schematron: An Interview with Rick Jelliffe." By Simon St.Laurent. From XMLHack.com. (November 15, 1999). ['Rick Jelliffe is the developer of the Schematron, a schema language that takes a very different approach from every other XML schema language proposed so far.'] "What inspired such a different approach? [A] It became clear when writing my book The XML & SGML Cookbook: Recipes for Structured Documents, especially the central pages on patterns (which are pretty novel), that DTDs merely provided an 'assembler language' to represent them. Even if you make parameter entities into first class objects and call them archetypes, you still are stuck with regular grammars at heart. When I started my book I wanted to produce something much more like what Liam Quin has independently and subsequently done, but I found that that many interesting patterns are not clear to express using parameter entities... Anyway, I tried lots of different approaches. The 'path model' and the 'axis model' were two which basically act to allow more powerful right-hand-sides of the BNF production, as it were. They are comparable to Dave Raggett's 'assertion grammars' which works by allowing patterns on the left-hand-side of a production. I wrote a little note about using XSL as an implementation for validation that was well-received. So I guess that Schematron combines path models and assertion grammars, specified using XPaths, implemented through XSL... Schematron rejects the idea that the result of validation is a binary valid/invalid. The purpose of a schema is to make various assertions that should constrain a document; to report on the presence or absence of patterns. So the result of validation may be a complex set of values. Various backends should make use of that set of information, each in their way..." For general discussion on schemas, see "XML Schemas."

[November 16, 1999] "Novell reaches for Utopia in GroupWise. Upgrade will enable customization." By Stephanie Sanborn. In InfoWorld Volume 21, Issue 45 (November 08, 1999), page 12. "Novell's next release of GroupWise, code-named Utopia, will take on more of a modular approach, allowing users to choose only the components they need, and will incorporate more Extensible Markup Language (XML) functionality, according to Novell sources. Due in the latter half of 2000, Utopia presents a more customizable development platform for the GroupWise groupware and messaging system. The upgrade is also expected to contain Novell's home-grown public key infrastructure security software and an instant-messaging client. Utopia will use XML tags to describe server functions and features, exposing server functionality via XML meta data, according to James Kobielus, an analyst at The Burton Group, in Alexandria, Va. The product will also contain server-side application-development and object APIs to customize GroupWise. The Utopia plan, particularly a technology referred to as XIS [XML Integration Services], gives [Novell] some more of this open-end/back-end hook to the system.' XIS works via the GroupWise engine to watch messaging events that occur in the platform and gives developers a tool to connect to Utopia, Ulanch said."

[November 16, 1999] "Oracle Stepping Up XML Efforts. Database giant vies to capture key real estate in market." By Michael Lattig. In InfoWorld Volume 21, Issue 45 (November 08, 1999), page 30. "Oracle in the coming weeks will add to its stable of Extensible Markup Language (XML)-related offerings, looking to be the lead dog in what is quickly becoming a race to see which key players will define the way XML is implemented. The database behemoth this week will introduce an XML Developer's Kit, replete with revised versions of the company's XML parser and Extensible Style Language processor, which company officials claim will provide the low-level plumbing for Oracle's entire product line. Oracle will also offer support services for the Developer's Kit, which the company's vice president of server marketing, Jeremy Burton, said has become increasingly important as XML becomes a larger part of companies' business-to-business infrastructures. In addition to the tools products, Oracle will further enhance its XML offerings at the Oracle OpenWorld '99 conference in Los Angeles next week, making what Burton called 'a big announcement around middleware.' According to a source familiar with those plans, the company will introduce XML support for its application server via a new servlet engine. The company will also roll out a beta version of WebDB3 with XML support, and the next version of the company's application suite, Oracle11i, will contain an XML gateway." [See the announcement: "Oracle Announces XML-Based Integration Server Software to Make the Connected E-business a Reality. Oracle Integration Server Provides Infrastructure To Link Customers, Employees and Trading Partners Through New E-Business Processes."

[November 16, 1999] "Oracle, Siemens Join Forces on Directories. Meta directory to ship next year." By Mary Lisbeth D'Amico and Stephanie Sanborn. In InfoWorld Volume 21, Issue 45 (November 08, 1999), page 20. "Oracle and Siemens have joined forces to create technology that allows companies to unify multiple directories into one Web-based directory of directories. The companies will jointly develop and market the meta directory, and they plan to launch it in the first half of 2000 -- a time line that places them beside Novell and Microsoft in the meta-directory push. The new Oracle-Siemens product aims to tackle the problem of managing information in multiple directories by combining Siemens' DirXmetahub software, which enables businesses to bring together corporate directories, with Oracle's Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) directory. Novell is also developing a meta directory in the form of its DirXML technology, but Oracle chose not to expand its relationship with Novell, although the two have partnered on directory technology in the past."

[November 16, 1999] "Dell and Compaq Fight It Out Online." By Dan Neel. In InfoWorld (November 15, 1999). "As third-generation electronic-business models driven by Extensible Markup Language (XML) begin to emerge on the Web, Dell Monday will relaunch its Web site as part of a concerted effort to stay on the cutting edge of Web technologies. At the same time, however, archrival Compaq is not sitting idle. In January, Compaq will unveil a mega-portal offering a vast range of product solutions and services, including those of competing vendors, on a still-unnamed Web site. Dell.com, meanwhile, is getting a front-end face-lift and is one of the first large commercial Web sites driven by XML... 'Having an XML-backed site also gives us the ability to update any page and replicate it globally around the world,' [John] Fruehe [business manager of Dell Online] said. 'The real benefit of XML is that it will become a business-to-business language, so we can drop an entire database from the site right into a customer's purchasing system.' Fruehe pointed out that visitors to the site will still enjoy a fast-booting HTML-style layout, with an improvement in getting information to customers."

[November 16, 1999] "Why XML? [Create Web pages and much more, with Extensible Markup Language]." By Simon St. Laurent. In WebDeveloper's Journal (November 08, 1999). "The computing press has found a new savior for the ills that afflict computing and the Web: XML. XML is new, it's exciting, and it's got to be good, because the specification for it looks indecipherable. XML's hype level has already drawn fire from some quarters, from those accusing it of 'balkanizing the Web' or of increasing the load on an already strained Internet. Most important, many developers are wondering why exactly they need to learn yet another language. Web developers are the initial target audience, but database developers, document managers, desktop publishers, programmers, scientists, and other academics are all getting involved. XML provides a simple format that is flexible enough to accommodate wildly diverse needs. Even developers performing tasks on different types of applications with different interfaces and different data structures can share XML formats and tools for parsing those formats into data structures that applications can use. XML offers its users many advantages, including: simplicity, extensibility, interoperability, openness, [and] a core of experienced professionals."

[November 16, 1999] "E-Business Links To Back-Office Systems. Enterprise application integration vendors use XML to extend capabilities to the Internet." By Jeff Sweat. In InformationWeek (November 08, 1999), page 26. "Enterprise application integration vendors are trying to set themselves apart from rivals in the crowded EAI market by introducing products that make it easier to integrate E-business and back-office operations. Oberon Software Inc. this week will beef up its integration suite with tools that make it simpler to connect to partner and customer applications across the Internet. Oberon's Business Integrator will handle business-to-business integration mainly through the use of the Extensible Markup Language, letting partners connect applications even if Oberon software isn't used on each end. Oberon Commerce does the same for business-to-consumer interchanges and includes Bluestone Software Inc.'s Sapphire/Web E-commerce server product. Analysts say Bluestone's software is a powerful tool that supports E-commerce functions such as order processing, payment, and catalogs. And Oberon's data transformation and routing strengths can make E-commerce more dynamic. "Your back-office systems need to know who the customer is, what the order is, and which systems need the order," says Beth Gold-Bernstein, an analyst at Hurwitz Group. The Oberon suite starts at about $200,000. BEA Systems Inc. is also adding E-commerce capabilities with an XML adapter. BEA's eLink integration product contains adapters for many enterprise application platforms, including Clarify, Oracle, PeopleSoft, SAP, Vantive, and IBM's MQSeries. The adapters aim to make it simpler to connect front-office and back-office data, and connect to third-party apps. ELink pricing starts at $50,000 to $70,000. Scribe Software Corp., a longtime integration player, this week will unveil updates to its flagship products: Scribe Integrate, which builds permanent connections between applications, and Scribe Migrate, which handles one-time transfers of data from one platform to another..."

[November 15, 1999] "XML: Beyond the Standards Debate. IT Executives Praise XML And Pine For A Standard. But some experts say only industry-specific specs will do." By Charles Waltner. In InformationWeek (November 08, 1999), pages 96-98. Andy Astor [Dun & Bradstreet Corp.'s program director of Internet product development [designing a] Global Access electronic information-delivery system]: "'I don't believe there will ever be one standard way of exchanging XML data,' Astor says. 'So I just decided to grab something that was ready to go.' What he grabbed was an XML specification known as FinXML, based on work done in conjunction with the Open Financial Exchange, a specification for the electronic exchange of data among financial-services companies. Astor's not betting that FinXML will become the only way to use XML -- but it was one Astor knew could work for his company and his partners. He's not alone. IT executives are realizing that XML is more accessible, less expensive, and easier to develop than most intercompany communication technologies, in particular EDI. For example, Dun & Bradstreet's Global Access system provides customers with an easy way to download business information, such as credit reports, marketing lists, or purchasing sources, from the company's global network of offices. The use of XML technology makes it easier for these companies to access such information and integrate it into their own applications, Astor says. Still, EDI is a standard; XML is not. That's the basic dilemma for most IT managers interested in using XML. Though it would be comforting to have one monolithic XML standard to reference, that's not possible, industry experts say. The best IT managers can do is to use a version of XML most relevant to their data exchange needs. Laura Walker, executive director of Oasis, an international nonprofit consortium in Boston dedicated to the development of product-independent data exchange, says there are thousands of initiatives under way to develop XML specifications, and most industries are starting to develop their own XML vocabularies and formats. Walker says IT managers in most industries shouldn't expect to see a formalized XML specification for a year to 18 months."

[November 15, 1999] "Gates kicks off Comdex with vision, DOJ jokes." By Bob Trott and Dan Neel. In InfoWorld (November 15, 1999). "Microsoft Chairman and CEO Bill Gates kicked off the 20th Fall Comdex show here with a few light-hearted jabs at the U.S. Department of Justice's antitrust case... With no new Microsoft products or initiatives to unveil, Gates outlined his vision for the Internet's future -- dubbed 'The Personal Web' -- and boosted the soon-to-be-released Windows 2000 as the way for companies to take their business to the Web. 'Every CEO is asking himself, "What is my Internet strategy?"' Gates said. Keys to Gates' 'Personal Web' strategy include the Extensible Markup Language (XML), Microsoft's BizTalk initiative and, of course, Windows 2000 -- in fact, he dubbed the coming years the 'Windows 2000 generation.' Gates called the upgrade to Windows NT 4.0 the biggest product shift since Windows 95, which boosted personal computing from the 16-bit architecture to 32-bit." ["Looking ahead to the new year, Gates said six trends in the technology industry are combining to transform the Internet and personal computing: XML will become a key Internet technology, becoming more visible than even HTML..." See the text of the announcement.]

[November 15, 1999] "XML, Win 2000 will drive Web, Gates tells Comdex." By David Orenstein. In Computerworld (November 15, 1999). "Bill Gates's annual address to thousands of Comdex attendees this year had more original and at times surreal humor than serious revelations, but it provided users with an overview of where Microsoft's software strategy is headed based on recent announcements. He positioned the upcoming Windows 2000 and the BizTalk server products as the engines that will drive Web sites, offering end users a variety of software-based services with scalability and reliability. "XML is very central to this," he said. Gates and a Microsoft employee demonstrated a sample Web application that not only planned a route from Las Vegas to Seattle, but also calculated when the new Ford car would run out of gas, found gas stations just before those points and imported current gas prices from those stations. The external data sources -- Ford and the gas stations -- presented the data to the trip-planning application using XML."

[November 12, 1999] "Apache and industry leaders debut XML suite of tools. Industry leaders contribute XML and XSL technology to Apache Software Foundation." By Chris Rumble and Scott Cosby. From From IBM developerWorks (November 1999). "In response to developers clamoring for open-source XML tools, the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) has unveiled the Apache XML Project and a suite of open-source XML tools. The tools were contributed by a handful of industry vendors and individual open source XML developers. Contributing vendors include DataChannel, IBM, Exoffice, Lotus Development Corporation, Sun Microsystems, and Textuality. The suite of open-source XML tools includes XML4J and XML4C Parsers from IBM, OpenXML from Exoffice and Assaf Arkin, LotusXSL from Lotus Development Corporation, XPages from DataChannel, FOP from James Tauber, Cocoon from Stefano Mazzocchi and the Java-Apache community, Java Project X and XHTML Parser from Sun Microsystems, and XSL:P from Exoffice and Keith Visco. The Apache XML Project calls its parser technology Xerces, which will be based on IBM's XML4J and XML4C technologies. The next version of this technology will include features of Sun Microsystems' parser and other contributions from the open source community. Following an industry-wide open source development process, the Apache XML Project plans to provide a set of XML- and XSL-related libraries and applications to demonstrate the power of these technologies in both Web server and client environments." See description and references in "Apache XML Project."

[November 12, 1999] "Less Is More In E-Business: The XML/edi Group." By Alan Kotok and David Webber. From XML.com (November 10, 1999). [David Webber from the XML/EDI Group, in an article co-authored with Alan Kotok from the Data Interchange Standards Association (DISA), presents his perspective on the integration of XML with EDI. The XML/edi Group's "XML for E-Business Initiative" seeks to deliver on the promise of XML for the many businesses currently unable to use established electronic business mechanisms. In this article, the authors explain the initiative and argue strongly for simplicity in XML specifications.'] "Enabling businesses to realize the benefits of XML in data exchanges was the motivation for the founding of the XML/EDI Group in July 1997. The grass-roots group is formed around an Internet mailing list, now with around 1,400 participants spread throughout the world. The group's focus is on fusing the benefits of traditional EDI with XML, thereby making this new technology more accessible to the vast majority of companies who previously found business-to-business electronic transactions too expensive and cumbersome. With chapters in North America and Europe, the XML/EDI Group has proposed guidelines for business data exchanges using XML, written a white paper on global XML repositories, and now seeks refinements and simplifications in XML itself to make it a better business engine. The Graphic Communications Association Research Institute provides management support for the group, while the group remains independent, receiving no funding from vendors of XML systems, networks, or services. In this article we explore critical issues in XML and e-business, and present the XML/EDI Group's XML for E-Business Initiative."

[November 12, 1999] "Apache XML Project Launches." By Edd Dumbill. From XML.com (November 10, 1999). ['This Tuesday saw the launch of the Apache XML Project, an effort to provide an open source, commercial-quality platform for XML. The project has been bootstrapped by the contribution of tools from the open source community, and commercial vendors including IBM and Sun.'] "Most noted for their Apache web server project, the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) has turned its attention to XML in response to a growing demand for open source XML and XSL tools. The project is being seeded by the contribution of XML tools from commercial vendors, including Sun and IBM, and existing open source projects. Not since Netscape's decision to release the source code to Mozilla has the open source world seen such a significant commitment by commercial tools vendors." See description and references in "Apache XML Project."

[November 12, 1999] "IBM evangelist predicts XML will speed e-business." By Martin LaMonica. In InfoWorld (November 12, 1999). "Because it allows companies to share information with customers or business partners without first negotiating technical details, Extensible Markup Language (XML) will grease the skids of electronic business and become the assumed data format at the end of 2001, said Simon Phipps, IBM's chief XML and Java evangelist, here Thursday. Other successful Internet technologies let people run their systems without having to take into account another company's own computer systems, notably TCP/IP for networking, Java for programming, and Web browsers for content delivery. XML fills the data formatting piece of the puzzle, said Phipps, who gave a keynote at the Software Development East conference...Phipps contended that the IT industry has moved on from the era of vendor-imposed standards, but he did caution users against vendor attempts to co-opt XML."

[November 08, 1999] "Bowstreet Looks to XML to Link Commerce Sites." By Matthew Nelson. In InfoWorld (November 08, 1999). "Bowstreet Software intends to make the daunting task of connecting disparate business commerce sites together easy, using XML (Extensible Markup Language) and its derivatives in the Bowstreet Web Automation Factory. Bowstreet's Web Automation Factory allows users to integrate information between different Business to Business (B2B) partners using a combination of XML and directory services entitled Directory Services Markup Language (DSML). Bowstreet has already lined up IBM, Microsoft, Novell, Oracle, and the Sun-Netscape Alliance to support DSML. The Web Automation Factory is intended to allow for easy integration and connection of data between Web sites when new members are added to a B2B site, according to the company. The Publisher component is used by IT professionals to create and publish business processes in XML as a directory of Web services, to make them available for use by other businesses. An Automator component is used to create templates that enable customized functionality and processes to be built into Web sites, including loosely coupled 'Builders' within the template to automate the calls to the various processes and data at run time. The Customizer aspect is a browser-based system that is used by line-of-business managers to create and manage user profiles that drive the behavior of the Web site or application. The Bowstreet Web Automation Engine then manages all metadata in corporate directories and generates Web sites based on the profile of the user. The Web Automation Engine supports DSML connections to all major directories including those from IBM, Microsoft, Novell, Oracle, and Sun-Netscape, according to the company." See the announcement: "Bowstreet's Web Automation Factory Breaks Major Bottleneck to e-commerce Adoption: Time, Cost and Pain of Customizing B2b Web Sites. Breakthrough technology for mass-customizing B2B Web sites targeted at Fortune 1000, B2B trading portals and application service providers (ASPs)."

[November 08, 1999] "New Language to Sidestep E-com Directory Woes." By Scott Berinato And Jim Kerstetter. In PC Week [Online] (November 08, 1999). "A group of big-time developers - led by a small New Hampshire startup - is seeking to cure many of the interoperability woes involving directories with a new language tailored for e-commerce. Vendors such as Microsoft Corp. and Novell Inc. are integrating DSML (Directory Services Markup Language) into their directory services, hoping to jump-start development of directory-based e-commerce applications that are smarter and more agile than the business-to-business software infrastructure available today. The DSML working group, which is headed by Bowstreet Inc., of Portsmouth, N.H., and includes Microsoft, Novell, Oracle Corp., Sun Microsystems Inc. and IBM, plans to submit the technology to the World Wide Web Consortium standards body this month. The group also will announce at that time that as many as 20 developers, including Cisco Systems Inc., Red Hat Software Inc. and Oblix Inc., plan to incorporate the specification into their software, sources said. DSML working group members declined to comment on their standardization efforts or new partners. DSML applies the lingua franca capabilities of XML (Extensible Markup Language) to directory schemata, which define how data is stored in a directory... despite its promise, DSML faces challenges similar to XML's. Developers that have tried to use XML to cure interoperability woes in other fields, such as electronic data transfer, have struggled with maintaining similar DTDs (Document Type Definitions) when applying XML to applications. DTDs are used to tag XML documents, and if a vertical market segment creates its own DTDs, it can disrupt data exchange." See: "Directory Services Markup Language (DSML)."

[November 08, 1999] "Apache to Create XML Open-Source Tools." By Wylie Wong. In CNET News.com (November 08, 1999). "The Apache Software Foundation, a nonprofit organization that builds free Web technology, is now turning its attention to Extensible Markup Language, an increasingly important Web technology, with the help of IBM and Sun Microsystems. Apache plans to develop new Extensible Markup Language (XML) tools with technology donated by IBM, Sun, other tech firms, and independent software developers. The group plans to launch the new effort -- called the 'xml.apache.org Project' -- tomorrow [1999-11-09]. Their goal is to further drive the adoption of XML, a popular Web standard for exchanging data, by making tools that are 'open source,' meaning every software developer can view the source code, modify it, and use it for free. IBM and Sun Microsystems have donated their XML parsers for the new effort. A parser dissects and reads XML text within an application, much like a Web browser reads HTML to generate Web pages on a computer. The xml.apache.org project is open to every developer or company, but Microsoft -- which has its own XML tools -- has not joined the effort. Industry observers fear the company is trying to use XML to their advantage, but Microsoft executives have scoffed at the notion, saying they support open industry standards." [alt URL] See references in "Apache XML Project."

[November 08, 1999] "Building a Common E-business Framework." By [CSC Staff]. From Computer Sciences Corporation (November 08, 1999). "Interoperability is the key word in e-commerce today. E-commerce is expanding rapidly, but so are the standards for conducting that commerce. The proliferation of standards threatens to create an electronic marketplace dominated by what Dr. Marty Tenenbaum, chairman of CommerceNet, calls 'commerce islands.' That is, Net markets could become isolated by differing proprietary protocols and domain standards. The pressure to conduct business in real time is driving entire industries toward a common framework for conducting e-commerce. CSC is actively promoting the development of a common framework in two ways: by participating in the eCo Framework Working Group of CommerceNet, the world's largest independent consortium of e-commerce users, providers and developers; and by founding Ontology.Org, a research organization focused on defining a reference architecture for large-scale electronic markets. The need for standardization is most acute in the burgeoning field of XML (eXtensible Mark-up Language)."

[November 08, 1999] "XML as a Distributed Application Protocol. The Technology and the Politics." By Richard Deadman. In Java Report Volume 4, Number 10 (October, 1999). ['Richard explores why XML is so hot, shows how XML can be sed as a distributed computing protocol, and looks at its advantages, disadvantages, and appropriate uses.'] "It's the latest buzzword in the Internet application arena; XML, the open-standards child of SGML that promises to provide platform- and language-neutral data encapsulation and separate application logic from application data. It's hot. It's powerful. Everyone loves it. But isn't this exactly what CORBA already provides? We will explore why XML is so hot, show how XML can be used as a distributed computing protocol, and look at its advantages, disadvantages, and appropriate uses. We will also speculate on some of the non-technical forces driving the XML phenomenon."

[November 08, 1999] "Error Handling With XML." By Steven Jones. In Java Report Volume 4, Number 10 (October, 1999). ['Steven presents a unique solution for handling errors in a language and a platform-independent way of using XML.']

[November 08, 1999] "So, What's XML? [Editor's Note.]" By Dwight Deugo. In Java Report Volume 4, Number 10 (October, 1999).

[November 08, 1999] "Quick Study: WAP." By Amy Helen Johnson. In Computerworld (November 08, 1999). "The Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) is a set of specifications, developed by the WAP Forum, that lets developers using Wireless Markup Language (WML) build networked applications designed for handheld wireless devices. WAP was designed to work within the constraints of these devices: a limited memory and CPU size; small, monochrome screens; low bandwidth; and erratic connections. WAP is a de facto standard, with support from more than 200 vendors. The WAP Forum isn't a standards body, but it does work with international standards organizations and offers its specifications for official recognition. What makes WAP work as a de facto standard is that the major players in the wireless market all support the specification. Jill House, an analyst at Framingham, Mass.-based International Data Corp. (IDC), lists three of WAP's strong points: 'It's got industrywide support, it's nonproprietary and it's well-suited to the devices it's being ported to.' WAP is important, House says, because more and more information is going out over the wireless network. Recent IDC reports predict that sales of smart phones -- just one type of device that supports WAP -- will reach 2.6 million units in the U.S. and 539 million units worldwide in 2003. The WAP Forum has a three-stage, public-comment process for including wireless standards specifications in its WAP Specification Suite, now at Version 1.1." [See also: WAP Resources]. For background, see "WAP Wireless Markup Language Specification (WML)."

[November 08, 1999] "Today's Style Sheet Standards: The Great Vision Blinded. [Internet Watch.]" By Philip M. Marden, Jr., and Ethan V. Munson. In IEEE Computer Volume 32, Number 11 (November 1999), pages 123-125. "W3C has two style sheet standards: Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) for HTML and the Extensible Style Language (XSL) for XML. Although CSS's architecture appears to be well suited to the Web, its language contains flaws that would hinder good engineering practices even if it were fully supported by browsers. However, XSL, the Web's next-generation style sheet standard, appears to contain even more significant flaws. . . We are skeptical that XSL can fulfill its envisioned role as XML's style sheet companion. XSL is a much larger language than CSS, and it defines a formatting vocabulary within the larger framework of a transformation language. Most XSL standardization efforts have focused on its transformation language. On the positive side, XSL supports separation of presentation and content, and it has considerable expressive power, including the ability to handle arbitrary mathematical expressions. Unlike CSS's architecture, XSL's architecture doesn't allow end users or their clients to supply style sheets to control document presentation. While the specification doesn't explicitly preclude user-provided style sheets, it also doesn't directly address the issue. This issue's importance can't be overemphasized: Client-supplied style sheets are critical to the goal of making the Web accessible from any device by any user. Without client-supplied style sheets, users have to depend on Web sites to support their devices and special needs. We doubt that large numbers of Webmasters would choose to publish versions for low-usage clients like aural and Braille devices, and we are certain that they can't anticipate every new browsing device's characteristics... A second difficulty with XSL derives from its declarative transformation language. Document transformations arrange the material in a document in the order that it will be laid out on the page or screen. XSL advocates believe that its declarative approach is fundamentally easier to use than the imperative approach of scripting or programming languages. We disagree. Declarative languages are only easy to use when the user doesn't need to understand the language's underlying processing model. But, to write an XSL style sheet effectively, you need to understand processing models for both tree transformation and formatting. . . Our research into style sheet systems and languages (Proteus and PSL) shows that there are alternatives to CSS and XSL that more closely meet the above criteria. The PSL style language has a syntax especially designed for the style sheet task and has traditional computational features including mathematical expressions and conditionals. In contrast to XSL, PSL does not emphasize transformations, and it uses constraints, rather than flow, to specify layout. Furthermore, there are other style languages, such as the Thot structured document toolkit's P language and the more recent Constraint CSS. While we realize that substantial resources have been invested in CSS and XSL, we nevertheless urge the Web community to more fully explore alternate approaches to style sheets." [subscription]

[November 08, 1999] "XHTML 1.0 Sent Back to HTML Working Group." By Edd Dumbill. From XML.com (November 08, 1999). ['Tim Berners-Lee has announced that the XHTML 1.0 specification, currently a Proposed Recommendation, is to be returned to the HTML working group for further revision.'] "Tim Berners-Lee, the Director of the W3C, announced today that the XHTML 1.0 Proposed Recommendation is to be returned to the HTML working group for further revision. XHTML 1.0 is a reformulation of HTML 4 into XML: the first stage in bringing the rigor of XML into web pages. The XHTML 1.0 specification attracted significant controversy within the XML community during its transition from last-call Working Draft to Proposed Recommendation (the final stage before Recommendation, after which no changes can be made). The controversy, which raged for a long time in the XML developer's mailing list XML-dev, centered on the introduction of three separate XML namespaces for the three flavors of XHTML: 'strict', 'transitional' and 'frameset'."

[November 08, 1999] "The W3C, P3P and the Intermind Patent." By Lisa Rein. From XML.com (November 08, 1999). ['What danger do claims of patent infringement hold for implementors of the W3C's Platform for Privacy Preferences framework?'] "Last week, the W3C published an analysis from Pennie & Edmonds LLP on whether implementations of their Platform for Privacy Preferences Project (P3P) would infringe a patent held by Seattle-based Intermind Corporation. The analysis confirmed that it would be possible to implement P3P without infringing the patent -- great news for implementors and users of the new standard -- but the episode raises important issues about protection of the freedom to implement open standards. A peculiar twist to this case is that Intermind themselves were involved in the W3C working groups on P3P, and had declared during that time that they had a patent pending that may impact the new standard. P3P itself is a good example of the flexibility and extensibility that is the promise of XML and RDF. Essentially, a P3P implementation informs a user of a web site's privacy practices and allows them to control what information they disclose to a site, and how the site is allowed to use it... This model is not restricted to P3P: software agents performing automatic negotiations are likely to be a prominent feature in the e-commerce systems of the near future. Thus the issue of exactly what the Intermind patent does and does not claim is of prime importance for today's XML implementors. In this article we examine the claims of the Intermind patent, the reasons P3P doesn't infringe the patent, and review the implications for the future."

[November 06, 1999] "Bluestone Visual XML 1.1. XML Development Environment. Visual XML Eases Integration. [Product Review.]" By James R. Borck. In InfoWorld Volume 21, Issue 45 (November 08, 1999), page 57. "More companies are turning to the efficiencies of Extensible Markup Language (XML) to enable diverse communications, such as integrating legacy applications or tying together disparate data sources. Thus, toolsets capable of rapidly integrating partners and suppliers into the workflow are becoming increasingly indispensable. Bluestone Software fills this gap with Visual XML, Version 1.1, a development environment for binding XML documents and Document Type Definitions (DTDs) to back-end data sources. With Visual XML, developers can create XML-based server applications to automate business-to-business transactions. Its easily navigable graphical interface, step-by-step development wizards, and built-in editors offer a comprehensive foray into XML development that will improve productivity through faster prototyping and deployment of XML-based communications. Using Bluestone's Universal Listener Framework (ULF), you can create Java and XML applications that generate, receive and act upon communications, such as purchase or fulfillment orders, enabling companies of any size to improve their Internet-commerce effectiveness. Adding this functionality opens communication between your XML applications to receive and respond to XML documents and messages. From disparate sources and protocols, including HTTP, Secure Sockets Layer, Java Messaging Service, IBM's MQSeries messaging product, and e-mail, these listeners can field requests and trigger responses that will automate the supply chain or office workflow..."

[November 08, 1999] "eXcelon, Version 2.0. eXcelon leverages legacy data with XML." By James R. Borck. In InfoWorld Volume 21, Issue 45 (November 06, 1999), pages 58, 62. "Combining an Extensible Markup Language (XML) data server with well-integrated caching technology, eXcelon 2.0 from Object Design Inc. (ODI) provides a scalable middleware solution that improves data availability to your enterprise applications and Web servers, regardless of format. With new features such as support for Microsoft Transaction Server and a development toolset for quickly XML-enabling legacy systems, enterprise resource planning systems, and other heterogeneous back-end data, eXcelon provides an affordable and effective means for businesses of any size to store, manage, and distribute data using XML."

[November 06, 1999] "ABC's of Schemas." By Dan Rogers. In [BizTalk Forum] (November 04, 1999). "The mission statement - 'removing the technology barriers' to XML take-off - is the reason that www.biztalk.org exists. One of those barriers is the lack of a broad understanding of the relevance of XML in a hyper-commerce market. In this market, data travels between systems without the need for different business partners to agree on what computer systems or software vendors two systems need to use to communicate. Using XML, a standard for making data understandable on any platform, businesses can technically interlink their systems. This mark-up standard isn't rich enough on it's own to express the agreements and technical contracts that have traditionally driven business relationships. A way to describe a technical agreement is required, and a third party source for storing and referencing these schemas is essential. Today, the BizTalk.org library is pleased to announce the opening of a new learning resource. You'll find the first chapter 'A business language view of schemas' in the community section of the library. It's interactive, so you can ask your own questions and help shape future chapters. New chapters will appear periodically."

[October 27, 1999] "Examining CommerceNet's eCo Framework. Interoperability in e-commerce." By Edd Dumbill [XML.com Managing Editor]. From XML.com. (October 27, 1999). ['The eCo Framework Project from CommerceNet will provide a fundamental level of integration and interoperability among e-commerce applications that are written for different vertical markets. Edd Dumbill analyzes the project's two key documents: the eCo Semantic Recommendations and the eCo Framework Specification.'] "XML is making a big impact in the world of e-commerce. Many recent initiatives in e-commerce interchange protocols are based on XML. These protocols tend to concentrate on solving the problems of a particular industry: they're solutions for 'vertical' markets. One example of such an initiative is the ICE protocol, geared to syndication between content providers: it has applicability not just for networks of publishers, but also for example, syndicating product catalogs to resellers. Another initiative is RosettaNet, which is particularly focussed on creating electronic business interfaces in the IT supply chain. These initiatives are great news for companies involved in those particular segments. However, if you look at each of these applications, there are certain things they've got in common: the notion of parties wanting to trade or exchange, the notion of a product, and so on. In each of these efforts the implementation of these notions is different. If you wanted to start such an initiative in your own industry, you'd have to reinvent a lot of these basic concepts as well. In addition to having commonality in entities, many of the existing e-commerce initiatives share common processes: the registration of a new customer/trading partner, the exchange of product data, etc. Processes like these would also have to be reimplemented if you were to start an e-commerce protocol for your own industry. This is where the recently announced eCo Framework comes in: its aim is to provide basic framework specifications on which vertical e-commerce applications can build. In doing so, common entities and processes are identified and implemented as a foundation."

[October 27, 1999] "Electronic Mail Merge." By Claude Duguay. In Java Pro Magazine (October 1999). ['Building enterprise Java applications often means combining several technologies. Claude demonstrates the process with a broadcast e-mail application that leverages the strengths of JDBC, XML, and the JavaMail API.'] "In this article, we're going to develop a program that lets you mail to a list of recipients pulled out of a database using JDBC, merging custom fields from the database into a message template written using XML, and sent through Internet-based e-mail using the JavaMail API. Both the message and the SQL query used to define the mailing criteria are part of the XML message template, so you can construct as many of these as you like. Any field that is part of the JDBC result set returned by the query can be used in the e-mail template."

[October 25, 1999] "Dell links e-commerce systems to legacy systems at customer sites." By Michael Vizard and Matthew Nelson. In InfoWorld (October 25, 1999). "Dell Computer this week will fill a major hole in it electronic-commerce strategy by signing an alliance with webMethods, a provider of XML-based middleware. Dell will use webMethod's software to integrate its on-line commerce operations with customers' existing enterprise resource applications, which will allow Dell customers to simplify their procurement process. Right now, most major Dell customers already have their own internal procurement system, so when customers order systems from Dell on-line they have to enter the purchase request twice: once in the Dell system and again in their own system. To alleviate this redundancy, Dell will bundle webMethod's software on the Web servers that it delivers to its major on-line customers. Those servers will then be linked with a customer's internal procurement system to complete the e-commerce chain..." See the announcement: "Dell Chooses webMethods Solution for B2B Direct Initiative. webMethods B2B Securely Connects Customers to Contracted Information Via Dell's Integrated Initiative."

[October 23, 1999] "Ontologies as Conceptual Models for XML Documents." By Michael Erdmann and Rudi Studer (Institut für Angewandte Informatik und Formale Beschreibungsverfahren (AIFB) University of Karlsruhe, D-76128 Karlsruhe, Germany). Paper presented in the section "Ontologies and Metadata for Knowledge Retrieval" at the Twelfth Workshop on Knowledge Acquisition, Modeling and Management (Voyager Inn, Banff, Alberta, Canada, October 16-21, 1999). "Abstract: Access to XML-based documents currently relies on query languages that are closely tied to the document structures, i.e., when looking for information one has to be aware of this structure and cannot easily specify the information needs conceptually. Our approach uses ontologies to access sets of distributed XML documents on a conceptual level. We integrate conceptual modeling, inheritance, and inference mechanisms on the one hand with the popularity, simplicity, and flexibility of XML on theother hand. We present an approach that defines the relationship between a given ontology and a document type definition (DTD) for classes of XML documents. Thus, we are able to supplement syntactical access to XML documents by conceptual, i.e., real semantic access." [And from the introduction:] "XML is designed to describe document types for all thinkable domains and purposes... XML documents are explicitly structured textual documents that can be easily accessed by application programs (via standardized interfaces like SAX and DOM. This is one main strength of XML that will probably lead to the emergence of XML-based repositories in businesses in the near future, that represent e.g. yellow pages, project and skill descriptions, or publication lists. Thus, XML could play an important role as a basic technology in the context of knowledge management and dissemination and also when it comes to managing large scale web sites. XML supports such techniques as corporate design, style sheets, automatic generation of customized views to documents, consistency between documents, superior linking facilities (XLink, XPointer) etc. All this is based on an individually definable tag set that is tailored to the application needs. The tags have semantic purposes, in contrast to pure layout purposes as in HTML, so that they can be exploited for several tasks such as those mentioned above or as metadata that supports intelligent information retrieval. In spite of these positive features and prospects of XML it must be clearly stated that XML is solely a description language to specify the structure of documents and thus their syntactic dimension. The document structure can represent some semantic properties but it is not clear how this can be deployed outside of special purpose applications. We will define in this paper how to add true semantics to XML documents by relating the document structure to an ontology. By mapping ontology concepts and attributes to XML elements via the definition of a DTD, XML documents can be authored that represent facts that are compatible with the designed domain model, i.e., an ontology. An ontology is a 'formal specification of a conceptualization' and thus, provides a basis for semantics-based processing of XML documents. We will argue that ontologies are the appropriate level for structuring the contents of documents because they speak about concepts and semantic relationships rather than element nesting or sequential order. Of course concepts and relationships have to be expressed and stored in linear form in documents; but this is pure representation, i.e., DTDs and the document structure are not enough to give XML a sound semantics. The representation can be derived automatically from a conceptual description as it can be defined by an ontology. If the ontology is the primary source for structuring documents these documents can be accessed in a more convenient, i.e, semantic way. Conceptual terms can be used to retrieve facts. Thus, the ontology is a kind of mediator between the information seeker and the set of XML documents. It unifies the different syntaxes/structures of these documents and can add background knowledge to the process of answering a query. Our approach allows true semantic queries to the contents of XML documents and relieves the information seeker from knowing and accessing the structure of all relevant documents." In section 4 of the paper ("Deriving DTDs from Ontologies"), the authors present "the tool DTDMaker that produces an XML Document Type Definition (DTD) based on a given ontology. This is done by mapping ontology concepts and attributes to XML elements, thus that these documents are compatible with the ontology." Ack: this reference was graciously provided to me by Kevin Poulter, Chief Technology Officer for Ontology.Org and member of the CommerceNet eCo Working Group. [local archive copy]

[October 22, 1999] "Conceptual Knowledge Markup Language: The Central Core." By Robert E. Kent (Washington State University). Paper presented in the section "Ontologies and Metadata for Knowledge Retrieval" at the Twelfth Workshop on Knowledge Acquisition, Modeling and Management (Voyager Inn, Banff, Alberta, Canada, October 16-21, 1999). "The conceptual knowledge framework OML/CKML needs several components for a successful design. One important, but previously overlooked, component is the central core of OML/CKML. The central core provides a theoretical link between the ontological specification in OML and the conceptual knowledge representation in CKML. This paper discusses the formal semantics and syntactic styles of the central core, and also the important role it plays in defining interoperability between OML/CKML, RDF/S and Ontolingua. . . The OML/CKML pair of languages is in various senses both description logic based and frame based. . . Simple OML is a intended for interoperability. Simple OML was designed to provide the closest approach within OML to RDF/S, while still remaining in harmony with the underlying principles of CKML. In addition to the central core of CKML, Simple OML represents functions, reification, cardinality constraints, inverse relations, and collections. This paper shows how the first-order form of Simple OML is closely related to the Resource Description Framework with Schemas (RDF/S), and how the higher-order form of Simple OML is intimately related to XOL (XML-Based Ontology Exchange Language), an XML expression of Ontolingua with the knowledge model of Open Knowledge Base Connectivity (OKBC). . . XOL (XML Ontology Exchange Language) is a frame-based language with an XML syntax that is currently being designed for the exchange of ontologies for molecular biology. XOL produces an XML expression for Ontolingua through the OKBC application programming interface (API). In this section we show how the frame-based language XOL can be modeled by the central core of OML/CKML with higher-order entity types, the version of the classification-projection diagram..." [local archive copy]

[October 22, 1999] "Parsing the 'Semantic Web'. [Pondering the possibilities of the 'semantic Web'.]" By Jim Rapoza. In PC Week [Online] (October 20, 1999). "There's a lot of concern right now about how information is used on the Web. Mainly this centers on privacy issues and how companies use data. However, while individual Web sites can be made pretty smart through data mining and personalization technologies, when it comes to data, there's only one thing that can be saidabout the Web itself: It's stupid. In the next few years, though, this statement may no longer be true. Tim Berners-Lee, creator of the World Wide Web, discusses both its past and its future in his new book, Weaving the Web. . . Berners-Lee is essentially describing a Web where applications, agents and Web pages will be able not just to know what's on a Web site, but actually to understand the meaning of it. Enter RDF. How is this possible? Mainly through the use of XML, RDF (or Resource Description Framework, which is based on XML) and the schemas used to describe both. In a nutshell, RDF lets site developers describe all the elements on a page in a format that can be read by programs. Considered on a single page, this seems helpful enough. But when one realizes that programs could potentially access every RDF schema on the Web, the ability to build seemingly incredible applications becomes obvious."

[October 22, 1999] "Modeling Web Application Architectures with UML." By Jim Conallen (Rational Software Corporation). In Communications of the Association for Computing Machinery Volume 42, Number 10 (October, 1999), pages 63-70. [Note: This article is one of several in this special section of CACM 42/10, "UML in Action." The lead article is an "Introduction (to UML)" by Guest Editor Grady Booch.] "This article is intended as an introduction to the issues and possible solutions for modeling Web applications. It focuses on the architecturally significant components particular to Web applications, and how to model them with UML. It is assumed that the reader is familiar with UML, object-oriented principles and Web application development. The work described in this article is based on some fairly innocuous assumptions: (1) Web applications are software-intensive systems that are becoming more complex, and are inserting themselves in more mission-critical roles; (2) One way to manage complexity in software systems is to abstract and model them; (3) A software system typically has multiple models, each representing a different viewpoint, level of abstraction and detail; (4) The proper level of abstraction and detail depends on the artifacts and worker activities in the development process; and (5) UML is the standard modeling language for software-intensive systems. Models help us understand the system by simplifying some of the details. The choice of what to model has an enormous effect on the understanding of the problem and the shape of the solution... It is expected that native XML browsers will be on the market soon. XML combined with XSL will provide many of the same features as HTML with the significant advantage of increased separation of content and presentation. Although the ideas expressed in this article mostly revolve around HTML, it is expected they can be extended to handle XML-based systems, once their usage patterns have been defined... The creators of the UML realized that there would always be situations in which the UML, out of the box, would not be sufficient to capture the relevant semantics of a particular domain or architecture. To address this purpose, a formal extension mechanism was defined to allow practitioners to extend the semantics of the UML. The mechanism allows us to define stereotypes, tagged values and constraints that can be applied to model elements. A stereotype is an adornment that allows us to define a new semantic meaning for a modeling element. Tagged values are key value pairs that can be associated with a modeling element that allow us to tag any value onto a modeling element. Constraints are rules that define the well-formedness of a model. They can be expressed as free-form text or with the more formal Object Constraint Language (OCL). The work discussed in this article introduces an extension to the UML for Web applications. This extension, in its entirety, is beyond the scope of this article; however, most of the concepts and explanations are discussed here... [Conclusion:] The ideas and concepts discussed in this article are an introduction to issues and solutions for modeling Web application specific elements with UML. The goal of this work is to present a coherent and complete way integrate the modeling of Web-specific elements with the rest of the application such that the level of detail and abstraction is appropriate for designers, implementers, and architects of Web applications. A first version of a formal extension to the UML for Web applications is near completion. This extension will provide a common way for architects and designers to express the entirety of their Web applications design with UML. The most recent information on this extension can be found on the Internet in the Rose and UML sections of Rational Software web site."

[October 22, 1999] "Big Blue to counter BizTalk with XML schema initiative." By Michael Vizard and Michael Lattig. In InfoWorld (October 22, 1999). "The XML standard may seem like an 'all-for-one-and-one-for-all' proposition, but a schema skirmish has already broken out, centered on IBM's questioning of whether Microsoft's BizTalk campaign is truly open. IBM is beginning to pull together a broad range of allies that will develop an independent approach to the development of Extensible Markup Language (XML) schemas for electronic-business applications. The effort will counter a similar BizTalk campaign that Microsoft launched earlier this year. Both initiatives seek to help vertical industries define a broad range of XML schemas that will make it easier to conduct electronic business by defining how certain types of transactions will be handled. IBM officials initially were cautiously optimistic about Microsoft's BizTalk standard, which Microsoft describes as an effort to standardize the development of XML schemas that can be gathered into a schema library and made accessible to a broad range of developers. However, since the launch of BizTalk, IBM officials say it has become increasingly apparent that what Microsoft has in mind is a derivative of XML that is not customizable and can be accessed only through The Microsoft Network, said John Swainson, general manager of applications and middleware at IBM's Software Solutions group..."

[October 22, 1999] "IBM Revamps its Approach to Software." By Michael Vizard and Ed Scannell. In InfoWorld (October 22, 1999). "Under an initiative internally referred to as its e-Business Integrator program, IBM will increasingly move its focus away from individual products and toward developing customizable platforms. These custom platforms will be aimed at specific types of tasks, including electronic commerce, corporate portals, and customer relationship management, IBM officials said. As part of that effort, IBM will bring to market an enterprise application integration (EAI) tool that combines WebSphere, MQSeries, and its transaction-processing technologies into a single offering. The IBM platforms will then be interconnected using IBM's EAI tools, which will be repackaged to give the company an edge over rivals that cannot yet combine support for components, messaging, Extensible Markup Language (XML), and transaction processing in a single offering. 'If you think about it, we're going to be the only company that can trigger transactions based on the content in the message because we can combine MQSeries with a transaction-processing engine that keeps track of state,' Swainson said. Once that product is in place next year, IBM will also deliver an XML-based rapid-application development tool that will make it easier for average developers to create workflow applications that make use of what have traditionally been powerful but arcane IBM middleware technologies."

[October 22, 1999] "Netfish unveils XML-based e-comm server." By Ellen Messmer. In Network World (October 19, 1999). "Netfish Technologies this week unveiled an application server for converting business documents into XML. The Netfish XML Data Interchange (XDI) server, based on the Enterprise Java Beans specification, can take data from either an Oracle or SAP enterprise resource planning system and convert it into XML. An emerging standard from the World Wide Web Consortium, XML is a neutral format for data, allowing it to be converted into HTML, proprietary formats or Electronic Data Interchange. Each business document received by the XDI server is stored in a mailbox designated for a trading partner. The XDI server can be set up to schedule encrypted delivery of these documents over the Internet via Secure Sockets Layer or S/MIME to another XDI server. The XDI's workflow capabilities let the user set up a business process within the document to ensure it's sent to specific people or departments in a particular order. To really make use of XML, trading partners have to agree on how XML metatags will be used in the business documents they exchange. Netfish XDI will support the XML tagging conventions and so-called Partner Interface Processes specified by RosettaNet, an industry consortium. In theory, Netfish XDI should be able to process business documents sent by other vendors' XML application servers that also conform to the RosettaNet specifications. These vendors include WebMethods and Extricity. GE Information Services and Sterling Commerce are involved in RosettaNet pilot projects as well. Kingburn says the RosettaNet interoperability tests are proceeding well, but he claims other servers don't support the Netfish workflow features." [Also on CNN.Com News.]

[October 21, 1999] "Customizing the DocBook DTD. An Excerpt from DocBook: The Definitive Guide, by Norman Walsh and Leonard Muellner." By Norman Walsh. From XML.com (October 20, 1999). ['In this three-part excerpt from his new book, Norm Walsh describes how to modify the DocBook DTD and customize it for your own applications. The DocBook DTD [is] a mature SGML DTD that was developed for computer documentation and is enjoying wide use today at companies like Sun and Red Hat. A version of this DTD now exists for XML and Norm Walsh, along with Lenny Muellner, have written a new book called DocBook DTD: The Definitive Guide [soon to be] published by O'Reilly. In this issue, we have an excerpt from the DocBook book that describes how you can customize the DTD to eliminate features you might not need.'] "This excerpt is from Chapter 5, Customizing DocBook. Not surprisingly, the specific examples in this excerpt relate to DocBook, but the principles apply to any DTD that you may write or use. The only real requirement is that the DTD be appropriately parameterized. . ." [Note: the book may be ordered from O'Reilly & Associates, Inc.; at last check with the author (1999-10-19), I heard that "the book isn't really out yet...It's still in Ann Arbor being printed." Meantime, one may look on the book's Web site to find raw sources. I'll post an announcement when the book is actually available. -rcc]

[October 21, 1999] "The Making of the DocBook DTD." By Dale Dougherty. From XML.com (October 20, 1999). ['Dale Dougherty has contributed this article "which describes how this DTD evolved and explores the close connection between its development team and the leaders of XML development today. The DocBook DTD project, now affiliated with OASIS, has been a quiet success story, the work of committed volunteers who have solved a common problem." The DocBook DTD grew out of the Davenport Group, and many of the people who contributed to this DTD for computer documentation have gone on to take leading roles in XML development.'] " The volunteers who produced the DocBook DTD first came together as The Davenport Group around 1990. I organized the Davenport Group initially, along with several members of a documentation team from HaL Computer Systems. Davenport meetings were informal sessions intended to explore how software manuals could be exchanged between companies more easily. Up until then, these companies, most of whom were UNIX vendors, were shipping printed manuals with computer workstations. CD-ROM was beginning to emerge and companies such as Sun Microsystems, HP and SGI were investing heavily in online documentation systems..."

[October 21, 1999] "'X' Marks the E-Commerce Spot." By Shannon Henry. In Washington Post Thursday. October 21, 1999. [Page E01] "If the Web language called XML is really the Next Big Thing, as companies such as Microsoft Corp. and visionaries such as Web creator Tim Berners-Lee are suggesting, no one will be happier than Phillip Merrick. 'The first 12 to 18 months, it was difficult to get money, business-to-business wasn't hot, XML was unheard of and we were in the wrong place, according to people in [Silicon] Valley,' says Merrick, chief executive of software firm webMethods Inc. of Fairfax. Now he has venture capital, from local funds as well as Mayfield Fund in Silicon Valley and Goldman Sachs in New York. Some of the top names in technology -- 3Com, Dell, Hewlett-Packard and Compaq -- are customers. WebMethods is working with Microsoft on the giant software company's own XML offering, called BizTalk, expected out next year. And Dell chief executive Michael Dell has personally invested an undisclosed amount in webMethods. While webMethods is not quite a household name in Washington, Silicon Valley's high-tech magazine, Red Herring, named it one of the nation's top 50 private companies. And industry sources say the company will likely file for an initial public offering before the end of the year. Simply put, XML (eXtensible Markup Language) is a Web language, like HTML (Hypertext Markup Language), but one that is more interactive and well suited for electronic commerce because the coding contains markers that make it easy to standardize information across the Internet. That allows the use of 'intelligent agents' to seek out consistent information and then act on what they find..."

[October 21, 1999] "WebSphere Pushes Midtier Higher. IBM's application server and tools nicely service high-end deployments." By Maggie Biggs. In InfoWorld Volume 21, Issue 42 (October 18, 1999), pages 67-68. "WebSphere Application Server is available in three editions: Standard, Advanced, and Enterprise. The Standard Edition will meet the needs of many customers with its support for deploying Web applications that contain dynamic content. New Extensible Markup Language (XML) and database connectivity improvements in this release make it easier to integrate external data. The Standard Edition also includes useful site-analysis tools and offers integration with IBM's Tivoli system management software. Version 3.0 of Advanced Edition includes added XML support that enables customers to parse, generate, validate, or modify XML and Extensible Style Language content. Moreover, IBM has included its SecureWay Directory Server and Lightweight Directory Access Protocol support with this edition. Sites that need to support high-volume, transaction-based Web applications will want to evaluate the Enterprise Edition of the WebSphere Application Server. This version contains all of the functionality found in the other two WebSphere editions but also adds integration with IBM's Component Broker and TXSeries products. This form of support is similar to BEA's integration of its WebLogic and its Tuxedo and WebLogic Enterprise products. I found some new wizards in this Studio release that will be helpful to both experienced developers who need to save time, as well as to those who are less experienced with Web-application creation. The graphical wizards support the creation of JSPs, JavaBeans, and servlets. Other useful additions in this version of Studio include an applet designer that is based on Net-Objects' BeanBuilder, art design tools to create graphic images, and Net-Objects' ScriptBuilder. The latter supports both XML and the Wireless Markup Language."

[October 21, 1999] "XML Extends its Reach. XML finds favor in many IT shops, but it's still not right for everyone." By Amy Helen Johnson. In ComputerWorld Volume 33, Number 42 (October 18, 1999), pages 76-81. "Employees need several hundred pages' worth of products, policies and procedures to service customers of San Francisco-based Wells Fargo & Co. But the information in those pages changes frequently, so if it can't be updated easily, it's virtually useless. Enter XML. Robert Bean, vice president at Wells Fargo's Minneapolis-based institutional trust division, says the bank solved its updating problems by putting service information into a database of Extensible Markup Language (XML)-tagged documents on the company intranet. An employee who needs the latest policy or form simply aims his Web browser at the online manual. 'The most current version is resident in one spot,' says Bean. That means employees make fewer mistakes than before. Content management is one of the things XML does best. Nearly every large company interested in messaging, component technology or the Internet is building XML applications, says Mike Gilpin, an analyst for application-development strategies at Giga Information Group Inc. in Cambridge, Mass. But early adopters are finding that today's XML picture isn't all rosy; the current state of XML standards and applications is about where the Internet programming language HTML was years ago, and that's not saying much."

[October 21, 1999] "XSLT: Transforming XML." By Bob DuCharme. In <TAG> Volume 13, Number 9 (September 1999), pages 5-6. "XSLT is pure XML: you specify how to convert one document type into another by creating a special type of XML document. XSL offers various specialized element types and attributes to specify different tasks you want performed, and you need to get familiar with them before XSLT will do what you want... The real advantage of representing transformation specifications as XML documents is that this is a closed system. XSL stylesheets define transformations in XML terms, just as the schema for relational database tables are themselves relational database tables. So what does XSLT look like? [...] In the next issue we will look at some of the fancier transformations possible with XSLT such as changing element order, converting attributes to child elements and vice-versa, string manipulation, comment generation, and sorting. These and other features make this budding standard a very powerful, promising contribution to the XML world..."

[October 21, 1999] "XSLT: Transformation von XML-Dokumenten." By Henning Behme. In iX - Magazin für professionelle Informationstechnik (October 18, 1999) [Web-Programmierung]. "Fast zwei Jahre, nachdem das W3C die Syntax von XML festgeschrieben hat, sieht es aus, als stünden Teile der Formatierung vor dem Abschluss. Bei XSLT und XPath handelt es sich um die Entwürfe für die Dokumententransformation von einer in die andere Struktur..."

[October 21, 1999] "XML Linking and Styling: Standards Status Report." By Bob DuCharme. In <TAG> Volume 13, Number 8 (August 1999), pages 4-5. ['Bob DuCharme untangles the web of work being done by the W3C working groups on XML-related standards. Several standards, such as XSL and XLL, have been split into others. A helpful chart shows dependencies and relationships.'] "When XML became a Recommendation in February of 1998, we heard that the next big steps were the XLL linking language and the XSL styling language, and that we'd then be able to build the Web applications we dreamed of. Just as XML was a simpler, easier-to-implement W3C version of the ISO standard SGML, XLL and XSL were going to be simpler, easier-to-implement W3C versions of the ISO standards HyTime (for hyperlinking and related benefits) and DSSSL (for transformation and presentation of XML elements). So what's happened to XLL and XSL since then? Not enough or too much, depending on who you ask. Those who say 'not enough' hoped that linking, transformation, and styling specifications would reach Recommendation status by now so that we would have stable standards to work with. Those saying 'too much' are frustrated with the splintering of XLL and XSL into five different interdependent standards, none of which is done yet. This splitting into multiple pieces is a big factor in the length of the process. Why so many pieces? It's similar to writing a large, complex application: breaking it up into well-designed, independent units means that each piece is more versatile, and that various systems can use each piece with no undue dependencies on unrelated material tied to that piece..."

[October 21, 1999] "SMIL - Synchronized Multimedia Integration Language. Moving to the beat." By Lloyd Rutledge [CWI (Centrum voor Wiskunde en Informatica]. In iX - Magazin für professionelle Informationstechnik (October 1999). "The Web used to stand still. SMIL gives the Web a sense of timing and adaptation. In order to prevent everyone from moving to their own beat, a standard like the Synchronized Multimedia Integration Language is needed... With SMIL's adaptive features, we ourselves become factors as well, since SMIL documents can adapt to individual users and playback environments. You could for example define that an audio file only starts after a certain delay to make sure to provide a soundtrack for a specific video sequence. SMIL (pronounced like the English word "smile") is Synchronized Multimedia Integration Language, the W3C format for multimedia on the Web. The World Wide Web Consortium released version 1 in June of last year and introduced the modular successor SMIL Boston on 3 August of this year which was followed by a second version already on 20 August. Its HTML-like syntax encodes the timing, screen layout, interaction and adaptivity of multimedia presentations. With at least three players currently available, and with more and more presentations appearing on the Web, SMIL promises to do for interactive multimedia what HTML did for hypertext: bring it into every home with an easy-to-author, readily implementable format, and with easily accessible players for it. These benefits of multimedia have long been achievable through closed formats or with Java programs. What is novel about SMIL is not with new multimedia functions, or that multimedia can be done on the Web, but that it is encoded in a standardized XML-defined format. Because it is in XML, and because it was developed to work with the family of XML-related standards from the W3C (especially with CSS, XPointer, XLink and namespaces) SMIL places multimedia within the developing Web framework at a higher level than a programming format like Java can. But more importantly, because it is a simple, descriptive format and not a programming language, you don't have to be a programmer to write it - making the creation of Web multimedia possible for many more people than ever before."

[October 21, 1999] "The World Wide Telephone." By Suzanne Hildreth. In WebServer Online Magazine (October 1999). "Considering adding telephone access to your Web site or making some of your Web content speech-enabled? You might want to hold off a few more months. That's because the VoiceXML Forum, a group formed last March to work on developing a common standard for integrating voice, telephony and Web content, is getting set to send its first version of the VoiceXML specification to the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) for review. Founded by AT&T Corp., IBM Corp., Lucent Technologies and Motorola Inc. -- and joined by 57 other companies -- the VoiceXML Forum hopes to establish a standard markup language for speech-enabling Internet content and for integrating traditional telephony with the Web. In August, the group released Version 0.9 of the specification for public comment. Version 1.0 of the VoiceXML specification is due to be submitted to the W3C by the end of the year, with products based on it appearing as early as mid-2000, says Gerald Karam, division manager for AT&T, New York, NY." See "VoiceXML Forum."

[October 20, 1999] "XML Data Servers: An Infrastructure for Effectively Using XML in Electronic Commerce." By Doug Barry. From Barry & Associates, Inc. October, 1999. "[The report] looks at all the architectural options for XML data servers and provides analysis of each architecture along with checklists of features that should be considered... This report provides various architectural options for an XML infrastructure, with an emphasis on application development in the middle-tier. When you've read the report, you will be able to make decisions about the type of XML data server that is best suited for your application needs. This report is about using XML data servers to provide an infrastructure for effectively using XML. It is not a primer on XML, is not intended to teach XML, nor is it intended to provide programming needed to use XML. Although a little of each of these things is provided in this report, they are merely intended to give a background that will make infrastructure development understandable. There are two main audiences for this report. The first audience is managers, who will find the report to be an excellent overview of technical issues and infrastructure needs. Managers can read through the report to create a vision of how to support XML for their business. The second audience is the technical folks - analysts, software architects, and technical management - who dig into technical work. The technical folks will find the architectural options and the reasons for these options extremely helpful in designing their work. Also, the detailed checklists in the pertinent chapters provide the groundwork for in-depth understanding of product features and why they might matter in various architectural options."

[October 20, 1999] "Does XML Need Corba?" By Rachel Chalmers. In ComputerWire Issue 3754 (September 24, 1999). "With the Object Management Group (OMG) and the Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards (OASIS) now each other's greatest fans and working together to integrate XML with Corba, the only question that remains is whether it should be done at all. Spearheaded by Dave Winer, CEO of UserLand Software Inc, one group has come up with a way to use XML to bypass Corba altogether. They call it XML-RPC (for remote procedure calling). In July 1999, Digital Creations Inc made its Zope content management system interoperable with UserLand's Frontier through XML-RPC. Earlier this week, no less a behemoth than Microsoft Corp threw its weight behind the standard. . . The truth is that both could have their place. 'What it depends on is the trade-off between how fully-featured a solution you want and how much work you're willing to put in,' says Bray. 'If you just need to get something simple and straightforward running in a couple of weeks, that might be a job for XML-RPC.' OMG's VP of technology Andrew Watson is less sanguine about XML-RPC. 'I'm very much in favor of the things XML is trying to achieve and what the XML designers had in mind for XML and this is not one of them,' he states. 'This is not an idea that's got legs. It really is using XML for something it's not designed for.' Like Bray, Watson rests his argument on the fundamental limitations of XML. It doesn't have support for transactions, security, session management or long-term association of client with state at the server end. 'This is really what objects are about,' he says. He concedes that the idea of using human-readable XML to debug a protocol is appealing, 'but I come back to this idea that every problem has a solution that is intuitive, appealing and wrong'." See: (1) "CORBA & XML Resource Page" with links to OMG's XML activities and (2) "XML and CORBA.

[October 20, 1999] "Iona Technologies to Offer iPortal Tools." By Wylie Wong. In CNET News.com (October 18, 1999). "Iona Technologies is jumping into the exploding e-business software market in hopes of turning itself around. The development software maker today announced plans to offer a package of tools used to link businesses customers, employees, partners, and suppliers online. At the heart of its suite of products is an application server that helps businesses create e-commerce Web sites. Including the application server, Iona will ship a new Component Object Request Broker Architecture (CORBA) object request called Orbix 2000 and an 'integration server' that handles messaging and connects the app server to human resources, financial, and accounting software. The integration server also links software developed using the CORBA model to programs written to work with Microsoft's Component Object Model (COM) programming model, and to other products. Iona will also ship software, called iPortal Server, that handles security and routes users -- customers, partners, and employees who are trying to access information from their Web browsers -- to the appropriate Web pages. The technology will support Extensible Markup Language (XML), a growing Web standard for businesses to exchange data. With the move, Iona is diving into a crowded market, where it competes with dozens of companies, from start-ups such as SilverStream to software behemoths, such as IBM, Microsoft, and Oracle. They're all fighting for a share of the application server market, expected to grow to $2 billion in revenue by 2002, according to Forrester Research."

[October 19, 1999] "XML Spreads Across the Board. [SSF '99 Report.]" By Mark Walter. In Seybold Report on Internet Publishing Volume 4 Number 2 (October 1999), pages 21-26. (subscription) ['The Extensible Markup Language is winning converts, as vendors struggle to make their systems ready to interoperate with the Web. The top news was Quark's preview of Avenue.Quark ("an Xtension for Xpress that adds a series of functions for exporting XML-tagged text from Xpress documents"); we take a look at how it compares to the alternatives. Also inside: commitments from the database vendors, Arbortext's new XML-in-Word offering, and user reports.'] In a special report section covering Seybold San Francisco '99, Mark Walter quotes from Simon Phipps' address at SSF '99: "'Our past experience is not enough. Our new innovations are not enough. To avoid entropy death, we have to redeem the best of the past and bring it to the future.' So declared IBM's Simon Phipps, as he addressed a standing-room-only crowd at the XML special interest day at Seybold San Francisco. Phipps placed XML in a context that explained why publishing vendors are paying attention to it, why users are adopting it faster than Java, and why we can expect to see much more of it in the very near future. 'XML is the last piece of the puzzle,' declared Phipps, in the 'new world order' of computing, 'one in which we begin to remove the co-dependencies that make scaling networked systems to the enterprise level so expensive to support.' In a rousing and often humorous keynote at the XML special interest seminar, Big Blue's chief XML evangelist explained why XML has caused such a buzz, not only in publishing, but in all of computing: In a market awash in vendor rhetoric, this is one technology that promises to break the hold vendors have had over the information we keep in their systems. Phipps painted a compelling picture of the impetus for a new computing model. 'As long as you have software and hardware dependencies, then complexity grows exponentially, not linearly, in response to linear growth of your system. As you enlarge your system with more users and more software applications, you quickly approach entropy death,' said Phipps, noting that the costs of supporting and maintaining large networked systems rocket toward infinity, 'unless you can remove the co-dependencies among data, software and networks.' [. . .] There was real evidence that XML is becoming a core technology for vendors serving broad markets. Indeed, it seems there's hardly a publishing software supplier today who doesn't have some sort of XML plans. That's in stark contrast to a few years ago, when most suppliers wed data to their software, and publishers had to go to high-end, specialty vendors to find support for a more generic, vendor-neutral approach." Walter surveys the advance of XML publishing technologies displayed or announced by suppliers (Adobe, Microsoft, Quark), database vendors (Sybase, Object Design, IBM, Oracle), and end users (RIA, Pearson Education). "In addition to the expressions of support for XML from various vendors and segments of the publishing industry, there were a few vendors in San Francisco who introduced XML-specific products. For authoring, Arbortext unveiled round-trip XML editing in Microsoft Word. On the data conversion front, Quark announced a tool for extracting XML out of XPress and Texterity announced a service that extracts XML out of PDF files. For Web publishing, LivePage introduced an upgrade to its XML-enabled system. Apart from those highlights, XML cropped up all over the floor -- in asset- and document-management systems, in page makeup programs (Pageflex Mpower) -- even in graphics. (Corel announced an SVG filter for Corel Draw.) Though PDF and EPS may still be the preferred language of expression for pages and graphics, one couldn't help but notice the groundswell for using XML as the language for revisable interchange..."

[October 19, 1999] "E-Books: Microsoft/OEB vs Adobe/PDF? Rights Management and E-Books." By Victor Votsch. In Seybold Report on Internet Publishing Volume 4 Number 2 (October 1999), pages 5-8. "Microsoft's announcement of a book reader compatible with the new Open E-Book (OEB) format was countered by Adobe's introduction of the Web Buy plug-in for Acrobat. Both moves are forcing smaller players in the e-book and rights management market to adjust their positions. . . Now publishers interested in testing the e-book waters can use PDF or OEB, Acrobat or MS Reader. We've been here before in this industry, and this round is likely to be much like the last. Dueling standards will create confusion for a few years until all the parties can agree on how to proceed. There will be hard-core adherents on both sides and a market in the middle that doesn't much care, as long as the results look OK to the customers. The OEB partisans tend to come from the SGML/XML camp with dreams of structured repositories and an animus toward PDF with its intermingling of presentation and content. Folks in the PDF camp tend to have a publishing background and an understanding of the nitty-gritty workflow issues involved in actually getting work out the door." See references in "Open Ebook Initiative."

[October 19, 1999] "HotMetal 6.0 Arrives. Latest upgrade addresses scalability, improves CSS features." By Luke Cavanagh. In Seybold Report on Internet Publishing Volume 4 Number 2 (October 1999), page 36. "SoftQuad (www.softquad.com) has released version 6.0 of its professional Web development tool complete with new features in key development and asset management areas. HotMetal Pro 6.0 addresses FTP functionality, provides improved support for imported HTML code, and allows for customizable macro and scripting options. Support for the use of proxy servers, firewalls, ASCII transfers and synchronized site updates in the latest release are designed to enhance HotMetal's ability to handle the growing demands of publishing high-traffic sites. . . HotMetal Pro 6.0 will be shipped later this month for Windows 9x and NT 4.0."

[October 18, 1999] "PRISM Group Formed to Work on News Metadata Standards. Magazines Seek a Standard to Help with Syndication." [Subscription] By Mark Walter. In Seybold Report on Internet Publishing Volume 4 Number 2 (October 1999), page 23. "At Seybold San Francisco, a group of magazine and news publishers revealed their intentions to develop a set of requirements and corresponding DTD for use with news stories, feature articles and associated material, such as pictures and graphics. The working group developing Publishing Requirements for Industry Standard Metadata (PRISM) is expected to complement the work of the Information Content Exchange (ICE) protocol for exchanging syndicating content over the Web. Participants in PRISM thus far include representatives from Time, Waveo (aka Wavephore) and Getty Images on the publisher side and Quark, Vignette, Shiftkey, Artesia and MarketSoft among the vendors. Adobe and Xerox have also participated in PRISM meetings." Objectives include the support of: (a) personalized content, (b) active threading, (c) research and fact checking, (d) rights management. To be sponsored under the Graphic Communications Association Research Institute (GCARI); contact Linda Burman. [Note: this communiqué is part of a larger Special Report in Seybold San Francisco '99, "XML Spreads Across the Board."]

[October 18, 1999] "Vendors See XML Technology Playing Strong Biz-to-Biz Role. XML gets business focus." By Michael Lattig and Ed Scannell. In InfoWorld Volume 21, Issue 42 (October 18, 1999), page 10. "As major players continue to throw their collective weight behind the Extensible Markup Language (XML), it is moving from being a mere tagging language to an integral component of business-to-business application-development platforms. Companies gearing up to add more XML support to their middleware offerings over the next several weeks include IBM, Persistence Software, Scriptics, Merant, and Object Design. Although IBM has strongly endorsed and implemented XML in some of its products for more than a year, the company appears on the verge of making a much more serious commitment to the technology. Next month, company officials -- who regard XML as the 'lingua franca of e-business development' -- will lay out a road map to tightly integrate XML into the next versions of its key middleware products, such as MQSeries, CICS, Websphere, Domino, and IMS. IBM reportedly will outline plans to use XML as an enabler of standard communication among electronic-business applications and to support several industry initiatives."

[October 18, 1999] "The Web Standards Project (WaSP) praises Microsoft's decision to focus on standards in Mac IE5." From Web Standards Project (September 21, 1999). "The Web Standards Project today praised Microsoft's decision to focus on implementing key Web Standards in its upcoming release of the Macintosh version of Internet Explorer 5.0. Microsoft has said its new rendering engine, 'Tasman,' is intended to allow Mac Internet Explorer 5.0 to provide 100 percent support for two key Web standards, developed by the World Wide Web Consortium, and nearly full support for a third. According to Microsoft, the company plans to provide 100 percent support for HTML 4.0 and Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) 1.0, which allows precise control over the appearance of Web pages. Microsoft officials have said they're planning on supporting more than 90 percent for the Document Object Model (DOM) 1.0, which allows scripting languages to manipulate Web pages."

[October 18, 1999] "XML: HTML Extreme. What is XML and why should you care?" By Elizabeth Clark [Special Report Editor]. In Network Magazine Volume 14, Number 10 (October 1999), page 37. Special Report Editor Elizabeth Clark introduces three other articles in this issue of Network Magazine. "Think HTML and the Extensible Markup Language (XML) are just for Web developers? Think again! Forces such as the tsunami of browser-based applications and the Internet invasion are requiring network management and support staff to work more closely with these markup languages. On the electronic commerce front, XML is being leveraged as a standardized framework through which businesses can exchange data with their partners as well as with customers. While there is no consensus on a single standard, initiatives such as Microsoft's BizTalk and Internet Commerce Exchange (ICE) indicate the need for an enabling technology that can jump-start robust electronic commerce communications. XML is also helping to solve the interoperability problems that plague enterprise management efforts. The Web-based Enterprise Management initiative incorporates XML as a mechanism for representing management data in a standard manner. A workable means of transferring this type of information between management applications and devices is essential to obtaining the Holy Grail of enterprise management interoperability."

[October 18, 1999] "Network and Systems Management with XML. As a result of the Web-based Enterprise Management movement, XML is rapidly becoming a crucial technology for management application interoperability and presentation." By Steve Steinke. In Network Magazine Volume 14, Number 10 (October 1999), pages 50-55. "In response to the lack of a single management model, the Web-based Enterprise Management (WBEM) initiative was formed. It began as a plan to use the standards-based interoperability and security of Web technology and apply it to systems and network management. In 1998, the Distributed Management Task Force (DMTF, formerly the Desktop Management Task Force) inherited responsibility for WBEM from Microsoft, Cisco Systems, Compaq Computer, BMC Software, and Intel. As WBEM has matured within the DMTF, three key components have emerged: the Common Information Model (CIM), a collection of object-oriented schemas for management information; HTTP, the universal transport protocol for Web-based information; and the Extensible Markup Language (XML), a simple yet powerful method for creating information payloads for HTTP to carry from one application to another, from a browser to an application, or from a browser to a managed object."

[October 18, 1999] "XML: Ready for Prime Time. This standard will, for once, make your life easier. But your competitors may not adopt it until consumers force them to." By Jonathan Angel. In Network Magazine Volume 14, Number 10 (October 1999), pages 38-43. "The Extensible Markup Language (XML), however, is the real deal. Though any new technology has a learning curve associated with it, XML is not going to give you a migraine. It's a standard that's not going to evaporate. Best of all, it's ultimately going to make your life easier, not harder. The most important thing about XML and its companion technology XSL (Extensible Stylesheet Language) is that they separate formatting from content. This might seem a familiar claim to anyone who's worked with CSS -- or the style sheets in Microsoft Word, for that matter. However, if standard HTML is a snapshot of a building, then CSS is just instructions you give to the photo lab as to how to develop the picture. Every door can be made red, every wall can be made pink, and the roof can be rendered in gray. But without access to the blueprint of the building, no fundamental changes can be made. XML, unlike HTML, lets developers expose and manipulate data. To understand the beauty of XML, you need to contrast it with HTML..."

[October 18, 1999] "XML Extends Itself. Putting XML to work calls for better document descriptions and a push into the realm of messaging." By Robert Richardson. In Network Magazine Volume 14, Number 10 (October 1999), pages 44-49. "One trend in the XML world is to make document descriptions both more expressive and more regulated to meet the requirements of cross-industry business exchange. I'll look at how this is shaping up by examining the Microsoft-led BizTalk Framework initiative and the XML Schema system it has adopted to describe its documents. XML has also gotten discursive; it's not just about standalone, content-bearing documents anymore. Much of the work in the XML world right now centers on using XML to define sequences of messages composed in XML. You can see evidence of this within BizTalk, but perhaps the most fully fleshed-out example is the Internet Content Exchange (ICE) protocol. ICE is a great example of how an industry can solve problems using XML-based message exchanges."

[October 16, 1999] "SOAP Could Slip Up Microsoft Rivals." By Wylie Wong. In CNET News.com (October 15, 1999). "Microsoft has developed a new technology for exchanging information over the Web that could give the software giant an advantage over Sun Microsystems, IBM, and other competitors if adopted by a standards body. The new technology, called the Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP), based on the increasingly popular Web standard for data exchange called the Extensible Markup Language (XML), will let business software programs communicate over the Internet, regardless of the programming model on which they're based. SOAP would replace Microsoft's current proprietary protocol called DCOM for communication over the Internet. Because SOAP is based on XML, it's compatible with all programming models and allows businesses to easily exchange data with each other over the Internet, said analyst Mike Gilpin, of Giga Information Group. Microsoft plans to submit the new protocol to an international standards body for approval soon. Like many software firms, Microsoft is supporting XML in its entire product line, and the company says it has no plans to hijack the Web standard..." See "Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP)."

[October 15, 1999] "Universal Plug and Play, XML Upgrade Net." By Alec Saunders. In Electronic Engineering Times [Online] (October 11, 1999). "Implementing Universal Plug and Play requires very little development work and only a small amount of system resources and footprint. Furthermore, the Extensible Markup Language (XML)-based description principle provides a method to enable flexible device functionality without invoking unnecessary overhead for added system resources. Essentially, XML is an emerging standard that, within the context of Universal Plug and Play, is used to provide the description of services and capabilities of smart devices. If a client selects a smart object, its features can be made visible by using XML to allow manipulation of the device. For example, if the device is a camera, the client's browser can direct the camera to zoom in or out or adjust contrast using the mechanism of XML. Both the Announce and Discovery packets also contain a link or a URL to an XML file that is used to describe the actual device. XML, which is much more general than the Hypertext Markup Language (HTML), contains all the facts about the device. XML can also have URLs that point to appropriate style sheets (Extensible Style Language, or XSL, files) that are used for optimal presentation..."

[October 14, 1999] "Practical XML with Linux, Part 1. Find out how to use XML to build a better document-exchange platform on Linux." By By Uche Ogbuji. In LinuxWorld Magazine (September 30, 1999). "In March, I wrote an article about the Extensible Markup Language and its affinity to Linux and the Linux way of doing things. Due to overwhelming reader feedback, LinuxWorld has scheduled a series of follow-up articles. In this article and others to follow, I'll take a closer look at some of the practical things you can do with XML. Luckily for this purpose, the Linux community has taken to XML as well as I could have hoped. Many Linux development projects and languages use XML processors and libraries. The Cocoon project is building around Apache an XML-processing system that is, in at least one area, ahead of most commercial equivalents. KDE, the K Desktop Environment, uses XML as the native file format for its impressive KOffice. GNOME has an entire menagerie of XML tools, libraries, and applications, some part of the general releases and some strictly in CVS, the Concurrent Versions System. It is also nice to see that a trickle of apps -- mostly GNOME Toolkit apps using libxml -- are moving to XML-based config files, as I advocated in April. In commercial space, Oracle 8i has come to Linux with an aggressive adoption of XML and many tools for XML document management. As I write, IBM's DB2 Universal Database 6.1 should be winging its way by courier to those who signed up for development copies; it, too, makes a strong commitment to XML. The other Universal DBMS engines for Linux are not far behind. But there's no need for me to trot out a long list of the XML projects for Linux. A quick search of Freshmeat with keywords such as XML, DOM, and XSL will yield riches for XML newbies and gurus alike..."

[October 14, 1999] "Bean Markup Language, Part 2. Use the Bean Markup Language (BML) to create event-driven applications." By Mark Johnson. In JavaWorld Magazine (October 1999). "In August's JavaBeans column, Mark Johnson explained how to use IBM's Bean Markup Language (BML) to configure instances of JavaBean components. This month, he shows how you can wire JavaBeans together into a running application, execute JavaBeans methods, and bind JavaBeans to JavaScript. This month, I'll show you how to create instances of several objects in BML and then use BML to wire these objects together. I'll also show you how to execute any method of an object from BML, extend BML to handle conversions between data types, and explore binding Java objects created in BML to a scripting language (in this case, JavaScript). Since I assume you've read the first article, let's dive right into this month's sample code. See also by Mark Johnson, "XML JavaBeans." In JavaWorld, 3 parts: Part [1], Part [2], Part [3].

[October 14, 1999] "IBM launches developerWorks. Big Blue aims to lure developers with open source and cross-platform focus." By Theresa Gonzalez. In JavaWorld Magazine (October 1999). "With the recent launch of its developerWorks portal site, IBM enters the competition, along with Microsoft and Sun, to win the hearts of developers. With its focus on open standards and cross-platform development, IBM may just lure developers to its products and technologies. In an effort to compete in a playing field that includes Microsoft and Sun, on September 27 IBM officially launched its developerWorks portal site, which has been in beta since June. The free online developer resource is a concrete expression of IBM's commitment to open standards and cross-platform development. The site includes seven zones: Open Source, Linux, Security, Unicode, Web Architecture, XML, and Java. Through its commitment to provide product- and platform-independent information, IBM aims to make this site the ultimate resource for ebusiness application developers."

[October 14, 1999] "XML Inter-Application Protocols." By Edd Dumbill. From XML.com (October 13, 1999). ['Dumbill presents a case why XML is already in a position to form the links between these services. He makes a case for XML as the agent for making those links. Web sites like Ebay, E*Trade, Amazon, and online calendars all perform some level of service for the user. Today, however, it's difficult to make these services work in conjunction. Edd says XML's extensibility, human readability, and international acceptance put it in position to form the links between these services. He cites the experience of Userland Software to show how openness in exchange of information helped one company by building a community of people to help test its ideas and products.'] Summary: "In this article I've demonstrated the ever-increasing importance of inter-application protocols for web applications. The acceptance and openness of these protocols is important for the development of communicating applications -- and ultimately for the satisfaction the user gets out of web applications. XML is the new hyperlink: a conduit for integrating applications with each other. It provides a great starting point for open standards. There's nothing fundamentally superior in the use of XML-based protocols over existing ones (e.g., CORBA, EDI) -- but the human-readability, low barriers to entry and sheer enthusiasm surrounding XML give it a huge advantage."

[October 13, 1999] "Technology Advances Meet Needs of Mobile Workers." By Timothy Dyck. In PC Week [Online] (October 11, 1999). "Organizations shifting to Web-based applications face a choice between the devil and the deep blue sea when trying to support their mobile workers. On the one hand, they can deploy centralized, easily maintainable Internet applications that force their mobile workers to stay dialed in to use them. On the other hand, they can stick with client/server applications that let mobile workers work whenever they need to but are costly and nightmarish to support. Oracle's Project Panama, scheduled for launch this month, provides a set of services for dynamically converting HTML and XML (Extensible Markup Language) content for display and manipulation on PalmPilots, Windows CE devices and Global System for Mobile Communications-compliant mobile phones. Meanwhile, IBM is launching a similar, as-yet-unnamed, effort. IBM officials told PC Week Labs the company will provide beta code for its product as a free download this month, with final code available by early next year. The software is part of IBM's larger Pervasive Computing initiative, which uses Java and XML to transport code and data, respectively, among all sectors of the enterprise."

[October 13, 1999] "Lotus to Offer XML, COM Support in Domino." By Christa Degnan. In PC Week [Online] (October 07, 1999). "Lotus Development Corp. announced Wednesday at Internet World in New York that it is adding native support for XML and Microsoft Corp.'s COM technology to its Domino application platform. Expected with the next R5 update within 30 days, the Domino upgrade will allow developers to present a view of information as an Extensible Markup Language document. Lotus officials said the support was added so developers can use the Domino server's indexing and processing facilities to create Web applications, such as a Java applet that charts view information presented as XML." See the press release: "Lotus Delivers XML and Microsoft COM Support To Advance Rapid Application Development."

[October 13, 1999] "HP, IBM Step Up WAP Attack." By Carmen Nobel. In PC Week [Online] (October 12, 1999). "At the Telecom 99 conference in Geneva this week, Hewlett-Packard Company and IBM both have announced plans to push forward initiatives based on the Wireless Application Protocol (WAP), which enables devices such as cell phones and PDAs to receive scaled-down Internet content. HP announced several products and services designed to push forward its Mobile E-services initiative, which has the support of Motorola Inc. and Nokia, among other leaders in the wireless industry. HP's Integrated Mobile E-services platform consists of servers equipped with WAP plus HP technologies such as e-speak along with several third-party partner solutions. For security, HP will integrate its own encryption technology and VirtualVault software, a Department of Defense Grade B secure operating system, into the platform... IBM will combine Nokia WAP technology with its Pervasive Computing middleware, which includes future wireless applications such as transcoding XML languages between devices, as well as existing products such as WebSphere, Tivoli, and IBM Enterprise Connections."

[October 13, 1999] "Nokia, Palm Join Forces on Handhelds." By Rob Garretson. In InfoWorld (October 13, 1999). "3Com's Palm Computing and Nokia will jointly develop products that wed the pen interface of handheld Palm computers with wireless phones, the companies announced Tuesday. In addition to new pen-based products from Nokia, the joint development will produce new wireless communications capabilities for future Palm branded and licensed products, including implementations of WAP (Wireless Application Protocol) and Bluetooth technology for wireless local area networking. The alliance with Nokia is the latest in a series of recent endorsements of WAP by Palm Computing and brings together seemingly competitive schemes for delivering Web content to wireless devices. The jointly developed technology will incorporate Palm Computing's 'Web clipping' system as well as WAP, both designed to allow Web content specially prepared for handheld devices to be delivered over wireless connections to the Internet." See "Wireless Application Protocol (WAP)."

[October 13, 1999] "Informix Integrates XML Data Handling." By Charles Babcock. In Inter@ctive Week [Online] (October 08, 1999). "Informix is capitalizing on its purchase of the object-relational system, Illustra, four years ago by translating Illustra's broad data handling characteristics into advanced eXtensible Markup Language data handling capabilities. Informix announced earlier this week at the Fall Internet World show in New York that it has built eXtensible Markup Language (XML) data handling capabilities into its core Foundation 2000 database engine. XML support is available immediately through the Informix Web DataBlade module. DataBlades are a feature of the former Illustra system that plugged a particular object handling capability into the database system. With the module, Foundation 2000 users can generate dynamic XML data and documents through the use of the relational database's Structured Query Language access language, said Jeff Menz, Informix' executive director of marketing. Later this year, Informix will offer a way to store and retrieve XML structures in their native format, through a feature called Hierarchical XML Data Storage." See the announcement: "Informix XML-Enables Internet Foundation.2000. Defines Roadmap for XML Strategy."

[October 12, 1999] "Riding the Next XML Wave." By Christy Hudgins-Bonafield. In Network Computing (October 18, 1999) [Business-to-Business]. "Network communication, like human interaction, moves in a progression from the physical to localized tribal dialects (the LAN) to a limited Esperanto (HTML). With automated servers based on XML comes the next big network infrastructure leap -- a transition that stands to define who will succeed in business-to-business commerce models. Over the next six to 12 months, a new breed of automated directory-based XML (AX) servers will emerge. What makes AX servers critical, next-generation infrastructure? And isn't XML just a fancy extensible HTML that uses tags to indicate that a chunk of data might be a price, an application or a service? Most first-generation XML 'servers' are all about translating data or services into XML. But the real potential lies in taking services and mixing and matching them across B2B networks. It's the 'automated XML' server and related application that recognizes a given XML pricing/inventory request, calls for specific database lookups, sets the process in motion, and routes a customized and custom-formatted response. Initially, products such as Microsoft's BizTalk Server or those from new channel software provider Comergent will tap specific XML schema sets in combination with standards-based hard-coded routing technology, known as PIPs, to accomplish this task. Ultimately, the best B2B architectures will be based on the tight integration of AX servers with directory services -- making it possible to modify business applications in a single location and govern authentication and corporate data rights."

[October 08, 1999] "Multipurpose Web Publishing Using HTML, XML, and CSS." [w/ subscription] By Håkon Wium Lie and Janne Saarela. In Communications of the ACM Volume 42, Number 10 (October, 1999), pages 95-101 (with 12 references). "The World Wide Web Consortium devised these document-markup and style-sheet languages in the interests of Web device independence, content reuse, and network-friendly encoding. Since its conception in the early 1990s, the Web has become a critical component in the strategic thinking of content providers around the world. But targeting the Web as the delivery vehicle for content poses several questions, including: How should the publishing process change to take advantage of the Web? and How should content be represented to support device independence, searchability, and efficient network throughput? The protocols and data formats in use on the Web constitute a framework within which applications and services can be built. Emerging Web standards can be used to implement multipurpose publishing, where the same content is presented on a range of Web devices. We discuss three specifications in some detail - the HyperText Markup Language (HTML), the eXtensible Markup Language (XML), and Cascading Style Sheets (CSS). All three can help content providers face some of the most important challenges of delivering content on the Web: (1) Device independence, (2) Content reuse, (3) Network-friendly encodings... Today, users should want more from the information they access. Those authoring HTML can enhance their content by using the full semantics of HTML and adding style sheets. Those authoring content in other formats before putting it on the Web should ensure that translating it to HTML preserves the original semantics. This requires additional effort during authoring but pays off as new Web applications become possible. XML allows content providers to encode highly structured data and should be given careful consideration when designing new Web applications. In general, such declarative data formats as HTML, XML, and CSS are recommended over scripts and applets for stylistic effects in multipurpose publishing. Declarative data, which is easily converted to other formats, is more likely to be device-independent and tends to live longer than programs. The Web is generous enough to accommodate any content we place there. We should therefore ensure that our content meets the Web's high standards."

[October 08, 1999] "Scriptics XML Tools Build Integration." By Antone Gonsalves. In PC Week [Online] Volume 16, Issue 40 (October 04, 1999), page 35. "Scriptics Corp. will release in beta this week a new integration server that uses XML to connect applications running on multiple platforms. The Mountain View, Calif., company's BizConnect product includes a set of development tools, called BizConnect Author and used for writing Extensible Markup Language documents, and Tcl, an open-source scripting language that can be used to attach actions to XML elements. Tcl is also used in writing business logic to establish workflow and in translating XML schemata between applications. BizConnect Author contains a GUI that uses wizards for many tasks, including validating fields within an XML document and mapping elements of the document to a relational database table. Wizards are also available for writing Tcl scripts and for establishing workflow." See the press release: "Scriptics Unveils XML-Based Business-to-Business Integration Platform. BizConnect Dramatically Reduces Time, Complexity and Cost of Web-centric Business-to-Business Application Development." - "Scriptics Corporation, a leading developer of business integration tools founded by Tcl creator John Ousterhout, today unveiled a breakthrough business-to-business integration server. Known as BizConnect, the new software platform delivers the industry's first easy-to-use XML infrastructure for developing business-to-business applications..."

[October 08, 1999] "Scriptics' BizConnect Brings the Power of Tcl Scripting to XML Business-to-Business Integration." From the Aberdeen Group (September 24, 1999). "Enterprises that refrain from leveraging XML for global business-to-business application integration risk being left behind by their competition. However, users today require substantial investments of time and resources to XML-enable existing applications - in addition, Document Type Definitions and XML have many flavors and are undergoing continuous change. To handle XML's challenges, users should select an integration approach that ensures scalability of the enabled applications, flexibility of the approach to cope with ongoing enterprise change, easy integration, rapid development, and ease of deployment of the solution. Scriptics' BizConnect is a strong XML integration solution addressing these issues."

[October 08, 1999] "Internet Vet Ventures Into Funds." By John Cook. In Seattle Post-Intelligencer (Friday, October 8, 1999). "David Pool knows a thing or two about Internet start-ups. His first company, Bellevue-based Spry Inc., was sold to CompuServe in 1995 for $103 million. His second company DataChannel, also of Bellevue, has grown to 128 employees in the past three years and is considered a leader in the burgeoning field of XML technology. So what does a proven entrepreneur like Pool do for an encore? Well, like so many other folks these days, the 37-year-old Washington State University graduate is forming a venture capital firm. But Pool's new venture fund, which will manage about $50 million and was announced earlier this week, is quite different from the other funds popping up around Seattle these days. Dubbed the XML Fund, Pool plans to invest only in companies that are working with XML technology. If a specific market niche is not being exploited using the programming language, Pool said he will 'incubate' the concept himself..."

[October 07, 1999] "Lotus Domino supports XML, Microsoft COM." By Stephanie Sanborn. In InfoWorld (October 06, 1999). "Lotus on Wednesday unveiled Domino Release 5 (R5) server support for XML and Microsoft Component Object Model (COM) technology at Internet World in New York, setting its sights on electronic-business application development. Calling it 'the common language of business-to-business e-commerce,' Lotus will leverage XML in Domino Application Server R5, providing an XML-based application-development environment for users. Combining Domino with the Lotus Extensible Style Sheet (XSL) processor extends Domino applications to clients such as browsers and handheld wireless devices via XSL stylesheets. Support for XML begins with the next quarterly update of Domino R5, allowing information to be viewed as an XML document. Domino R5 and Lotus Notes R5 Client will also support Microsoft COM, giving users the ability to create integrate Domino workflow, security, and messaging and collaboration capabilities into applications for Microsoft Windows. Microsoft Office users can add Notes and Domino data and workflow to desktop applications as well." See the press release: "Lotus Delivers XML and Microsoft COM Support To Advance Rapid Application Development." - "At Internet World, Lotus Development Corp. announced Domino Release 5 (R5) server support for two emerging technologies: Extensible Markup Language (XML) and Microsoft Component Object Model (COM). These two technologies enable organizations to develop powerful collaborative e-business applications that build strong relationships among employees, suppliers and customers. . ."

[October 07, 1999] "Oracle woos developers with e-commerce tools." By Wylie Wong. In CNET News.com (October 06, 1999). "In hopes of attracting more developers, Oracle is shipping new tools for building e-commerce software and has spruced up its Web site to give programmers the resources they need to create their applications. Oracle is also shipping prebuilt Java software code called Oracle Business Components for Java. The prewritten code, which handles connections to databases, for example, saves developers time because it is reusable, Burton said. The prebuilt code also supports XML, a Web standard that helps businesses exchange data easily. The XML support allows developers to customize their applications by simply editing the XML information, he said. Oracle's updated developer Web site, called Oracle Technology Network, gives users detailed information on XML, Java, and Linux, and the resources to build applications using Oracle's software tools, Burton said. While Oracle's database is widely used for e-commerce Web sites, analyst Anne Thomas of the Patricia Seybold Group said Oracle still needs to convince non-Oracle users that they can rely on the company as a one-stop shop for all their development needs. 'The true-blue Oracle customer uses the Oracle application server, but not many folks view Oracle as the answer to all things,' Thomas said. 'They're trying to provide the complete solution. They want to be recognized as a major player, but anyway you look at it, they're a database company'."

[October 07, 1999] "XHTML: Three Namespaces or One?" By Lisa Rein. From XML.com (October 06, 1999). ['It sounds like a religious debate from the days of the Byzantine empire. Whether XHTML should have three namespaces or one has been a question that's consuming the top minds in the XML community for the last month.] "XHTML 1.0 is a 'reformularized' and 'modularized' XML-compliant incarnation of HTML 4.0, produced by the W3C's HTML Working Group. When it reached Proposed Recommendation status in mid-August, it sparked what became a great debate on xml-dev. A big question is how much work should be required to make an HTML document XML-compliant. Does XHMTL make it more confusing than it need be? XML and HTML actually work together very nicely. XML parsers don't care about the names of HTML element tags, as long as they are well-formed, and HTML ignores anything it doesn't understand. It's a match made in heaven. So why attempt to implement a strict conformance architecture for use with HTML documents? Few have ever needed validation before in HTML -- certainly not for the HTML that was being served up to browsers!" For the thread, see the XML-DEV archive, and particularly for September 1999.

[October 07, 1999] "Mission-critical Data." By Dale Dougherty. From XML.com (October 06, 1999). ['The recent loss of a spacecraft on Mars points out just how mission-critical proper data interchange is.'] "This mission- critical data interchange problem highlights the importance of XML as a standard and why many applications require DTDs or schemas as a means of validating data. It is, of course, a hard lesson that bad data, like bad news, travels fast and far."

[October 07, 1999] "Informix is Latest to Lay its Chips on XML." By Michael Lattig. In InfoWorld (October 07, 1999). "Searching for its niche in a database market that has gravitated toward becoming the exclusive domain of industry giants IBM, Microsoft, and Oracle, Informix has laid out a plan that will see the company rely on standards, most notably Extensible Markup Language (XML), to compete. With the introduction of its Internet Foundation 2000 database last month, the company made its first foray into XML support. Now the company is expanding on that message, defining its road map for the incorporation of XML across its entire product line and proclaiming its desire to simplify the development and integration of applications and data for e-business. Currently XML is supported in the Internet Foundation.2000 database through the Informix Web DataBlade module, which allows the database to generate dynamic XML data and documents via a SQL interface. That will allow users to publish XML data over the Internet, either to an XML Web browser or XML enabled-applications using the HTTP protocol, officials said. Informix is also planning to support other XML-related standards, such as XSL, XML Schema, XML Query Language (XQL), XML Linking, and XML Infoset, as each is finalized by the World Wide Web Consortium, which Informix recently joined." See the announcement: "Informix XML-Enables Internet Foundation.2000. Defines Roadmap for XML Strategy." - "Informix Corporation, technology leader in enterprise database-powered solutions today announced support in Informix Internet Foundation.2000 for eXtensible Markup Language (XML), the Worldwide Web Consortium (W3C) standard for universal data exchange. With XML, Internet Foundation.2000 customers will be able to integrate existing data with their new E-commerce applications and efficiently exchange data with their customers, partners, and suppliers..."

[October 07, 1999] "XML SQL Technology Preview." From MSDN Web Workshop (September 30, 1999). "This Microsoft SQL Server XML Technology Preview demonstrates XML capabilities using SQL Server and Internet Information Server (IIS). It is an IIS ISAPI extension that provides HTTP access to SQL Server and XML data formatting and updating capabilities. Please take special note that this is a preview with unreleased product code, and as such it has not been thoroughly tested in the high load and high stress testing conditions that a heavily loaded Web server is likely to generate. Do not expect the level of performance of final, generally available Microsoft products. With the appropriate configuration, it will allow URL queries like: http://IISServer/northwind?sql=SELECT+*+FROM+Customers+FOR+XML+AUTO or allow you to store 'canned' queries (including stored procedure calls) on your IIS server that can be executed with optional parameters from the URL or POSTed from an HTML form. The layout of the XML returned can be specified in many ways (including a useful 'Auto' mode) and includes the ability to include schema information either in DTD or XML-Data formats."

[October 07, 1999] "XML Tools And Architecture for Named Entity Recognition." By Andrei Mikheev, Claire Grover, and Marc Moens (University of Edinburgh, HCRC Language Technology Group). In Markup Languages: Theory & Practice [ISSN: 1099-6621] Volume 1, Number 3 (Summer 1999), pages 89-113 (with 13 references). "'Named Entity recognition' involves identifying expressions which refer to (for example) people, organizations, locations, or artifacts in texts. This paper reports on the development of a Named Entity recognition system developed fully within the XML paradigm. In the section 'Named Entity recognition' we describe the nature of the Named Entity recognition task and the complexities involved. The system we developed was entered as part of a DARPA-sponsored competition, and we will briefly describe the nature of that competition. We then give an overview of the design philosophy behind our Named Entity recognition system and describe the various XML tools that were used both in the development of the system and that make up the runtime system (section "LTG text handling tools"), and give a detailed description of how these tools were used to recognize temporal and numerical expressions (section "TIMEX, NUMEX") and names of people, organizations and locations (section "ENAMEX"). We conclude with a description of the results we achieved in the competition, and how these compare to other systems." See also the annotated Table of Contents for MLTP 1/3, edited by B. Tommie Usdin and C. M. Sperberg-McQueen.

[October 07, 1999] "Structured Markup on the Web: A Tale of Two Sites." By Joshua Lubell (NIST). In Markup Languages: Theory & Practice [ISSN: 1099-6621] Volume 1, Number 3 (Summer 1999), pages 7-22 (with 20 references). "Businesses and organizations are increasingly finding that HTML (Hyper-Text Markup Language) offers no help whatsoever in managing the information on their web sites. SGML (Standard Generalized Markup Language) provides the flexibility and reuse lacking in HTML. However, SGML alone does not address the problems involved in maintaining online document repositories. Although traditional database management systems are clumsy at managing hyperlinked documents, a system combining SGML, database technology, and the protocols of the Web can provide a reasonably robust environment for developing and maintaining a web site. Two possible site designs employing SGML are discussed and evaluated with respect to a set of design objectives and choices. The likely impact of the emerging XML (Extensible Markup Language) standard on web site design is also discussed. The emerging XML standards promise to provide web site developers with the best of both worlds, allowing them to enjoy most of the benefits of SGML while not sacrificing the convenience of HTML and interoperability with the rest of the Web." See also the annotated Table of Contents for MLTP 1/3, edited by B. Tommie Usdin and C. M. Sperberg-McQueen.

[October 07, 1999] "IBM's TaskGuide: An XML-based System for Creating Wizard-Style Helps." By (Doug Tidwell, IBM). In Markup Languages: Theory & Practice [ISSN: 1099-6621] Volume 1, Number 3 (Summer 1999), pages 23-39. "IBM's TaskGuide technology gives Technical Writers and Human Factors professionals the ability to create wizards. Based on the premise that task analysis is the most difficult part of creating an effective wizard, our tools let you focus on design, not writing code. This paper discusses the basics of wizard technology, followed by a discussion of the XML-based system we have created. We cover some of the key design decisions we had to make, and introduce some of the unique features of our product. We also discuss the changes we have made to our product as technology has changed around us. Finally, we demonstrate a recursive document, a wizard that creates another wizard." See also the annotated Table of Contents for MLTP 1/3, edited by B. Tommie Usdin and C. M. Sperberg-McQueen.

[October 07, 1999] "REX: XML Shallow Parsing with Regular Expressions." By Robert D. Cameron (Simon Fraser University). In Markup Languages: Theory & Practice [ISSN: 1099-6621] Volume 1, Number 3 (Summer 1999), pages 61-88 (with 5 references, 3 appendices). "The syntax of XML is simple enough that it is possible to parse an XML document into a list of its markup and text items using a single regular expression. Such a shallow parse of an XML document can be very useful for the construction of a variety of lightweight XML processing tools. However, complex regular expressions can be difficult to construct and even more difficult to read. Using a form of literate programming for regular expressions, this paper documents a set of XML shallow parsing expressions that can be used as a basis for simple, correct, efficient, robust and language-independent XML shallow parsing. Complete shallow parser implementations of less than 50 lines each in Perl, JavaScript and Lex/Flex are also given." See also the annotated Table of Contents for MLTP 1/3, edited by B. Tommie Usdin and C. M. Sperberg-McQueen.

[October 07, 1999] "Whither &#38;#38;?" By Tony Graham (Mulberry Technologies). In Markup Languages: Theory & Practice [ISSN: 1099-6621] Volume 1, Number 3 (Summer 1999), page 40. "The declarations for predefined &amp; and &lt; entities provided in section 4.6, Predefined Entities, of the XML Recommendation may be confusing at first sight because the leading ampersand in each numeric character reference is itself escaped as a complete numeric character reference. [shows how <!ENTITY my-amp "&#38;#38;"> will eventually yield strings like "AT&T" (internally) in an application after reparsing...]" See also the annotated Table of Contents for MLTP 1/3, edited by B. Tommie Usdin and C. M. Sperberg-McQueen.

[October 06, 1999] "Nuance Touts Voice as Next Major Web Interface ." By Ed Scannell. In InfoWorld (October 06, 1999). "Claiming it will do for the emerging 'voice Web' what browsers did for the Web, Nuance here at Fall Internet World Tuesday unveiled a voice browser that lets users with ordinary phones reach voice-enabled Web sites to access information and conduct electronic business. Called Voyager, the new software's voice interface gives users a way to navigate through a voice Web using spoken hyperlinks and common-sense commands. Users can personalize the range of capabilities in the product by streamlining access to their most commonly used numbers and voice sites. The company used its speech recognition and voice authentication to build Voyager. In concert with the introduction of Voyager, the company also debuted V-Builder, a development tool that allows users to build voice interfaces to Internet sites and speech applications that users can then access through Voyager. According to company officials, V-Builder uses a combination of the company's SpeechObjects, essentially a series of reusable application components, and VoxML programming language." [From the press release: "Voyager is built on Nuance's market leading speech recognition and voice authentication software. The powerful and easy-to-use Voyager voice user interface is rendered through a combination of SpeechObjects and the VoxML (or the forthcoming VoiceXML) language and is based on many years of Nuance experience designing speech applications. Not only can Voyager access the full range of functionality in any application that is built with SpeechObjects or VoxML, but it can also access all other speech applications."]

[October 06, 1999] "Scripting XML with TCL. [Script Junkie]." By Steve Ball (Zveno). In WebTechniques (October 1999). ['What happens when the glue language of the Internet bonds with the data epoxy of the future? Steve Ball uses the results to create two strong XML parsers.'] "One thing I really like about Tcl is that it plays nicely with other languages. Tcl was designed from the beginning to be embedded within a program written in another language, such as C, C++, or Java. In addition, Tcl itself can be extended with components written in those lower-level system-programming languages. It's this adaptability and easy integration that has earned Tcl the nickname 'the glue language of the Internet.' When it comes to storing data or shipping it around the network between applications, what's needed is a data format that is independent of any particular language or platform -- one that can be used to represent any arbitrary data structures that a program uses. XML, the eXtensible Markup Language, looks like it will fill this role quite well. If two applications need to exchange information, they can use XML as an intermediate data format. As long as the applications both have support for the XML document type being exchanged, they can communicate. Recently I wrote a couple of support modules that take advantage of this concept: a Web-based workflow system using a SAP R/3 Financial Management System installation and a Tcl interface to the XML-RPC. XML-RPC combines XML with HTTP to provide a simple protocol for performing remote procedure calls. We'll study these two examples in close detail in this article." [Note: Steve Ball's company is developing the Zveno Swish XML Editor.]

[October 06, 1999] "The Case of the Missing Text." By Michael Floyd. In WebTechniques (October 1999) [Beyond HTML]. ['Michael Floyd has discovered a few differences between the XSL draft specification and Internet Explorer's implementation thereof. This month he unravels the mystery of the missing text.'] "In the June issue, I presented an XSL style sheet that used patterns to locate objects within the document tree, and showed how you can specify template rules to format these objects. The example was interesting in that it demonstrated the process of transforming XML into HTML and showed how you can combine CSS style rules to format the HTML output. Originally, I had written and tested the example using IBM's LotusXSL style sheet engine. In that arrangement, the style sheet was to be served along with its accompanying XML document from a Java servlet. However, at the end of that column I suggested that, while it hadn't been tested, the style sheet should run in most XSL processors, including Internet Explorer 5's. Apparently, many of you tested that assumption and things didn't run as advertised. The symptom in all cases was that the entire document, save one word ("by"), was missing. In tracking down the problem, I discovered a few differences between the XSL draft specification and Internet Explorer's implementation. In fairness to Microsoft, the differences reflect the quickly changing specification. Nevertheless, an understanding of how IE processes style sheets will save you countless hours of head scratching."

[October 06, 1999] "Dell Digs Deep Into Integration." By Edward Cone. In Inter@ctive Week [Online] (September 27, 1999). "Dell Computer is moving quickly into the next phase of interbusiness commerce: deep integration. The Austin, Texas-based giant is opening its manufacturing systems to the procurement systems of its customers, allowing for the automation of almost the entire purchasing process. Dell expects the program, which it calls direct commerce integration, to save large customers millions of dollars apiece in procurement costs, while at the same time creating efficiencies that will help preserve the computer maker's margins as hardware prices trend downward. That's the message Chief Executive Michael Dell will share with analysts at a briefing next month. While many manufacturers are opening up to specific ERP systems and portals, Dell is inviting everyone to the party by making extensive use of the eXtensible Markup Language (XML). Dell's link to Oracle's purchasing site gives more than 250 customers access to its production. XML, a follow-on language to the HyperText Markup Language, includes tags that facilitate systems integration."

[October 06, 1999] "WebMethods Broadens XML Integration Server." By Antone Gonsalves. In PC Week [Online] Volume 16, Issue 39 (September 27, 1999), page 31. webMethods Inc. plans to ship this week the latest upgrade of its namesake XML integration server, which has been enhanced with wider support for standards used in business-to-business commerce. Other improvements in webMethods B2B 3.0 include higher scalability and reliability through the introduction of load balancing and fault tolerance, company officials said. In addition, webMethods offers new versions of the server that target vertical markets. The new products include web Methods B2B for Portals and webMethods B2B for Partners. Clarus Corp., of Atlanta, includes the webMethods engine within its hosted procurement application, according to Steve Hornyak, vice president of strategy and business development for Clarus. webMethods for Portals has self-managing features that enable Clarus to upgrade the server at the hub and distribute the upgrade to all the companies hosting the Clarus application, Hornyak said. webMethods B2B server technology automatically generates and distributes documents in XML from information drawn from databases. The new version more ably passes XML documents among businesses through wider support of open and proprietary XML implementation methods, or schemata."

[October 06, 1999] "Tutorial: XML Programming in Java." By Doug Tidwell. From IBM developerWorks. (September 1999). "In his newest tutorial, Senior Programmer Doug Tidwell goes back to the blackboard to show you how to write Java code that works with XML. This tutorial shows you how to use an XML parser and other tools to create, process, and manipulate XML documents. We'll also talk about some useful, lesser-known features of XML parsers."

[October 06, 1999] "Tutorial: Practical transformation using XSLT and XPath ." By G. Ken Holman [Chief Technology Officer, Crane Softwrights Ltd.] From IBM developerWorks. (September 1999). "Transforming XML documents is one of the hottest topics in the XML community today. XML's flexibility allows users to create simple, descriptive tags; for effective data interchange, those tags must be transformed into another set of tags. The most common transformation is converting an XML document into HTML so it can be viewed in a browser. However, as new XML vocabularies emerge, other transformations will become popular as well. The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) is currently working on two proposed standards for transforming XML documents: XSLT and XPath. To help you understand these important standards efforts, we're pleased to present an introductory version of Ken Holman's 'Practical transformation using XSLT and XPath (XSL transformations and the XML Path Language)'."

[October 06, 1999] "Sun Netscape Alliance Adds E-Billing Partners." By Stuart Glascock. In CMPNet TechWeb News (October 05, 1999). "The Sun Netscape Alliance is extending its iPlanet BillerXpert product by adding the services of four new partners: Portal Software, Solect Technology Group, Vantive and SAIC, the companies said Tuesday. The goal of the consortium is to provide a new level of end-to-end online billing capabilities to telcos and ISPs, said Daphne Carmeli, Sun Netscape Alliance vice president of market development. The new pact also intends to tighten the integration among BillerXpert, backend systems and customer service. The new joint offering, which expands the iPlanet electronic bill presentment and payment products with applications and integration services, is available immediately. Citibank and First Union are existing customers who will be taking advantage of the new services, Carmeli said. Portal, Cupertino, Calif., and Solect, Toronto, are widely known for their billing and rating engines. Through the partnership with Portal and Solect, there will be a direct connection between the BillerXpert and the billing and rating technologies using XML to eliminate the need to break down print image data."

[October 06, 1999] "IBM Ramps Open-Source Support." By Amber Howle. In Computer Reseller News Issue 862 (October 04, 1999). "IBM Corp. jumped onto the open-source bandwagon last week with new additions to its developerWorks Web site. The site features Linux, Java and XML zones, which provide developers free, vendor-neutral resources and tips. In addition, IBM put up an Open Source Zone featuring its Jikes Java Compiler, Classes for Unicode and Open Visualization Data Explorer. The developer also added a Security Zone to help developers write secure code for Web-based applications. Although developerWorks offers information about competing products and development methods, the site encourages developers to use IBM's Application Framework for E-Business, Bahr said. Application Framework is a set of architectural principles used to ensure IBM's development products operate with its other products, as well as those of competitors such as Sun Microsystems Inc. It encompasses IBM tools including the WebSphere application server."

[October 06, 1999] "Bluestone Offering an E-business Whitewash." By Michael Lattig. In InfoWorld (October 05, 1999). "For companies struggling to find a scalable platform for developing electronic-business applications, Bluestone Software thinks it has an easy answer. At Internet World on Tuesday, the company introduced what it is calling a Total-e-Business product suite, based on its Sapphire/Web application server infrastructure and XML Suite integration server, both of which are based upon JavaServer Pages and Extensible Markup Language (XML) standards. The goal of the solution, according to Bluestone, is to simplify the integration of e-business and legacy systems by offering a scalable infrastructure upon which corporations can deploy best-of-breed content management, personalization, and e-commerce applications. In addition to the Sapphire/Web application server infrastructure and XML Suite integration server, Bluestone's Total-e-Business suite includes a content management system, pre-built e-commerce components, and a personalization and recommendation engine for analyzing and targeting business information to the needs of individual users."

[October 06, 1999] "Hedge Automata: A Formal Model for XML Schemata." By Murata Makoto (Fuji Xerox Information Systems). October 1999. The author has published a preliminary version of a document on 'hedge regular languages' (aka 'forest-regular languages and tree-regular languages'). The research note describes "preliminaries of the hedge automaton theory. In the XML community, this theory has been recently recognized as a simple but powerful model for XML schemata. In particular, the design of two schema languages for XML, namely RSL (Regular Schema Language) and DSD (Document Structure Description), is directly derived from this theory. First, we introduce hedges. Informally, a hedge is a sequence of trees. In the XML terminology, a hedge is a sequence of elements possibly intervened by character data (or types of character data). In particular, an XML document can be considered as a hedge. [Then] we introduce hedge regular grammars (RHGs). An RHG is a mechanism for generating hedges. In other words, an RHG describes a set of hedges. Since the primary role of an XML schema is to describe a set of valid documents, an RHG can be considered as a formal representation of a XML schema. [Then we introduce] deterministic hedge automata and non-deterministic hedge automata. . . The set of parse trees of an extended context-free grammar is said to be a local tree language. A lot is known about the relationships between local tree languages and regular hedge languagess. We mention two observations which are directly relevant to XML. (1) A local tree language is a regular hedge language (in other words, for any extenced context-free grammar, we can construct a DHA.), and (2) For any regular hedge language that contains trees only, there exists a unique minimal local set that includes the language. Observation '(1)' implies that HRGs are more powerful than DTDs, while '(2)' ensures that given any HRG, we can construct a reasonable DTD." For context, see: "SGML/XML and Forest/Hedge Automata Theory."

[October 06, 1999] "HTML Gets Xtended. Extensible HTML brings structure to future Web-page formatting." By John Tibbetts and Barbara Bernstein. In Information Week [Developments] (October 04, 1999). "Welcome, XHTML! We've had excellent results using this next-generation page markup language on a recent project, and now the World Wide Web Consortium (www.w3.org) is about to make it official. XHTML 1.0 is the recommended successor to HTML, the Hypertext Markup Language, which has been specifying (often inelegantly) the graphical layout of Web pages for years. . . On our recent XHTML project, we used the fast, stable, and free IBM XML parser to prepare the pages and extensions that we had defined. This saved us the long and complicated effort involved in extending HTML. In addition, the parser's extensive linguistic analysis of the page language let us verify the correctness of the pages at build time. We didn't have to perform exhaustive manual testing to find every missing 'table' tag. We also found a real team-organization benefit to XHTML. We were able to structure our Web-application project as two distinct subprojects. There was a crisp boundary between the work done by the Web team (the page artists) and the object team (the code-pushers). Neither side needed to know anything about the other except how to communicate through the XHTML extensions. The artists could simply indicate something like "FieldData," and the developers would extend a servlet to understand and implement that tag. The increase in productivity was astounding."

[October 05, 1999] "SilverStream ramps up its latest EJB server." By Dana Gardner. In InfoWorld (October 05, 1999). "SilverStream Software is upgrading its application server and tools to better support key Java standards, and is splitting off the server run time from its tools package to give users of other Java tools easier access to the platform. Arriving in beta this month with general availability toward year's end, SilverStream Application Server 3.0 supports the Java2 Enterprise Edition (J2EE) specifications, including full Enterprise JavaBeans 1.1 functionality and support for CORBA 2.3, Servlets, and JavaServer Pages, said David Litwack, president and CEO of Silverstream, in Burlington, Mass. SilverStream's latest upgrade also includes an extensible markup language (XML) parser, and XML is used in the server to link to third-party development tools and for storing meta data on applications, Litwack said."

[October 05, 1999] "Intershop Revamps E-commerce App with XML, EJB." By Michael Vizard and Matthew Nelson. In InfoWorld (October 04, 1999). "At Fall Internet World in New York this week, Intershop will demonstrate a complete re-write of its electronic-commerce application that makes use of native XML tightly coupled with a modular component architecture based on Enterprise JavaBeans (EJB). Now christened enfinity, the Intershop offering is based on a custom-built, lightweight transaction engine that runs on top of an application server from Persistence Software in San Mateo, Calif. In addition, the Intershop application includes an XML-based application development environment and a rapid application development tool for workflow applications called the enfinity Management Center. Some industry analysts are impressed with Intershop's use of XML, which will assist them in the uphill battle against larger commerce engine vendors. Intershop enfinity is slated to ship Oct. 25, with pricing ranging between $150,000 to $200,000, depending on configuration, with support for Sun Solaris and Windows NT."

[October 05, 1999] "NCR and MicroStrategy roll out products, join forces." By Michael Lattig. In InfoWorld (October 04, 1999). "The worlds of business intelligence and data warehousing grew even more intertwined Monday as NCR and Microstrategy announced new products and an agreement that will see the two companies share technologies and marketing might. The two companies announced separate agreements that will see NCR become the OEM for MicroStrategy's product suite and MicroStrategy take over the development of NCR's TeraCube online analytical processing (OLAP) engine. The OEM agreement is valued at $27.5 million. . . Designed to offer increased scalability and available immediately, MicroStrategy 6 includes updated versions of the existing suite of MicroStrategy offerings -- Broadcaster, Server, Web, Agent, and Telecaster -- as well as one new product, MicroStrategy InfoCenter. InfoCenter is a light-weight, XML (Extensible Markup Language)-based Web interface that acts as a subscription server, allowing users to set parameters for what types of information services they would like to receive as well as when and how they receive it."

[October 05, 1999] "XML on Your Net. From Directories to Network Management Tools, XML Marches Toward the Enterprise." By Amanda Mitchell Henry. In Network World (September 27, 1999), pages 83-84. "To be sure, XML is a hot topic. Mention the three-letter acronym and vendors prick up their ears, proclaim their commitment to this rising Internet star and exalt its magic. XML will make interoperability among network applications better, network managers' jobs easier, data interchange simpler and reusing Web content faster, they assert. Yes, the list of claimed benefits that the emerging XML standard brings to enterprise users is long. But while vendors are announcing support for XML at a frenzied pace, enterprise users struggle to understand what XML is and why they should deploy it. . . But XML deployment is slim. In a recent survey, CAP Ventures of Norwell, Mass., found that less than one-quarter of 250 respondents were implementing or planning XML projects this year or next. However, respondents did indicate that spending on XML would increase from there. . ." See also "Net Management with XML."

[October 05, 1999] "Internet Time Ain't What It Used to Be. Old browsers and unsecured e-mail still abound. [on CSS]." By Jon Udell. In Byte Magazine (October 04, 1999). ". . . No CSS. Don't risk alienating even a single user who may berunning an antiquated browser. I'm OK with this decision. It makes me uncomfortable to withdraw any kind of legacy support. Likewise, I'm turned off by sites that expect me to acquire and use a newer browser, or to download plug-ins or applets. I really do treasure the fact that the vanilla HTML 3.2 browser has defined a universal lowest common denominator. We like to pretend that we're all still running on 'Internet time,' but is that really true? According to one view of evolution, it isn't a constant process but rather a series of rapid bursts separated by periods of no change -- that is, a punctuated equilibrium. I think the failure of CSS to catch on is just one of many indications that, media hype to the contrary, we're sitting on a plateau in the evolution of the Web. I was sure in 1996 that a year later we'd all be using style sheets to make Web pages work a little more sensibly. Weren't you? Doesn't it seem strange that a feature we've taken for granted for 15 years in our word processors still seems too radical for general use on the Web? CSS isn't the only initiative that's stalled. Encrypted and digitally signed mail is another key piece of infrastructure that was just around the corner in 1996, and still is. . ." On CSS, see "W3C Cascading Style Sheets."

[October 05, 1999] "DCOM? CORBA? RMI? Why Not Just XML-RPC?" By Jon Udell. In Byte Magazine (August 30, 1999). "At UserLand Software, Dave Winer recently deployed the kind of simple, elegant, and useful application of Internet technology that always puts a smile on my face. At his site, you can run a Mail To The Future application that enables you to send mail to yourself (or, actually, anyone) at some future date. This is, all by itself, a wonderful idea. Even more wonderful, in my opinion, is how Dave did it, and the deep (positive) consequences of his approach: using some of the features of XML, he implemented control of the CGI-based service in a way that not only lets it be invoked interactively by a person employing a Web browser, but also, just as readily, by another script -- in the language of distributed computing, by using a Remote Procedure Call (RPC). What's this got to do with XML? In addition to revolutionizing content management, XML is going to change how we build and use Web- based software components. In this article, I'll demonstrate one way that XML can do that. But first, let's review the basics of HTTP-style component programming..."

[October 05, 1999] "E-Tools Turn The Page On Customizing Catalog Data." By Richard Karpinski. In InternetWeek Issue 782 (September 27, 1999) [Section: News & Analysis]. "Poet Software this week is introducing a platform that solves e-commerce suppliers' greatest challenge: storing and delivering custom catalog data to a variety of buyers and marketplace sites. Poet's eCatalog Suite leverages XML, Java and object storage to help suppliers extract, manage and distribute catalog data. Today suppliers often have to create and store various cuts of data for different customers, a labor-intensive process that negates many of the efficiencies gained through e-commerce automation. The typical supplier must deliver data to a variety of buyers, e-procurement platforms and networks, and vertical marketplace sites. Each of those end points may require unique data formats based on different dialects of XML schemas. Poet eCatalog Suite insulates suppliers from these differences by letting them keep a data store that can deliver data on the fly into the appropriate delivery format and with the correct degree of customization. buyers in most cases want their catalog data to reflect negotiated pricing and product selection. And finally, suppliers must support a variety of buyer- and marketplace-specific XML formats, such as cXML, BizTalk and more. Poet eCatalog suite extracts catalog data from legacy systems and stores it in a separate master catalog, where users can edit the data to specific buyers' needs -a process called data normalization. Custom catalogs are then generated for each buyer according to a profile. The data is then transmitted via the Internet using the appropriate XML dialect." See the press release.

[October 05, 1999] "App Server Vendors Bet On XML." By Lenny Liebman. In InternetWeek Issue 783 (October 04, 1999), pages 57-62 [59]. Part of the article "Web Development -- App Servers Branch Out -- The Next Generation Of Web Servers Is Taking Applications Beyond The Corporate Enterprise." - "One of the effects of the growing emphasis on site-to-site integration is that Web server vendors are beginning to make a lot of noise about extensible markup language. XML has the potential to become the de facto standard for exchanging Web data between applications across the Internet. 'XML forms the basis for creating integration servers that will enable a whole new set of portal businesses,' says Bluestone senior marketing vice president John Capobianco. 'It's a very convenient standard for data interchange, and it's being widely adopted across the industry.' That kind of integration is already starting to happen. Inktomi Corp., for example, is pulling product catalog information from companies like Sparks.com and making it available to content aggregators, who can then sell those goods and grab a commission off the top."

[October 05, 1999] "Microsoft Ships Beta of New Database Software." By Wylie Wong. In CNET News.com (October 04, 1999). "Ten months since releasing its SQL Server 7.0 database software, Microsoft has designed an upgrade, code-named Shiloh, that the company hopes will better compete with rivals Oracle, IBM, Informix, and Sybase. Microsoft has shipped the initial beta version of this next-generation database software, featuring more Web support and improved analysis of business information. Barry Goffe, Microsoft's lead product manager for SQL Server, said Windows 2000 and Shiloh, its next-generation database, will be powerful and reliable enough for large businesses and e-commerce Web sites. Shiloh will let its users analyze data with a Web browser for the first time. It will also support XML, a Web standard that simplifies the exchange of data over the Internet and corporate networks, Goffe said. Olofson, of IDC, said many of the new features Shiloh offers are, or will be, supported by its competitors. The XML support is important, he said, because it allows businesses with different databases to easily exchange data."

[October 04, 1999] "The New Integration Imperative." By Nelson King. In Intelligent Enterprise Volume 2 Number 14 (October 05, 1999), pages 24-31. "Enterprise application integration (EAI), as cutting-edge as it sounds, is hardly that; organizations have been wiring their stovepipe apps together for years. Now the Internet and object orientation are enabling new approaches to this well-understood challenge. . .True, application integration is a familiar problem. But what's different about today's EAI is that two new forces -- object orientation and the Internet -- are driving innovative techniques as well as bringing a renewed sense of urgency to the old challenge of making disparate applications cooperate. At the risk of oversimplification, object orientation, fostered by the success of object-oriented programming, is combining with e-business drivers to blaze new trails toward integrated applications. Perhaps more importantly, this combination highlights the need for more systematic and architectural approaches to EAI -- something different from the more random (that is, chaotic) approaches of the past. But there is a downside to the new EAI: Application integration may be an old story, but now it's a very hot one, as well. Consequently, every vendor with a middleware, messaging, or application development product is (or will soon be) touting its EAI brand, stretching the meaning of the term beyond all well-defined boundaries. The fog of hype makes it difficult to evaluate EAI products and strategies, but in this article, I'll provide some suggestions nonetheless. [XML and LDAP]: Some of the biggest changes in the data side of application integration are quite recent. These changes are a result of the emergence of two quite new Internet technologies: extensible markup language (XML) and lightweight directory access protocol (LDAP). As an Internet standard, XML is a boon for database applications because it identifies and classifies data within Web pages. It's also used extensively for electronic data interchange (EDI) because it can expose the data mapping between two sources. If you think this flavor of EDI sounds like application integration, you're right. Many EAI vendors are now rushing to incorporate XML features into their products. EAI vendors will increasingly use LDAP not to transport data, but probably for process automation so that application servers can search and locate variable data sources. Thus, the more applications involved in an integration and the more far-flung they are, the more LDAP will enhance enterprise scale integration."

[October 04, 1999] "XAS: E-Application Server Ascendant." By Mark M. Davydov. In Intelligent Enterprise Volume 2 Number 14 (October 05, 1999), pages 32-38. "For businesses Web-enabling their infrastructures, the limited data integration capabilities of today's middleware force a patchwork of Web servers, gateways, and custom code. The XML application server (XAS) may offer a more feasible solution. A new class of middleware called the XML application server (XML-AS or XAS for short) -- a combination of XML, middleware, and database access technologies -- is the next logical step in evolution of the multitier paradigm, a step that will obviate its shortcomings for Web-enabled information infrastructures..." [BEA Systems, Bluestone, IBM, Microsoft, Reachcast, Sequoia Software, TSI, WebMethods]

[October 04, 1999] "Integration Factory. A Conversation with Ken Ouchi [Vice President and CIO, Solectron.]" By Justin Kestelyn. In Intelligent Enterprise Volume 2 Number 14 (October 05, 1999), pages 42-46. ['Solectron Corporation may be the world's biggest contract manufacturing company, but as CIO Ken Ouchi explains in this exclusive interview, its core competency is in integrating internal and business-to-business processes.'] Ken Ouchi discusses 'Solectron's journey from the EDI-driven supply chain toward Value Web', including the significance of RosettaNet.

[October 04, 1999] "Microsoft Exchange 2000 Server Emerges." By Stephanie Sanborn. In InfoWorld [Electric] (October 04, 1999). "During the opening keynote of the Microsoft Exchange Conference (MEC) '99 here on Monday, Microsoft revealed that the Exchange server formerly code-named Platinum is now called Exchange 2000 Server and the beta 3 version is now available. Exchange 2000 Server features enhancements to messaging and collaboration platforms through integration with Active Directory and single-seat administration with the Microsoft Management Console, as well as an improved Outlook Web access client, a distributed architecture, and Web store collaboration, company officials said. Exchange 2000 Server will also be "tightly coupled" with Windows 2000. Microsoft Vice President of Server Applications Paul Gross explored several of Microsoft's forays into the knowledge management aspects of Exchange Monday, including Web stores and mobility/wireless solutions. Gross described Microsoft's Web store as 'deeply native Web and deeply Windows,' adding that 'the store will use XML to represent the objects'."

[October 04, 1999] "Oracle, Microsoft Vie for Standards." By Michael Lattig. In InfoWorld (October 01, 1999). "Oracle and Microsoft are going head to head in promoting separate meta-data standards for data warehouses, although a compromise could eventually be reached. Oracle last week joined a group of vendors, including IBM and NCR, in submitting a Common Warehouse Meta data Interchange (CWMI) specification to the Object Management Group (OMG). The announcement comes a few weeks after Microsoft submitted a similar specification, the Open Information Model, to a separate standards body, the Meta Data Coalition (MDC). Meta data is information about the origin of data in a warehouse. While both specifications are designed to simplify the development and deployment of data warehouses and business-intelligence applications by standardizing meta data, the inability of Oracle, its partners, and Microsoft to reconcile on a single standard could lead to divergent meta-data camps. Users may have to choose one or the other." See for details on the specifications: (1) "Open Information Model Overview" and (2) "OMG Common Warehouse Metadata Interchange (CWMI) Specification." Both proposals in draft specification support an XML representation.

[October 01, 1999] "The IMS, Metadata, and Web-Based Learning Resources." By Dick Vacca. In The Gilbane Report - News and Analysis of E-Content Technology and Trends Volume 7, Number 7 (July/August 1999), pages 1-8. "Since the emergence of XML the number of metadata specifications being developed for vertical and horizontal applications has soared. Soon we will have many more than we need and competition will prune the number of offerings. Metadata specifications that are designed with application and information integration in mind are much stronger candidates for utility and success. IT strategists are increasingly aware of this integration requirement, yet one area that still seems to escape attention is corporate training. The overlap in IT requirements for corporate training applications and other areas involving information management and delivery, such as technical documentation, is significant, and the lack of attention surprising. In this issue, Dick Vacca reports on an effort to develop a metadata specification for educational and training applications. While still a work in progress, this activity looks like it could be important and should be tracked by anyone responsible for implementing corporate training technology. In fact, because this project is paying careful attention to the need to integrate with other corporate systems, including e-commerce systems, anyone involved in corporate IT strategy should be aware of it... IMS [ca. 'Instructional Management Systems project'] has an ambitious goal: to enable an open architecture for online learning, and to develop specifications for the commercial systems that make it possible. IMS is not in the software or content business; rather, it is defining technical specifications for products to follow to enable application and content interoperability. This covers not only educational content and web delivery, but also the financial and administrative systems behind instruction. IMS touches all the right bases: systems interoperability and convergence, content management, XML, e-commerce, and rights management. And it all starts with the metadata specification for web-based learning resources... XML figures heavily in the IMS plan. IMS created a specimen DTD as an XML binding of its metadata, and the released specification was accompanied by an array of sample DTDs, XML bindings, and example instances. Like other projects with similar goals, such as RosettaNet and BizTalk, IMS developers are using XML heavily..." See: "Educom Instructional Management Systems Project (IMS) Metadata Specification."

[October 01, 1999] "XML Promises Simple Object Interoperability ." By Dana Gardner. In InfoWorld Volume 21, Issue 39 (September 27, 1999), page 6. "With its newest role of middleware patch, Extensible Markup Language (XML) is emerging as a kind of industrial-strength duct tape to fix cracks and fissures throughout an enterprise's application foundation. XML is not replacing synchronous object request brokers (ORBs) or asynchronous message-queuing products, which still form the bricks and mortar of interoperability. But XML is playing out as a fast, convenient way to add a loosely coupled Internet conduit to swap data in and out of disparate back-end systems -- including incompatible Microsoft and CORBA-based components. Last week, Rogue Wave Software said it will deliver the Nouveau ORB in November, a CORBA object request broker that will support Microsoft's Windows DNA 2000 development platform, providing another means of interoperability with Microsoft platforms. With Rogue Wave's new ORB ready to support Microsoft's Component Object Model (COM) and its Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) for exchanging XML data, XML can soon be used to link Windows 2000 to CORBA services -- a key linkage in enterprise systems, Rogue Wave officials said.""With its newest role of middleware patch, Extensible Markup Language (XML) is emerging as a kind of industrial-strength duct tape to fix cracks and fissures throughout an enterprise's application foundation. XML is not replacing synchronous object request brokers (ORBs) or asynchronous message-queuing products, which still form the bricks and mortar of interoperability. But XML is playing out as a fast, convenient way to add a loosely coupled Internet conduit to swap data in and out of disparate back-end systems -- including incompatible Microsoft and CORBA-based components. Last week, Rogue Wave Software said it will deliver the Nouveau ORB in November, a CORBA object request broker that will support Microsoft's Windows DNA 2000 development platform, providing another means of interoperability with Microsoft platforms. With Rogue Wave's new ORB ready to support Microsoft's Component Object Model (COM) and its Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) for exchanging XML data, XML can soon be used to link Windows 2000 to CORBA services -- a key linkage in enterprise systems, Rogue Wave officials said."

[September 30, 1999] "Corel, Others Legitimize Alternative IM [Instant Messaging] Software." By Paul Festa. In CNET News.com (September 28, 1999). "Jabber.org, a grassroots effort to craft an instant messaging service under the open-source software development model, got a boost this week with Corel's decision to implement Jabber's software in Corel's Linux desktop operating system and applications. Corel will add the instant messaging client in a partnership with Webb Interactive Services, which has taken a keen interest in Jabber's project to produce an instant messaging client based on Extensible Markup Language (XML)." ["Jabber is an Instant Messaging system, providing online status and instant message delivery to participating users via the Internet. There is already a proven need for this functionality based on the large volume of users of other systems such as ICQ and AIM, but already the first generation problems and commercial attitude of those systems is hampering their functionality and slowing their users. The key features of Jabber include: (1) Distributed Servers; (2) ISP-level service, similiar to most other Internet services; (3) XML based Protocol; (4) Simplistic in function, allowing simple and pervasive clients; (5) Embedable and Extensable in every way; (6) Back-end compatibality with all other IM systems (you can communicate with ICQ and AIM users, and future IM systems)" [from the Web site]. See also: "Webb Interactive Services, Inc. Sponsors New XML-Based Open Source Instant Message Technology. Webb to Integrate Jabber, a Leading Edge New IM Platform, Into its CommunityWare/XML Platform and Commerce Services."

[September 30, 1999] "Tracing XML-based Bank Transactions. Can We Catch the Crooks? [Take the Money and Run.]" By Alan Kotok. From XML.com (September 29, 1999). ['Does XML make money laundering easier? Alan Kotok looks into how the Web's new banking and investment services, many based on XML vocabularies, might help to catch the bad guys.'] "XML can increase auditability: In a recent e-mail message Eric Cohen, a CPA from Rochester, NY and leader in the development of XML vocabularies for accounting, says XML systems could both help and hinder this problem. He says XML specifications for example can limit the addition, deletion or change of entries to reduce errors, yet at the same time the Web can open up internal networks to unauthorized outside intrusion. Cohen notes that XML documents are by design both human and machine-readable and thus have greater transparency for auditing purposes. He cites other audit specialists who believe that the combination of electronic and financial standards increase the auditability of business systems by increasing their visibility, thus making it easier to develop effective analytical procedures. In other words, XML has the potential to provide tools for better control of Internet-based financial services."

[September 30, 1999] "X Marks (up) the Language. Parsing XML, Part 1.." By Eric Bohlman. In PerlMonth Issue #4 (August 1999). "When we talk about parsing a language, we mean the process of taking a piece of code or data written in that language and breaking it up into its constituent parts as defined by the rules of that language. Parsing is an essential task for any program that wants to use language- based data or code as input. In our last column, we talked about how "newline-separated records, with fields separated by commas" was actually the specification for a very simple language. In Perl, we'd normally parse it using something like... All these considerations mean that writing an XML parser is a demanding task not for the faint of heart. One of the W3C's original design goals for XML was that someone with a degree in computer science could write an XML parser in a week. That turned out to be one of the goals that wasn't quite achieved, and the development of new XML facilities like namespaces makes it even less realistic. The complexity of XML parser design has not prevented many talented individuals and organizations from writing XML parsers, many of which are available for free. Thus, nearly everyone who wants to write programs that use XML for input will want to use a pre-written parser to do all the dirty work. In the Perl world, this means using parsers that have been packaged as Perl modules."

[September 28, 1999] "Forms of Unicode." By Mark Davis [IBM developer, and President of the Unicode Consortium]. From IBM DeveloperWorks (September 1999). "In the beginning, Unicode was a simple, fixed-width 16-bit encoding. Under its initial design principles, there was enough room in 16 bits for all modern writing systems. But over the course of Unicode's growth and development, those principles had to give way. When characters were added to ensure compatibility with legacy character sets, available space dwindled rapidly. Many of these compatibility characters are superfluous, and were required only because different platform technologies at the time couldn't handle the representation of those characters as originally designed. So 16 bits were not enough anymore. Unicode needed an extension mechanism to get up to a larger number of characters. The standard mechanism uses pairs of Unicode values called surrogates to address over 1,000,000 possible values. There are no characters in surrogate space yet, although there should be by the end of the year 2000. Additionally, some systems couldn't easily handle extending their interfaces to use 16-bit units in processing. These systems needed a form of Unicode that could be handled in 8-bit bytes. Other systems found it easier to use larger units of 32 bits for representing Unicode. As a result of these different requirements, there are now three different forms of Unicode: UTF-8, UTF-16, and UTF-32. A great deal of thought was put into the development of these three forms, so that each form is most useful for its particular environment, and each can be quickly converted to and from the other forms as needed. It is important to understand both the capabilities -- and the limitations -- of each these forms. . .".

[September 28, 1999] "The XML Schema standard: A way to make XML datatype definitions more specific and flexible." By George Lawton. From IBM DeveloperWorks (September 1999). "The Schema standard-in-progress goes Document Type Definitions one better and gives you ways to define datatypes explicitly, to combine them in data structures, and to associate comments with datatypes. If, as Ashok Malhotra says, XML is the glue for mapping between databases and other data models, then Schema is the tool for spreading the glue exactly where you want it. XML Schemas promise to greatly simplify the ability to integrate databases wih a wide variety of other applications. The forthcoming Schema standard, now in draft form, will better define the datatypes and structure needed to create interoperable applications. Two working groups are together developing the standard for the World Wide Web Consortium (W3) to provide the industry with the tools to ensure a smooth flow of data from application to application. To date, the Schema standard draft includes datatype definitions, structures that combine datatypes, a standard for comments, and a conformance proposal. The most obvious use for XML is to permit exchange of data from database to database and between databases and other applications; Schema standards are designed to make that work easier. Ashok Malhotra, Research Staff Member at IBM, and a representative on the Schema Working Group said, 'I think the real issue is for connecting to databases, and that is how Schemas will evolve. People are starting to think of XML as a universal glue for mapping between databases and alternative representations of things'."

[September 27, 1999] "XML's the Language as OASIS Spreads the Word." By Grant Butler. In The Australian Financial Review (September 28, 1999). "Australian electronic commerce firms are being urged to join a global effort to develop a standard system for the use of XML, a supercharged version of HTML, the language used to make web pages. Mr Bill Smith, president of the Organisation for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards (OASIS), was in Australia last week to address a UN meeting on the issue. '[XML is] going to provide a simple infrastructure for people and machines to communicate and exchange documents,' he told The Australian Financial Review. 'That's pretty important to the new economy and the way business is going to be done in the next century'. . .".

[September 27, 1999] "Software Companies Hope Standard Helps Joint Operation." By Erich Luening. In CNET News.com (September 27, 1999). "A group of leading software companies is pushing a new standard that would help businesses integrate e-commerce systems and exchange data. Oracle, Unisys, IBM, NCR, and Hyperion today announced the submission of the common warehouse metadata interchange (CWMI) standard to the Object Management Group (OMG), an industry consortium. The proposed standard, CWMI, defines a data format for all data warehouse and business intelligence products. By cutting both the software compatibility testing time and the costs associated with standard warehouse implementations, the CWMI standard ensures that mission-critical data required for business decision-making can be shared among all internal systems, supporters of the standard claim. The CWMI standard is a submission that follows the creation of the Extensible Markup Language (XML) by the Worldwide Web Consortium (W3C) and XML Metadata Interchange (XMI) by the OMG." For details, see "OMG Common Warehouse Metadata Interchange (CWMI) Specification"

[September 27, 1999] "Related-Resource Discovery for XML." By Tim Bray. September [27] 1999. "Many applications of XML are designed to process XML resources in combination with other related or supporting resources. Such resources currently include DTDs, stylesheets, RDF metadata, human-readable documentation, and executable code; many other types of related resource are in active development. In general, there is no standardized interoperable way for an XML resource to include information to aid applications in retrieving such related resources. W3C recommendations currently provide syntax for XML documents to include pointers to DTDs and to stylesheets. These methods are ad-hoc, not compatible with each other, and represent nobody's idea of a general solution to the problem of retrieval of related resources. . ." [From TB's note on XML-DEV: "I (and I think some other people) are becoming increasingly convinced that the need for some sort of an 'XML Packaging' facility is becoming increasingly urgent. I was asked to write up a motivating statement for the XML Plenary meeting that is happening this Wednesday [1999-09-29]."

[September 27, 1999] "IBM readies transcoder beta for simplified content delivery." By Dana Gardner. In InfoWorld (September 24, 1999). "It has been a promise by many vendors for some time: the capability to use a single data source to deliver specific interfaces to individual client types on the fly. IBM says it has finished this task, and will deliver a free beta version of its transcoding server in early October, with plans to deliver the finished product in March 2000. The currently unnamed server, which can run as a proxy, on a Web server, or on host access programs, will determine client types via their respective browsers and deliver the appropriate data and user interface, said Snehal Parikh, brand manager for IBM's network computing software division, in Raleigh, N.C. One of the first uses will be for translating rich HTML documents into stripped-down HTML for handheld devices. Internet service providers and Web sites will be able to quickly deliver their pages in thin form to such devices as browser-equipped cell phones and personal digital assistants. [Said Snehal Parikh:] 'You do not have to manipulate the source, but you allow it to go in [the] adapted form to different devices. It's also a new wave of business-to-business communications. You can take existing applications and data, and adapt them to XML [Extensible Markup Language] or even EDI [electronic data interchange]'."

[September 27, 1999] "Using the SAX Interface of LibXML." By James Henstridge. "Most users of the libxml (aka gnome-xml) library tend to use the DOM style tree interface for reading documents. This is generally quite an easy interface to use, but can use quite a bit of memory. An alternative is to use the SAX interface in libxml, which is a port of the Simple API for XML library for Java. This article is aimed at people who understand and have used the libxml DOM style interface and want to explore the SAX interface. Some examples are biased toward use in GTK+/GNOME programming. . . [the article should give] you a good idea about how to think about writing SAX parsers, and how to implement them with libxml. If you want more information about the other callbacks, look at the libxml API documentation." For other description and references, see "GNOME (GNU Network Object Model Environment) XML Library [libxml, gnome-xml]."

[September 27, 1999] "Gnome World DOMination." By Raph Levien. 14-April-1999. "The Gnome DOM (Document Object Model) architecture promises to create a framework for seamlessly integrating smaller components into polished applications. Authors choosing to write DOM-based applications need only write code for rendering and editing the document fragments specific to the application. Much of the remainder of the application is provided by the framework, including XML-based loading and saving, undo, and plugins. The central piece of the Gnome DOM architecture is Gdome, the Gnome DOM engine. Generic DOM engines have three major shortcomings that are addressed in the Gdome design: (1) Forcing apps to use the DOM's data structures for storage of all the app's state. (2) Extravagant memory usage -- 10x the document size is typical. (3) Garbage collection is difficult, particularly in distributed operation such as with plugins. . . Gdome addresses these issues by using the "sliding DOM" concept. In short, the sliding DOM interface shifts some of the responsibility of keeping track of changes in the tree structure from the server to the client. In the traditional DOM scenario, clients are written in scripting languages and servers are generally implemented in web browsers. In the Gnome World DOMination scenario, by contrast, the emphasis is on making applications as easy as possible, including integrating with existing codebases that use their own data structures to represent document contents and state."

[September 24, 1999] "ASP Technology and the XML DOM." By Alan McBee [guest columnist for Charlie Heinemann]. In Extreme XML [Microsoft MSDN Column] (September 20, 1999). "There is an alternate approach to using ASP technology to work with the XML DOM -- one that should help your server-side XML processing go much faster. Here it is: September, 1999. The U.S. football season has started, new television shows are about to debut, and the XML DOM doesn't scale well to multithreaded late-bound Automation controllers, such as Visual Basic Scripting Edition (VBScript) in ASP. Huh? It's true, at least for now: The performance of a Web application, where the application is written in Active Server Pages (ASP) code, and the script uses the XML Document Object Model (DOM), will begin to suffer under load. Microsoft is currently working on this problem. I'll talk about an alternate approach to using ASP technology to work with the XML DOM -- one that should help your server-side XML processing go much faster."

[September 24, 1999] "Adept at XML? O'Reilly Labs Review: Arbortext Adept 8 Editor Review." By William Brogden and Ed Tittel. From XML.com (September 24, 1999). ['Adept 8 from Arbortext is an XML editor with extensive SGML roots. In this week's O'Reilly Labs review, William Brogden and Ed Tittle delve into Adept, installing it on an NT system and testing how well it works for editing complex documents. We've put together a "slide show" using animated GIFs to give you a sense of the look-and-feel of the Adept editor. The reviewers pick over Arbortext's XML editor and find it an easy-to-use, and effective tool for beginners or power users. Read the review then take a "slide show" tour of the Adept 8 interface.'] "Installing Adept 8 on a Windows NT system proceeds smoothly, but you need plenty of free disk space, on the order of 250 Mbytes. The main thing you have to decide is how many of the optional document types and language support packages to install. Spelling dictionaries for 15 languages are available. Standard document types include a bunch of business forms, HTML, and the DocBook DTD. Adept is strictly for creating and editing SGML and XML documents; creating a custom DTD requires the Arbortext Architect product or some equivalent tool (or hacking out a DTD in ASCII with a text editor, which is how two users of Adept that we interviewed handle this sometimes daunting task). . . Adept is best described as an industrial strength editing tool for SGML that is also quite usable for HTML, XML, and other simpler document types. Although this tool is both expensive and complex, it is well worth the money for organizations that must build complex documents, be they in XML or its more venerable parent language, SGML."

[September 24, 1999] "Report from Interdoc's XML World in Ottawa." By Dave Sims. From XML.com (September 22, 1999). ['Lessons in EDI, knowledge management, and scalable vector graphics from Interdoc's annual XML conference. Dave Sims files a report on last week's XML World event in Ottawa, Canada. He provides some insight into SVG and other XML technologies discussed at the event. He quotes the keynote speaker, Dave Thomas of Object Technology International, in a talk on knowledge management, as recommending that companies should give away your nonessential knowledge to others: "It may be the cheapest way to maintain it."'] "Microsoft's XML evangelist, Dave Turner, was preaching to the converted when he told the crowd at Interdoc's XML World last week, 'the investment made by major companies in XML ensures that this is real, and that it will become a major part of how we build our systems.' The 350 people who came to Ottawa's Chateau Laurier for four days of tutorials and sessions already knew that. What was on many of their minds was how to build the systems, and what they should include. If there was a theme, it was probably that XML was the tool to take the web from a presentation platform to a system of services. Most of these services will center around e-commerce, and many are in the same space that EDI occupies (though many are not). Hot discussions included how to gather effective repositories and whose schemas should be adopted. Occasionally, one could spot the EDI veterans rolling their eyes or shaking their heads in the back of their room, as if they had heard many of these promises before."

[September 22, 1999] "XML and CORBA. [How do XML and CORBA fit? That's a game a lot of people are playing lately. A close look uncovers some interesting synergies.]" By Mark Elenko and Mike Reinertsen [Xenotrope]. In Application Development Trends Volume 6, Number 9 (September 1999), pages 45-50. [Middleware] Two acronyms which "have been floating to the top [in acronym soup] and sticking together in an increasingly noticeable way are XML and CORBA. Both are important in their own right; used together, they offer systems architects valuable synergies. . . The most immediate uses of XML in CORBA systems are configuration, as a portable document format, design metadata and some in-system application data. . ." Note that several presentations on XML and CORBA are available from the "Resources" section of the Xenotrope Web site. For example: (1) Distributed Architecture with XML and CORBA (I & II), by Henry Balen and Mark Elenko; (2) Using Java, CORBA and XML for a Distributed Object Architecture, by Mark Elenko; (3) XML and CORBA: Why, What, and A Few Hows, by Mark Elenko; (4) CORBA and XML: Enabling Flexible Web Architectures, by Mike Reinertsen.

[September 21, 1999] "Ardent proposes new information infrastructure." By Michael Lattig. In InfoWorld (September 20, 1999). "Ardent Software, in a move company officials said is aimed at bridging the worlds of structured and unstructured data, introduced Monday their strategy for providing an enterprise information infrastructure (EII). Specifically, Manby said, Ardent's vision is to create an information bus that underlies a company's business intelligence infrastructure, adding value through ubiquitous access to rich meta data. To provide that access, the company will rely on standards such as XML. 'XML shifts the balance of power to where corporations and users are able to create their own meta-models to help them do what they want to do,' said Manby. 'Ultimately what it's all about is making money and adding confidence to the decision making process'. The Data Stage Suite is comprised of three major components, DataStage 3.6, DataStage XE, and DataStage Enterprise, designed to serve the independent functions of data movement, management, and quality assurance. In the future, Ardent will add a portal feature to it's EII in an effort to provide a single point through which users can access meta data and business intelligence reports." For other details, see the press release: "Ardent Software Unveils Strategy to Bridge Worlds of Structured and Unstructured Information. Ardent's Enterprise Information Infrastructure Provides a Unified Solution for Timely, Relevant, and Reliable Information."

[September 17, 1999] "UML as a Schema Language for XML based Data Interchange." By David Skogan (Department of Informatics, University of Oslo, P.O. Box 1080 Blindern, N-0316 OSLO, NORWAY). WWW. Paper submitted to UML'99. With 26 references. 1999-05-14. Abstract: "The Unified Modeling Language (UML) is here used as a schema language to define data interchange formats based on the Extensible Markup Language (XML). UML is a powerful and flexible modeling language and XML is expected to be the next generation data interchange format for the Web. UML's declarative expressiveness and intuitive visual form overcome XML's current declarative powers. The use of UML as a schema language combined with XML as a data representation language addresses both semantic and syntactic interoperability. A mapping from UML to XML is defined and two prototype implementations are presented. The mapping is inspired by Object Management Group's (OMG) XML Metadata Interchange specification (XMI). It is developed as a part of the ongoing standardization work creating an international standard for geographic information (ISO 15046). It is generic and may easily be adapted to other application domains." Cited in connection with a docment on the document Geographic Information BROWSER 1.0.2.1" - 'A prototype XML import/export facility and browser. Encode, decode, navigate, and edit Geographical Information.' "The GI Browser has been developed in the DISGIS project and is based on ISO CD 15046-18 Geographic Information - Encoding, a standard currently being developed by ISO/TC 211." [local archive copy]

[September 17, 1999] ISO CD 15046-18 - Geographic information - Part 18: Encoding. Document reference: ISO/TC 211/N709, 1999-03-16. Under preparation by the Technical Committee ISO/TC 211 Geographic information/Geomatics. "The Encoding standard specifies the encoding rule that shall be used to enable international data interchange. It allows geographic information defined by application schemas and standardised schemas to be coded into a system independent data structure suitable for transport and storage. The encoding rule depends extensively on the Extensible Markup Language (XML) and the ISO/IEC 10646 character set standards. For readers unfamiliar with XML, please read Annex C. For a short introduction to ISO/IEC 10646 see Annex D. Annex E contains examples of the application of this standard." See also Annex B (normative) - Required DTD elements(and GI DTD package). ISO 15046 is a nineteen-part International Standard. [See also the previous entry.]

[September 17, 1999] "IBM Gears Portal for Software Developers." By Wylie Wong. In CNET News.com (September 16, 1999). "IBM is courting developers with a new Web site aimed at giving them the news, resources, and advice needed to build better software. The site, called DeveloperWorks, takes a look at the Java programming language, the XML Web standard, as well as the open-source Linux operating system. The site also plans to focus on the software infrastructure needed for building e-commerce sites, and Unicode, which helps developers build software using languages other than English. The site, which will officially launch in two weeks, has been in beta testing for several months. IBM said it plans to offer a mix of industry news, downloadable programming tools, and free tutorials on the site. In a thinly veiled swipe at rival Microsoft, which is also attempting to court developers with its own Web site and tools, IBM executives say DeveloperWorks will give developers the resources they need to build software using technology based on open standards."

[September 17, 1999] "XML/SGML: On the Web and Behind the Web." By Alfred Attipoe and Philippe Vijghen [The SGML Technologies Group]. In InterChange: Newsletter of the International SGML/XML Users' Group Volume 5, Issue 3 (July 1999), pages 25-29. "There is some confusion as to when [to] use SGML and when to use XML. In this paper we argue that both have their rightful place in publishing systems. We discuss the impact of the new Web technologies on publishing systems by clarifying the relationship between XML and SGML. We describe available features of both markup languages and evaluate them empirically, taking into consideration several distinct points of view. Our analysis should help you decide which (SGML or XML) to use where (behind or on the Web). . . we argue that XML, devoid of SGML complexity, is ideally suited for the exchange and publication of documents/information on the Web. However, XML lacks some features which are very useful when creating behind-the-Web systems where reqirements stress the need for expressive information models and data-processing functionality..." For related discussions, see "XML and/versus SGML."

[September 17, 1999] "Wireless Internet Is On The Way." By Guy Middleton. In CMPNet TechWeb News (September 15, 1999). "The wireless world converged in London this week at the Wireless Application Protocol Forum meeting, just as commercial deployment of the mobile Internet technology is beginning. At a media briefing on Wednesday, board members from leading hardware and service providers spoke of the momentum behind the technology -- a technology many service providers are geared to deploy, once production volumes of handsets are available. Skip Bryan, WAP Forum board member representing Ericsson said his company was into the launch phase and seeing rapid growth in content providers and portals working with WAP. . . He also said WAP was geared to integrate with enterprise data systems, 'you see Sun, Oracle, and IBM implementing XML and that's where WAP is'." On XML in WAP, see "WAP Wireless Markup Language Specification."

[September 17, 1999] "Quick-Start XML." By Michael Gellis. From DEV-X Inquiry.com ['Ask the VB Pro 10-Minute Solutions'] (September 15, 1999). "So, you've been too busy earning an honest living to get into XML, and your data couldn't be more disorganized. Don't worry, because building upon the Visual Basic skills you already possess, you'll learn XML (eXtensible Markup Language) in no time, and everything will be tidy again. We'll begin right away by creating a simple XML document . . ."

[September 17, 1999] "FIPS security nod is coming for Windows NT." By [GCN Staff.] In Government Computer News (September 06, 1999). "Microsoft Corp. president Steve Ballmer said that Windows NT 4.0 will receive security certification under Federal Information Processing Standard 140-1 by the end of next month. The forthcoming Service Pack 6 for NT 4.0 will contain the FIPS-evaluated code, Ballmer said. Ballmer used the Air Force conference to take a shot at Java, the development language touted by Microsoft rival Sun Microsystems Inc. He predicted that the Extensible Markup Language, not Java, will be viewed as 'the biggest architectural revolution of the late 1990s.' Microsoft developers see XML as the 'core to all future product functions,' he said. He said the company will deliver a tool called Biztalk designed to let developers create an XML framework as a universal information exchange medium for components."

[September 16, 1999] "Concurrent Document Hierarchies in MECS and SGML." [Abstract] By C. Michael Sperberg-McQueen and Claus Huitfeldt. In Literary and Linguistic Computing [Journal of the Association for Literary and Linguistic Computing, ISSN 0268-1145] Volume 14, Number 1 (April 1999), pages 29-42, with 16 references). "Applications of computers to humanistic research rely increasingly on SGML or XML markup; it is a persistent challenge to find suitable representations, in these tree-based formalisms, for the overlap of textual features. [The most persistent complaint of SGML's critics among humanists is that SGML simply cannot handle such overlapping features. In the general form stated, this claim is untrue, but it is fair to say that handling overlap requires some substantial extensions to what is otherwise a rather simple data model. Overlapping features, however, are common enough in existing texts that almost every system designed for scholarly text processing has some facility for handling overlap, either in the form of dual logical and physical hierarchies (as in John B. Smith's interactive concordance program ARRAS) or in the form of non-hierarchical coding (as in the COCOA tagging supported by the Oxford Concordance Program and other systems). Overlapping textual features are an inescapable fact of textual life.] SGML lends itself to a straightforward data model with a simple relationship between markup (elements and attributes) and features or structures in the text. Barnard et al. (Computers and the Humanities, 22:265-276, 1988; 29:211-231, 1995) and the TEI ( Guidelines for Electronic Text Encoding and Interchange, 1994) have presented methods for registering the existence of overlap using SGML notations, but these methods are often felt to be unsatisfactory, in part (we argue) because they complicate the otherwise straightforward SGML data model. [This paper will first describe the fundamentals of what we will call the 'basic' SGML data model and explain how overlap presents a problem for this basic SGML model. It will then discuss two notations invented to overcome that problem: the Multi-Element Code System (MECS) developed by the Wittgenstein Archive at the University of Bergen and the CONCUR feature of SGML itself, and explore some problems which arise in translating between these two notations. In conclusion, it will describe some possible avenues for future work on overlap and related markup problems.] The MECS and CONCUR notations described here allow the straightforward markup of overlapping textual features. CONCUR further allows the formulation of useful document grammars for concurrent hierarchies of textual features. The theoretical and practical advantages outweigh the practical disadvantages, and the humanities computing community should begin serious experimentation with CONCUR. . . The advent of the Extensible Markup Language (XML), however, may change the practical situation: it is much easier to implement CONCUR for the fully normalized documents prescribed by XML than to handle all of its complex interactions with features present in SGML but omitted in XML. [N.B. XML does not include the CONCUR feature, and there is no real prospect that it will. But the normalization and well-formedness constraints XML defines can be used to simplify the definition of an XML-like language which does include CONCUR." For literature references, see "SGML/XML and (Non-) Hierarchy" and see the ALLC/ACH paper abstract.

[September 16, 1999] "Leveraging Distributed Software Development." By Junichi Suzuki and Yoshikazu Yamamoto. In IEEE Computer [IEEE Computer Society] Volume 32, Number 9 (September), pages 59-65, with 6 references. "... while Internet collaboration offers a number of advantages, the friction created by distributed -- therefore delayed -- communication typically increases the overhead associated with sharing project information. And the technology itself -- including system interoperability and the synchronous or asynchronous collaboration tools -- can create problems in a distributed development environment. As the complexities of distributed collaborative development environments increase, frameworks designed for such environments will become essential. The authors describe one such framework -- called SoftDock -- and the new technologies it exploits. It lets developers analyze, design, and develop software from component models. SoftDock uses the Object Management Group's Unified Modeling Language (UML) for modeling components. For exchanging information about these UML models, SoftDock uses an application-independent interchange format called the UML eXchange Format (UXF). SoftDock distributes UXF descriptions through W3C's Document Object Model (DOM) interface, which is implemented on top of OMG's Common Object Request Broker Architecture (CORBA). [Figure 1] illustrates SoftDock's architecture. SoftDock stores the XML documents representing UML models -- that is, UXF descriptions -- in a resource server, which can create, log, and delete documents. The resource server sends notification to client-side applications when a document changes. In theory, this repository could maintain documents either as flat files (for storing model descriptions) or as full-fledged objects in a repository. Currently, though, SoftDock supports only flat file management. In SoftDock's architecture, the resource server has two ways of distributing or exchanging model information. In the first method, an HTTP route provides one-way broadcasting to client applications. These client applications -- including XML-capable Web browsers -- access UXF descriptions that the resource server replicates to a Web server through an FTP connection. When a UXF description is updated in the resource server, the server pushes the updated description to the potentially remote Web server. Personalizing model information We deploy Persona,3 a toolkit we developed for personalizing the content and presentation of XML documents, at the back end of a Web server, where it recognizes every participant's role in the development process by focusing on the client-side information that is transferred with incoming HTTP requests. In response to these requests, Persona delivers customized content and presents information appropriately tailored to each development role, such as project manager, architect, programmer, or customer. Persona provides two levels of personalization. The first level involves simply generating an HTML document from a requested XML document by applying a particular XSL style sheet. The second level involves rearranging the content or presentation of the generated document. For example, when a project manager accesses a Persona-enabled Web server through the SoftDock HTTP connection, Persona can create a document -- based on state-based development processes -- that displays a current development status report for all software deliverables. If the same request were made by a programmer, Persona could present detailed model information instead of a status report. . ." On UXF, see "UML eXchange Format (UXF)" and the UXF Home Page. SoftDock is also described in "SoftDock: a Distributed Collaborative Platform for Model-based Software Development."

[September 16, 1999] "Conformance Testing for XML Processors." By David Brownell. From XML.com (September 15, 1999). ['Not all XML parsers are alike, especially when it comes to how carefully they follow the XML 1.0 specification. Dave Brownell tests Java-based XML parsers and lets you know how closely they conform. This multi-part article evaluates the results of testing a dozen XML processors (XML parsers) against the OASIS Conformance Suite to see how well they follow the XML specification.'] - "One indication of XML's success is that a dozen or so implementations of an XML processor exist. These processors, spanning a variety of programming environments, are at the core of a new generation of web tools that are revolutionizing the dynamic generation of HTML and enabling new types of web applications, including business-to-business data messaging. But are all XML processors doing what they are supposed to do? Will the tools built with those processors create rivers of interoperable messages and documents? Will they create islands of data that can only be used with a single set of tools? This article looks at most of the XML processors available today for use in Java-based XML systems and evaluates how closely they follow the XML 1.0 specification. We will provide you with the hard data from our tests, so you can independently evaluate every claim made in this article and reproduce the results yourself. The results leverage the freely available OASIS XML Conformance Test Suite. While that suite has only been published relatively recently, many of its key components have been well known to the XML community for over a year and a half; they shouldn't come as a big surprise for any implementor. Many of these tests have been used for basic quality testing in a variety of XML processors." For related references, see the section: "XML Conformance" and the XML Conformance Test Suite news item. For background, see NIST XML/DOM Conformance Testing, organized through NIST's Software Diagnostics and Conformance Testing Division [SDTC], under Mary Brady. See also the announcement for the test suite, "OASIS XML Conformance Test Suite Now Available. International Consortium Provides Set of 1,000 Tests for XML Parsers."

[September 16, 1999] "Ballmer Extols Virtues of XML in the Evolution of the Programmable Web." By John Waters. In Application Development Trends (September 13, 1999). "Microsoft Corporation envisions a future in which software is a service and Websites are programmable -- an evolution to be enabled by XML and the company's WindowsDNA 2000 distributed Web application development platform. Speaking to a ballroom full of reporters and IT industry analysts gathered in San Francisco's Sheraton Palace Hotel, Microsoft president Steve Ballmer described his company's vision of a new breed of Web services that do more than deliver pages to a browser. The evolution of this programmable third-generation Web, Ballmer explained, is possible because of the eXtensible Markup Language, the futuristic 'lingua franca' of data on the Web. XML facilitates the integration of heterogeneous applications and the interconnection of disparate services across the Internet. A cornerstone of Microsoft's XML effort Microsoft's Distributed interNet Architecture (DNA), which, Ballmer said, builds on an XML foundation. DNA 2000 represents an 'across-the-board investment in XML for integration and interoperability as well as transparent integration with a wider variety of legacy systems,' a Microsoft spokesperson said. Microsoft's DNA 2000 product family includes: Windows 2000, Commerce Server 4.0, BizTalk Server, Babylon Integration Server, AppCenter, SQL Server ('Shiloh,'the next gen SQL Server 7.0), and Visual Studio."

[September 15, 1999] "Microsoft's Maritz Puts the Flesh on DNA." By Michael Lattig. In InfoWorld (September 14, 1999). "Microsoft has outlined the products and priorities company officials hope will help users turn ordinary Web pages into living, breathing, programmable services. The cornerstone of Microsoft's approach will be native support for the Extensible Markup Language (XML) across Microsoft's product line as well as the ability to loosely couple XML and messaging services. Paul Maritz, vice president of Microsoft's developers group, underscored that point with a comparison between Microsoft's vision and Sun's Java/Jini combination. According to Maritz, a successful Web services architecture must be open and standards-based, and not rely on one language. Sun's solution, through which developers work with homogeneous objects written in Java and interacting through Java Native Interface, is 'technically valid but has serious issues,' Maritz said. 'We think instead that [a Web services architecture] will involve a model that starts with standards and builds upon that,' Maritz said. 'It will be message-oriented and loosely coupled, with services connected by XML-based messages and contracts written in many languages.' In addition to adding native support for XML to its product line, Maritz said Microsoft is evolving COM to provide full support for the new Web services model. The result will be an architecture that is open to virtually any system using XML. The overarching goal of the COM evolution and the changes to the product line, Maritz said, is to ride the 'tidal wave of support' that has already made XML a de facto standard to build decentralized platforms consisting of clients, services, and megaservices."

[September 14] "XML in 10 points (7, really...)." By Bert Bos [W3C]. [Cited] from the W3C Extensible Markup Language (XML) Page, by Dan Connolly, XML Activity Lead. (Updated August 23, 1999). "XML, XLink, Namespace, DTD, Schema, CSS, XHTML,... If you are new to XML, it may be hard know where to begin. This summary in 10 points attempts to capture enough of the basic concepts to enable a beginner to see the forest through the trees. And if you are giving a presentation on XML, why not start with these 10 points? They are hereby offered for your use..."

[September 14, 1999] "Microsoft DNA 2000 aims at Web development." By Jack McCarthy. In InfoWorld (September 14, 1999). "Citing what he terms the third generation of Internet development, Microsoft President Steve Ballmer on Monday laid out the software giant's Web applications development strategy. Ballmer outlined a broad strategy for Microsoft Windows Distributed interNet Architecture (DNA) 2000, a platform with services designed to link application, servers, and devices with one another over the Internet. Microsoft's DNA platform includes the Windows NT Server network operating system, SNA Server, Site Server Commerce Edition, BizTalk Server, SQL Server, the Visual Studio development system, and AppCenter, software that deploys and manages DNA-based servers. 'Now we are entering the third generation, where people can program the Web for themselves,' Ballmer said. Windows DNA 2000 builds on XML (Extensible Markup Language), which Ballmer terms as "the crucial standard for integration'."

[September 14, 1999] "The DNA 2000 Strategy." By Charles Babcock. In Inter@ctive Week [Online] (September 12, 1999). "Microsoft on Monday sought to regain ground that it's in danger of losing to competitors with a promise to knit together its diverse technologies into a 'megaservice' of downloadable components for future Web applications. Dubbed DNA 2000, for Distributed interNet Architecture for the Windows 2000 operating system, the set of technologies will counter what Microsoft terms the lack of tools and shared conventions of other vendors' products for building Web applications. Microsoft will concentrate on ease-of-programmer Web development, using a wide array of building blocks. Paul Maritz, group vice president of the Developer Group, said one cornerstone of its approach will be Extensible Markup Language, or XML, in the form of a BizTalk JumpStart Kit, available immediately for free download from its BizTalk Web site. Microsoft's BizTalk site has been a proving ground for about 100 XML schema proposals for business-to-business communication in Web applications. Microsoft Consulting Services and other parties have generated the BizTalk Framework for rapid development of applications running on different platforms but able to exchange documents, forms and catalogs. DNA 2000 will include BizTalk Server, a server that uses BizTalk Framework to integrate applications across businesses. The server recognizes Framework-formatted documents and does the XML parsing to send and display them. 'XML is a key enabler of a new generation of opportunities,' Maritz said. . ."

[September 14, 1999] "Microsoft Web plans win some initial praise." By David Orenstein. In Computerworld (September 14, 1999). "The principles behind Microsoft's new model for Internet application development, Windows DNA 2000, won some initial praise from users and analysts yesterday. In practice, though, analysts hastened to add, the model remains fuzzy. Microsoft officials, including President Steve Ballmer, said the future of development on the Web will be based on application components that use the industry standards Extensible Markup Language (XML) and Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) to interoperate. Reliance on those standards could free developers to incorporate components in their applications regardless of platforms or middleware, analysts said. In this model, components could reside anywhere on the Web and still be used in an application. They would communicate with one another using messages. 'This XML-based, loosely coupled federation of applications is exactly where it should go,' said analyst Larry Perlstein of the San Jose-based Dataquest unit of Gartner Group Inc. 'Microsoft has put this together and has enough of all the pieces to show you what it might look like in the real world'."

[September 14, 1999] "Ballmer: 'Share Your Data'." By John Gartner. In Wired News (September 13, 1999). "The future of e-business can be summed up in three words, according to Microsoft president Steve Ballmer: 'Share your data.' And the tool to carry out Microsoft's version of the future also comes in three words: 'Extensible Markup Language', or XML. In a Monday press conference that outlined his company's e-business future, Ballmer stressed that consumers will require personalized service, which requires the consolidation of personal data stored on the Web sites they use. That means that data has to be readily accessible to developers and e-commerce partners to ensure a speedy transaction. The way to do that is to use XML, a markup language designed by the World Wide Web Consortium that provides a consistent method to describe and categorize data. . ."

[September 14, 1999] "Developers split on proposed Web language standard." By Paul Festa. In CNET News.com (September 14, 1999). "Efforts to craft a new language for building Web pages may stall because of rifts within the development community, which is debating a proposed standard. Last month the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) proposed Extensible Hypertext Markup Language (XHTML), turning it over to the development community for a final review period, but since then the process has lost some momentum. Developers have not been to agree on a naming convention that orients Web browsers to their tasks. XHTML would rewrite Hypertext Markup Language (HTML), the Web's most commonly used language. The rewrite would make it easier for individual industries to design Web pages that meet their specific needs. At stake is how browsers will make sense of the Web when it is written in a potentially infinite variety of individually tailored languages. . . W3C representatives characterized the contentious debate over XHTML namespaces as a normal part of the W3C review process." [alt URL]

[September 14, 1999] "Microsoft brass herald era of distributed Web development." By Antone Gonsalves. In PCWeek (September 13, 1999). "Microsoft Corp. today unveiled its vision of the Web as a huge, decentralized development platform in which services are integrated with any application in order to reach consumers or business partners. Microsoft President Steve Ballmer unveiled the company's view of the future of Web development at a news conference here with reporters and analysts, two days before Microsoft's Developer Days '99, the software giant's day-long workshops for developers held across the nation. Key to Microsoft's emerging architecture is XML (Extensible Markup Language), which will be the foundation for the exchange of data with enhanced features, such as qualifying service providers or imposing requirements such as deadlines for responses to requests. 'XML is really the critical foundation,' Ballmer said, describing the markup language for moving data between disparate applications as the 'secret sauce' for developers."

[September 13, 1999] "An end to the Uber-Operating System." By Dave Winer. Part of the DaveNet website. (September 12, 1999). "On Monday morning, along with Microsoft and Developmentor, we released a specification called the Simple Object Access Protocol, or SOAP. It's available on www.xmlrpc.com. The URL follows later in this piece. SOAP, as its name implies, is an object access protocol. It is more complex than the XML-RPC specification, which is deployed on a wide variety of operating systems and scripting languages. The purpose of both specs is to enable scripted web applications to cross operating system boundaries. I am an author of both specs, along with Don Box of Developmentor and a small group of Microsoft architects and engineers, including Gopal Kakivaya, Andrew Layman, Satish Thatte, and for the earlier spec, Bob Atkinson and Mohsen Al-Ghosein. . ." On SOAP, see "Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP)."

[September 13, 1999] "Cisco Uses XML to Monitor Service-Level Agreements." By Paul Krill. In InfoWorld Volume 21, Issue 37 (September 10, 1999), page 12. "Cisco Systems this week will demonstrate a set of technologies to help users ensure that service providers are complying with service-level agreements (SLAs). The technologies, to be revealed at the Networld+Interop conference in Atlanta, rely on the Extensible Markup Language (XML). Cisco will also reveal partners who are backing the technologies. Service-level management is becoming critical for verifying that the correct levels of service are being provided to customers. The CiscoWorks2000 Service Management Solution, due by March 2000, lets enterprise customers and service providers monitor service levels via XML-based APIs that link to the Service Assurance Agent monitoring software in Cisco's Internetwork Operating System (IOS)."

[September 10, 1999] "XML to the Rescue." By James Kobielus. In Network World Volume 16, Number 36 (September 06, 1999), page 51. "XML and related specifications, such as XML Namespaces and XML Schema, are well on the road to widespread enterprise deployment in the next three to five years. Adoption is always the sincerest form of flattery, and vendors are implementing or have implemented XML in their core product architectures. XML renders traditional platforms irrelevant. It provides a versatile language for decoupling distributed applications from their operating environments. Vendor-dominated operating environments will take a subordinate role to cross-platform services, such as directories, Web publishing and electronic commerce. And these cross-platform services will increasingly implement XML down to their cores. Most fundamentally, XML is helping shift industry momentum away from tightly coupled computing models and toward messaging-oriented middleware (MOM). XML's emergence is contributing to a broad decline in platforms' reliance on remote procedure calls and other inter-application communication schemes, such as Distributed Component Object Model (DCOM) and Common Object Request Broker Architecture (CORBA), that bind distributed objects tightly to one another. Integration of XML with Lightweight Directory Access Protocol Version 3 directory infrastructures, under the Directory Services Markup Language initiative, should only accelerate the trend toward using XML syntax to define directory-resident metadata pertaining to workflows, services and applications. This all just goes to show that XML will be like oxygen in the networked environment of the 21st century: vital, pervasive and taken for granted." alt URL, local archive copy.

[September 10, 1999] "Adaptive Java applications -- XML makes it possible. Create an adaptive, dynamic, and extensible messaging system using Java, XML, and the DOM." By Gad Barnea. In JavaWorld Magazine Volume 4, Issue 9 (September 1999). "The powerful triangle of Java, XML, and the DOM (Document Object Model) provides the key for creating adaptive systems -- systems in which data is separate from behavior -- in Java, based on Internet standards. In this article, Gad builds upon more than a year's worth of design experience using these new technologies. . . With the introduction of XML and its subsequent adoption by the major players of the software industry, data can lead its own life. An XML document is, in many ways, a database, a fact that can be exploited to build adaptive systems. In an adaptive system, careful design thought is given to isolating objects from one another and isolating data from the behavior (for example, the operations and methods) defined in the object. To demonstrate how this works, we will design a simple messaging system that hides the communicating objects from one another and holds the data manipulated by the objects in a parallel universe -- as XML. [...] We now have a fully operational miniature messaging system that achieves maximum flexibility through the separation of data from behavior. This application can be used as a basis for many others. We've seen how a simple and adaptive messaging system can be created using XML, DOM, and Java. This combination promises to minimize the extent to which object-oriented programs rely on hard-coded data. The implications for this approach are important for designers of mission-critical, enterprise-scale systems."

[September 10, 1999] "XML and Java: A potent partnership, Part 4. [Learn how Java, laced with JavaScript, pushes XML's flexibility into new dimensions.]" By Todd Sundsted. In JavaWorld Magazine Volume 4, Issue 9 (September 1999). ['In this final installment of his four-part series on XML and Java, Todd Sundsted completes his integration of JavaScript and Java and brings the ease-of-use and flexibility of a scripting language to his XML framework.'] "XML is quickly becoming the standard for both document markup and data exchange. Many factors are driving XML's popularity, including its inherent flexibility, exemplified by its ability to be extended to include tags not found in the original tag set. [. . .] XML's tools must be as flexible as the XML they work with. They must 'do the right thing' when they encounter a novel tag in their XML input. They must expect the unexpected. Java, with its ability to dynamically load code into an executing program, provides a clean solution to this problem. A Java-based XML tool can load code and, thereby, flexibly extend its core functionality to meet the needs of any document it encounters. I hope my efforts for the last four months have demonstrated XML's potential and have convinced you of the potency of the combination of XML and Java (and a scripting language such as JavaScript). The framework I've designed for you currently is being used in an evolving tool that generates models from XML descriptions. Keep your eyes on XML. It's not going to solve every problem facing developers today, but, like Java, it's going to help solve a great many of them. We've barely crossed the starting line."

[September 10, 1999] "Orchestrating Today's E-Commerce." By Christy Hudgins-Bonafield. In Network Computing Issue 1018 (September 06, 1999). "Commerce-server software platforms are a clattering parade of transaction, payment and personalization engines, tax and currency offerings, workflow automation and content management software, database and ERP (enterprise resource planning) integration modules, proprietary and open application servers, customer-service offerings with "800" number phone support integration, XML-HTML translators and smart catalogs. What's next? [...] EJB and XML support (at least in some primitive form, such as HTML translation) will be announced or delivered by most of the major commerce providers by mid-2000. . . BroadVision: 'The company plans to enhance its C++ base with XML to let Java applets work on a native basis in 5.0, which should be in beta or shipping by year's end.' Intershop Communications: 'Intershop is moving away from its own application server to a Java server and was expected to announce an XML cartridge this summer, to move content and transactions into and out of its product via XML APIs.' Silknet: 'Silknet plans to keep expanding its e-business push, with officials having a particular interest in marketing and sales automation. In August, Silknet was expected to announce an eBusiness Toolkit with a graphical GUI to extend or create new applications and to create dynamic relationships based on XML schema.' [...] business partners that have opted for disparate commerce platforms may find a point of coalescence in a kind of directory negotiator empowered to deliver the goods. The first step toward realizing this vision was announced in July by a coalition of players that includes Bowstreet, IBM Corp., Microsoft Corp. and Novell. The group is organized around a new Directory Services Markup Language to share directory content using XML (see www.dsml.org). [Novell's Michael] Simpson says he believes the directory could also use XML schemas to work with different back-end databases."

[September 10, 1999] "Enterprise Management Gets Web Standards." By Guy Middleton. In CMPNet TechWeb News (September 07, 1999). "A key model for enterprise management information has been completed by the Distributed Management Task Force (DMTF), the industry body announced Tuesday. The DMTF said the specification would enable cross-vendor interoperability using Internet standards and would cut through the complexity and incompatibility in much of today's management systems. The announcement marked the completion of the group's work on the specifications of a Web-based enterprise management (WBEM) framework, built on what it described as a Common Information Model. The addition of the CIM over the HTTP standard would allow "implementations of CIM to interoperate in an open, standardized manner." The CIM over HTTP specification adds to the existing CIM and CIM over XML standards." See: "DMTF Common Information Model (CIM)."

[September 10, 1999] "W3C's World Wide Power." By Gary H. Anthes. In Computerworld Volume 33, Number 36 (September 09, 1999), pages 74-75. "The Semantic Web: The W3C is mapping out technology to support a 'semantic Web,' in which all the world's knowledge becomes computer-accessible. 'Querying a database is not exciting,' Berners-Lee says. 'But querying a database that gets linked so as to query the whole planet is very exciting.' The W3C, based at MIT and research centers in France and Japan, last year took a giant step toward that goal by publishing XML. It can describe Web pages with far more power than Hypertext Markup Language (HTML), the Internet programming language developed by Berners-Lee in 1990 at CERN, the European Laboratory for Particle Physics in Switzerland. Unlike HTML, which describes the structure of a page, XML allows developers to make up their own tags, or metadata, to describe information content on the page. The W3C is also working on the Resource Description Framework (RDF), a language that uses XML to enable application and content developers in different domains to share vocabularies -- their own metadata -- in ways that allow them to link diverse databases. XML and RDF promise to make the Web much more powerful by enabling search engines to 'understand' the meaning of information."

[September 10, 1999] "Vendors jockey over packet-circuit approaches." By Loring Wirbel. In Electronic Engineering Times [Online] Issue 1077 (September 06, 1999). "The recent debut of a Call Policy Markup Language for programming hybrid packet-circuit switches is only the first shot in what promises to be a continuous volley of new offerings from vendors this fall and winter. Abatis Systems Corp., a Canadian startup that introduced a new service-provisioning architecture last spring, is launching a service scripting language called XML/Services this week. Like CPML, the new services language is an offshoot of the popular Extensible Markup Language. . . XML for allocating service If the CPML work was intended to bring XML into the area of describing call features, Abatis wants to use XML as a means to let carriers and ISPs provision service to customers. Fields such as service subscriptions, billing methods (including per-packet charges) and network identifiers can be handled as typical XML fields in the new XML/Services language. Amar Shan, director of product management at Abatis, said that the network ID functions could include the identification of nodes and subnetworks as well as physical-layer network characteristics, such as delay and jitter. Although Abatis wants to work with router and mediation-switch vendors, its XML/Services language is tied to the company's three-layer notion of "IP Consumables" contracting. At the network layer, Abatis' hardware platforms, or service points, allocate services and bandwidth to customers. At the contract layer, a new software platform called the Network Services Contractor (originally for Solaris platforms, but soon for NT 4.x as well) uses the XML/Services language to set up contracted services for customers. On a higher services layer, customers can contact carriers and ISPs through open service portals. Originally, Abatis had intended to help customers create Web portals, though the open nature of XML/Services will allow carriers to build these portals on their own." ["XML/Services is an open, flexible language based on XML that facilitates the rapid creation, subscription, and delivery of advanced IP services. XML/Services provides the common framework required for network service providers, application retailers and application vendors to specify the business and technical requirements of an IP service, independent of the underlying IP network technology."] See also "Call Policy Markup Language (CPML)."

[September 10, 1999] "RosettaNet Put To The Test." By Barbara Jorgensen. In CMPNet TechWeb News (September 09, 1999). "Four key members of the electronic-components supply chain have successfully exchanged business information over the Internet using the RosettaNet XML standard. Several weeks ago, Marshall Industries and Solectron became the first to test RosettaNet XML-based database descriptions to exchange data between online catalogs. More recently, Arrow Electronics and Intel successfully used the RosettaNet specification to send and receive data over the Web. RosettaNet, a nonprofit consortium formed last year to promote common Internet business communications standards, has created a framework using XML to streamline the computer product and IT supply chain. The group has also developed about 100 XML-based business processes, known as Partner Interface Processes (PIPs). Arrow and Intel were able to send and receive secure purchase orders over the Net through a data-transformation software. The software used in the process is a version of GE Information Systems' Application Integrator, enhanced to support XML and the RosettaNet PIP specifications. The purchasing PIP provides a mechanism for creating, canceling, or exchanging a purchase order between various business partners."

[September 10, 1999] "Round Two For OBI Spec." By Richard Karpinski. In CMPNet TechWeb News (September 09, 1999). "One of the Web's 'missing in action' standards is making its belated debut. OBI, or Open Buying on the Internet, was a pioneering effort to define business-to-business e-commerce practices. After some holdups, the most recent keeper of the OBI standard, CommerceNet, has released what it calls the first 'implementable' version of the specification, OBI 2.0 Even as it has been eclipsed by vendor-specific projects such as Ariba's cXML or Microsoft's BizTalk, OBI still has some high-profile champions -- including Office Depot and Ford Motor -- and helps define some 'top-of-mind' concepts, such as supplier-managed catalogs. At the next OBI meeting later this month, sources said, the group will set a timetable for the XML-ready version of OBI, expected sometime in the next four to six months."

[September 10, 1999] "Sybase To Offer Upgrade. Database server to support XML and Java, E-business, portal services due." By Rick Whiting. In Information Week (August 30, 1999), page 36. "Sybase Inc. last week unveiled an upgrade to its flagship database server and detailed plans to provide technology and services for building E-commerce systems and enterprise information portals Due to ship early in the fourth quarter, Adaptive Server Enterprise 12.0 will offer Extensible Markup Language and native Java support. Sybase's core database system has lagged behind other vendors' products in providing these capabilities. ASE 12.0 will also include a Java virtual machine and Java-SQL functions, new high-availability and failover features, and Web transaction-management capabilities. By supporting XML and Java, ASE 12.0 and Sybase's new Enterprise Event Broker middleware are capable of being used within an enterprise information portal system . . ."

[September 10, 1999] "Luminate Sheds New Light On SAP R/3 Apps." By Tim Wilson. In InternetWeek Issue 779 [Section: News & Analysis] (September 06, 1999). "For many businesses, a slowdown in SAP R/3 means a slowdown in productivity. But for IT help desks, finding and fixing the source of the slowdown means navigating a maze of confusing management data. Luminate Software Corp. last week unveiled several new tools designed to provide a more direct route through that maze. The new products help IT managers tie Luminate's SAP R/3 performance-monitoring software with help desk and other management applications, company officials said. Luminate's new products include Performance Analyzer, a troubleshooting tool designed for SAP experts; the OpenData Initiative, an XML interface that lets other applications work with Luminate tools; and partnerships with AMC Technology LLC and SAS Institute to link R/3 performance management with help desk and chargeback capabilities." See the announcement: "Luminate For SAP R/3 Delivers XML-Based Interface to Open the Most Complete and Powerful Repository of SAP R/3 Application Management Information. SAS Institute Inc. and AMC Technology L.L.C. Deliver Unique Applications Through Luminate Software's OpenData Initiative."

[September 10, 1999] "Is XML changing the future of Web publishing? How XML is becoming the new standard for building and managing content. " By R. Allen Wyke. In SunWorld Magazine [WebMaster Column] (September 1999). ['XML appeared several years ago as an upcoming standard and partial replacement to HTML. Since then there's been a lot of talk, but no one has really specified how Webmasters can use it to their advantage on an everyday basis. This month, Allen walks you through the development of XML and its various Web implementations, and gives you a preview of what you can expect to see over the next year.'] "Over the last three months, XML has begun taking root, just as its inventors predicted. Financial institutions are now creating languages based on it that define the data they send back and forth; ecommerce vendors are using it for transactions; and reporting tools are using it to import data for ad hoc queries. You shouldn't count on XML to save the world -- but it can help you describe, consolidate, and validate your data, and basically make your job a whole lot easier. If you have to process Web logs so that your managers can determine their traffic numbers, peak hours, and the type of browsers used to access the site, XML may be your solution -- especially if these aren't the only numbers your managers have to analyze."

[September 10, 1999] "First draft of proposed XML TC for Unicode 3.0." By John Cowan. Presented on XML-DEV. (September 07, 1999). "This is version 0.1 of a proposed technical corrigendum to XML 1.0 to incorporate the new characters of Unicode 3.0 into the allowable sets used in XML Names. It presumes that XML should not remain limited to an obsolete version of the Unicode and ISO 10646 standards." [Note 1999-09-14, "The Unicode 3.0 data files are now in final form at the Unicode FTP site (ftp://ftp.unicode.org/Public/3.0-Update), although the Unicode 3.0 book won't be available until January. There are no changes to my XML/Unicode 3.0 proposal as a result."

[September 10, 1999] "Interviews: Simon Phipps: IBM's Chief Java & XML Evangelist." By [Dale Dougherty]. From XML.com (September 08, 1999). ['Dale Dougherty interviews Simon Phipps, IBM's Chief Java and XML Evangelist on Java as platform-neutral programs and XML as software-neutral data that will allows networked computer systems to scale.'] "Phipps describes a component model for open, networked computing systems using XML and Java that eliminates the kind of platform-centric dependencies that makes it difficult for partners to do business. He believes that such business relationships will be built around data analysis and transformations, enabled by XML and XSL..."

[September 10, 1999] "Applied XML: Using XML for Object Persistence." By Ralf Westphal. From XML.com (September 08, 1999). ['The article examines object persistence and the role XML can play in serializing an object's data. Ralf Westphal, the editor-in-chief of Germany's leading Visual Basic magazine, BasicPro, walks us through the issues involved in serializing data and shows how to use an XML data format to ease the process. Ralf wrote on building a better meta-search engine for XML.com earlier this summer.'] "What does 'object persistence' or 'serializing an object' mean and how can XML help with it? Several technologies out there try to assist you in serializing objects into XML strings. They deal with Java, CORBA and COM-objects, so you should take a look at them. . . When storing an object, you separate data from code. Object persistence is all about extracting the information in an object so it is not lost when the object itself is destroyed. Once the data is separated from the object, it can be saved in a file or sent over the Internet to some other computer. Sometimes, objects are supposed to not only store their data but also their code. That's cool, too, and has its uses (for example, in mobile agent scenarios), but we won't discuss that in this article..."

[September 10, 1999] "XML evolves into latest must-have technology." By Darryl K. Taft. In Computer Reseller News Issue 858 [Section: Applications & Tools] (September 06, 1999). "What primarily was a hot buzzword only a year or so ago now is a key technology that a growing number of companies are supporting or integrating into their products. Extensible Markup Language (XML) has matured into a must-have technology for applications ranging from enterprise data integration to business-to-business E-commerce. The business-to-business market is especially keen on XML's ability to deliver structured data and documents in a standard way. The technology stands as a possible successor to electronic data interchange (EDI) initiatives for several companies, said analysts. An example of XML's increasing maturity and its importance to E-commerce is the emergence of security technology for XML documents and systems. Last month, Baltimore Technologies PLC, a Dublin, Ireland-based E-commerce and enterprise security-system maker, unveiled X/Secure, a solution for securing XML documents and systems, which is scheduled to ship this fall. X/Secure uses public key infrastructure (PKI) technology to deliver a trusted system with identification requirements essential for secure online commerce. For example, an X/Secure user can digitally sign a purchase order and ensure to a supplier that the order is legitimate and the information in it has been kept confidential."

[September 10, 1999] "Lotus Notes/Domino upgrade will add XML. Windows, Office 2000 support on tap." By Dana Gardner. In InfoWorld Volume 21, Issue 35 (August 30, 1999), page 16. "Lotus Development will build native Extensible Markup Language (XML) storage, Windows and Office 2000 integration, and Linux versions of its Notes and Domino products in a series of point upgrades to its Release 5 (R5) lines, culminating in the arrival in mid-2000 of a new full edition, code-named R-Next, Lotus officials said last week. The current R5 version of Notes/Domino, which arrived in the second quarter, will be improved by a richer, browserlike desktop with enhanced searching. The Domino server component will gain additional knowledge-management attributes via XML and added scalability to meet the needs of the nascent application service provider industry, according to Lotus, an IBM division."

[September 10, 1999] "Web specification to give XML a boost." By Laura Kujubu. In InfoWorld Volume 21, Issue 35 (August 30, 1999), page 5. "Hoping to jump-start widespread adoption of the Extensible Markup Language (XML), the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) last week released for review XHTML 1.0. XHTML 1.0 is a reformulation of HTML 4.0 as an XML 1.0 application, according to W3C officials. The hybrid language allows users to migrate from HTML to XML, as users can create documents using HTML but also mix in XML functions. . ."

[September 10, 1999] "Pervasive Adds XML To Development Studio. Developers Can Use Tango 2000 As An Interface To Bring Together Multiple Databases." By Robin Schreier Hohman. In InternetWeek Issue 779 [Section: News & Analysis] (September 06, 1999). "Pervasive Software is about to ship Tango 2000, a visual development studio that adds support for object-oriented data and XML. The studio is optimized for publishing existing databases to the Web. This version also adds support for COM objects and Java Beans, so developers will be able to add elements that contain business logic to their applications via drag-and-drop, without having to know anything about the underlying code. Tango 2000, an upgrade from Tango version 3.5, also includes support for XML, so developers can create extensible applications that can be changed on the fly. . .developers can use Tango as the interface to bring together multiple databases or ERP applications, if they're XML-enabled. The developer can use Tango to save the files to a common location in order to manipulate the data."

[September 09, 1999] "Salomon Smith Barney taps XML for Web documents." By Ellen Messmer. In InfoWorld (September 08, 1999). "Salomon Smith Barney is adopting Extensible Markup Language (XML) for presentation of its research materials on the Web. The goal? To help investors and analysts quickly find specific information without having to download an entire file. The investment house plans to have this XML-based Web document search capability available on its Web site within a few months, says Steve Clifford, senior vice president and director of interactive marketing for the company. 'We will provide this for documents in HTML and PDF,' Clifford said. 'XML will also allow you to search across these documents for specific information, such as earnings'."

[September 09, 1999] "Broker taps XML for Web data." By Ellen Messmer. In Computerworld (September 08, 1999). "Salomon Smith Barney is adopting Extensible Markup Language (XML) for presentation of its research materials on the Web. The goal? To help investors and analysts quickly find specific information without having to download an entire file. The investment house plans to have the XML-based Web document search capability available on its Web site, salomonsmithbarney.com, within a few months, said Steve Clifford, senior vice president and director of interactive marketing at the company."

[September 09, 1999] "XML document-creation tool. Able XML Pro still rough around the edges." By Gess Shankar. In InfoWorld [Product Reviews, InfoWorld Test Center] (September 06, 1999). " . . . developers using XML to solve problems related to Web content management, data interchange between disparate databases, and Internet-commerce document exchange, for example, need a way to acquire solid XML skills to quickly create prototype XML documents. Vervet Logic's XML Pro, Version 2.0, meets this need. This low-cost tool for creating validated XML documents frees developers to concentrate on the application rather than focus on XML tags and coding errors. But although it has made strides since its pioneering first version, developers accustomed to the Windows environment may find it lacks bells and whistles. XML Pro is not for XML novices or HTML developers accustomed to WYSIWYG tools. Developers must have a clear understanding of XML's basic building blocks and the Document Type Definition (DTD) requirements associated with edited documents. . . This Extensible Markup Language (XML) editor has a fairly limited feature set but is adequate given its datacentric development focus. It's the only tool currently available suited to developers for whom an XML document is a content-modeling mechanism or a data container and not structured narrative text."

[September 08, 1999] "XML and Databases." By Ronald Bourret (Technical University of Darmstadt). 1-September-1999. "This paper briefly discusses the relationship between XML and databases and lists some of the software available to process XML documents with databases. Although it is not intended to be exhaustive or provide in-depth evaluations of all the available software, I hope that it describes some of the major issues in using XML with databases. It is somewhat biased towards relational databases simply because that is where my experience is."

[September 04, 1999] "Programming Internet Telephony Services." By Jonathan Rosenberg (Bell Laboratories), Jonathan Lennox (Columbia University), and Henning Schulzrinne (Columbia University). In IEEE Internet Computing [IEEE Computer Society] Volume 3, Number 3 (May/June1999), pages 63-72. "[Programming new Internet telephony services requires decisions regarding such things as where the code executes and how it interfaces with network protocols. The authors propose a CGI solution for trusted user/developers and the Call Processing Language for untrusted user/developers.'] ". . . While SIP CGI is an ideal service creation tool for trusted users, it is too flexible for service creation by untrusted users. We have therefore developed a new scripting language, called the Call Processing Language (CPL), which allows untrusted users to define services. Users can upload CPL scripts to network servers. The logic can be read in and verified, and the service instantiated instantly. In this section we overview the requirements for a language that can be used in this fashion, describe its design, and discuss its primitive constructs. . . XML can be produced and read by both humans and machines, satisfying another design goal of CPL. XML is also a good choice because it is easily extended. Every tag and attribute has an explicitly specified name; thus, a parser can immediately determine whether it can support all requested features, and decide what to do if it cannot support them. Furthermore, XML has built-in mechanisms for adding new tags and attributes, which can come from namespaces specified in the head of the document. XML is by no means perfect. It tends to be verbose, requiring relatively long programs for simple services. In addition, since XML is not a programming language, but rather a syntax, inclusion of certain language features, such as variable assignment, are awkward. However, its limited flexibility is more an advantage than a disadvantage in this application. Mapping the CPL onto XML is straightforward. There is an enclosing XML tag named call that contains an entire CPL script, indicating the point where execution begins. Both nodes and their outputs are represented as XML tags; parameters are represented as XML tag attributes. Node tags typically contain output tags, and vice versa, representing descent down the decision tree. Convergence (where several outputs point to a single node) is represented with links. . ." See references in "Call Processing Language (CPL)."

[September 03, 1999] "Assertion Grammars." By Dave Raggett (HP Labs). (May 20, 1999). "This document describes experimental work in progress at HP Labs - Bristol on formal techniques for describing combinations of modular tagsets for documents written in XML. The motivation is provided by the increasing diversity of web browsers, running on desktops, television, handhelds, cellphones or voice browsers. The goal is to provide a means for document to be described in terms of an algebra operating over modules, which in turn are described as collections of assertions. It is hoped that this work will provide an interesting comparison with traditional approaches based upon Document Type Declarations, and more recent approaches, such as the drafts published by the W3C XML Schemas working group. . . XML documents are principally comprised from elements, attributes and text. The permitted arrangement of elements and their associated attributes varies according to the purpose. This specification provides a basis for defining a group of documents sharing a common syntax for elements and attributes. The approach goes well beyond what can be represented with XML document type definitions (DTDs), providing much more precise definitions of attribute values and linked data formats. For instance, image formats, style sheets and scripts. A schema specifies an unordered collection of modules, for example, headings, lists, tables and graphics. Each module is defined as an unordered collection of logical assertions. The underlying theoretical framework is founded upon sub-tree matching, sets and a simple mechanism for overriding inherited properties." [Note 'DTDGEN' - "An Open Source software utility available free from HP Labs. It is written in portable C++ and automatically creates XML 1.0 DTDs from assertions; contact Dave Raggett for a prerelease.]

[September 03, 1999] "XML and Corporate Portals." - Conference Paper. August 31, 1999. Extract from Building Corporate Portals using XML, by Clive Finkelstein and Peter Aiken, McGraw-Hill (September 1999) [ISBN: 0-07-913705-9]. This white paper is sponsored by the "XML For Information Resource Managers" conference, October 27-29 in Dallas. Co-author Clive Finkelstein will present a full-day tutorial called "Introduction to XML for Data Management." Co-author Peter Aiken will present a session called "Engineering Enterprise Portals: Metadata Engineering in Preparation for XML-based Delivery of Data." For other information, see the main conference entry.

[September 03, 1999] "IP Telephony: Toward a Telephony Markup Language. ['XML is CT's Next Big Breakthrough: A Tool for Making the Web into a Framework for Distributed CT and Messaging Apps.'] By [Staff]. In Computer Telephony (August 1999). "[TML - 'Telephony Markup Language'] . . . we decided that we would simply nurture TML along, report on progress, encourage companies to participate in the standard-making process, and help with coordination. We next turned to Dr. Setrag Khoshafian at Technology Deployment International. TDI is doing massive amounts of research into XML and offers a basic service pack that consists of strategic training for XML as well as an analysis of how TDI's expertise can customize and emphasize XML technologies for your company.On a conference call with Chang and Khoshafian, Computer Telephony did some brainstorming as to how to get our telephony markup language initiative going. Here's the plan as of mid-July: TDI [Technology Deployment International] and SoloPoint will contribute to our initiative by atomizing call and messaging functions in an effort to start formulating a list of possible telephony and messaging tags. There's also the organizational structure of the language that must be considered, the base types and the enumeration types that need to be listed. Those assist in defining constraints -- such as the default values assumed by attributes when those are unspecified in a particular document. Our little group will hold a working session soon, and with our knowledge and expertise in the various domains, we can come up with a first-order approximation of TML. Then we'll go through an RFQ process, revisions, you know the drill, and finally come up with something we can show to grown-ups. Meanwhile, if anybody reading this would like to get involved in the great TML crusade, send us an e-mail." See provisional references in "Telephony Markup Language (TML)." [local archive copy]

[September 03, 1999] "Tutorials: Using Expat." By Clark Cooper. From XML.com. September 01, 1999. ['Clark Cooper offers a detailed explanation of Expat, the C language library for XML parsing, and provides a directory of Expat functions. This week XML.com looks at James Clark's expat, a small but powerful engine of the XML revolution. Known as expat because its developer is a British expatriate living in Thailand, this C language libary for XML parsing is embedded in Netscape's Mozilla and Perl's XML::Parser, to name just two examples. Clark Cooper, the custodian of Perl's XML::Parser, shows developers how expat works. Part 1 shows the basics of working with the library, including communication between handlers, character encoding, and namespace processing. Part 2 supplies a directory of Expat functions, including code and explanations on each.'] "As demonstrated in my benchmark article, it's very fast. It also sets a high standard for reliability, robustness and correctness. This library is the creation of James Clark, who's also given us groff (an nroff look-alike), Jade (an implemention of ISO's DSSSL stylesheet language for SGML), XP (a Java XML parser package), and XT (a Java XSL engine). James was also the technical lead on the XML Working Group at W3 that produced the XML specification. Expat is a stream-oriented parser. You register callback (or handler) functions with the parser and then start feeding it the document. As the parser recognizes parts of the document, it will call the appropriate handler for that part (if you've registered one). The document is fed to the parser in pieces, so you can start parsing before you have the whole document. This also allows you to parse really huge documents that won't fit into memory. Expat can be intimidating due to the many kinds of handlers and options you can set. But you only need to learn four functions in order to do 80% of what you'll want to do with it..."

[September 03, 1999] "Moving from the 'Community of Experts' to the Community." By Simon St.Laurent. September 03, 1999. "After XML Developer Days in Montreal, my head's been buzzing with ideas about the prospect of a very different approach to XML vocabulary and application development than the committee model that is typically presented as the 'best' approach now. It's part 'worse is better', part 'let users think for themselves', and part 'so how can we harness this anarchy and make it productive?'" - 1999-09-03 draft: "Many of the ideas in this document were inspired by Walter Perry's editorial at the 1999 XML Developer Days, as well as David Megginson's presentation on RDF and assorted conversations throughout the conference. All blame for this essay, of course, is mine."

[September 03, 1999] "META is the Word." By Rich Seeley and Jack Vaughan. In Application Development Trends Volume 6, Number 8 (August, 1999), pages 43-48. [In-depth article on metadata and the role of XML in metadata repositories. Discusses metadata solutions being developed by the Meta Data Coalition (OIM) and the Object Management Group (XMI).

[September 03, 1999] "Good-Looking Documents You Can Get Along With." By Eve Maler. Issue #2 in Eve's Advisory Column, from the ArborText Think Tank (July 21, 1999). ['Q: What standards are there for stylesheets to be used with XML? How will these stylesheets compare to DTDs?'] "So how can you design layout charters that your documents can really stick to over time? Also, if you publish the same documents to various media, such as the Web, paper, and CD-ROM, how can you resolve the natural stylistic conflicts in these media? With XML, this proposition is entirely achievable. To the extent that your documents are coded in a 'pure' way, without embedded style information, you can write formal rules that say how to format documents for the target you have in mind, whether it's a printer, a browser, a Braille reader, or something else. These formal rules, taken together, make up a stylesheet. Stylesheets are similar to DTDs in that their rules can be read and applied by software rather than by fallible humans. But the job they do is very different, so they don't really compete. For example, while it's the job of a DTD to say what's allowed inside a section, it's the job of a stylesheet to say how to make section titles appear on the page or screen. Because of this difference, for every set of documents governed by a single DTD, you might have a whole host of stylesheets: one for regular print publishing, one for large-size print, one for printing to a different size of paper for worldwide markets, one for your Web site, one for a proprietary browser used on your CDs, ... well, you get the idea. It's just like having lots of pairs of black shoes in your closet: the style has to fit the occasion. Just as with DTDs and schemas, you have a choice of multiple different languages for writing stylesheets..."

[September 03, 1999] "Who Does Industry Schemas?" By Brian Travis [Managing Editor]. In <TAG> Volume 13, Number 7 (July, 1999), pages 1, 5. "Schemas are supposed to provide a way to share information between parties. This is especially important in the e-commerce supply chain. So who creates these shared schemas? The hot topic this month is schema development and registration. In the SGML world, there wasn't a single place to register DTDs, although many people said it would be a crisis if we didn't get one real soon. Somehow, ATA-2100, JCALS, and J-2008 (to name three) were created and maintained their health without a central authority for registration. When the Graphic Communications Association ( GCA) finally created a registration site for public identifiers, the effort was ill conceived, poorly executed, and was received with all the excitement of the new Arena Football season. I hear everyone talking about the need for a schema registry, but I don't want to see a repeat of the failure of the SGML registry. XML is different, however, in the way it handles external namespaces, and excitement about XML is exponentially ahead of SGML, so maybe it's time for a registry..."

[September 03, 1999] "Tutorial: XML-based Web Publishing System. Part II: Conversion." By [<TAG> Online Staff]. In <TAG> Volume 13, Number 7 (July, 1999), pages 1-5. "In this article, we will cover the first part of creating an XML-based publishing system: capturing information as a set of XML documents. Most companies have a collection of legacy data that needs to be converted to a known structure before it can be intelligently delivered on the Web. Once you have performed your document analysis session, you will have the information you need to create the schema. Currently, the only type of schema that works with most XML systems is the document type definition, DTD."

[September 03, 1999] "Catching Up." By Bob DuCharme. In <TAG> Volume 13, Number 7 (July, 1999), pages 6-8. ['Our XML Beat columnist catches up on some things, including the state of the W3C schema proposal work, RDF, Palm Pilots, and a dispute with <TAG> Editor, Brian Travis.'] On Non-WG Schema Proposals [Not Dead Yet]. Whither RDF? [It is used in the XMLNews specs for exchanging news over the Web and in various features of the Mozilla Web browser under development, but in my research-and I've looked-not one major company has revealed any interest in moving forward with RDF-based projects.] On DTDs, Schemas and Confusion [While many will use the new schema spec when it's available, it won't replace traditional DTDs for a long time-the XML 1.0 way is simpler, more concise, and compatible with all SGML applications. The new way will be more expressive, and GUI tools will eventually hide the complexity of their syntax, but that will take a few years...]"

[September 03] "Tips and Techniques." By [<TAG> Online Staff]. In <TAG> Volume 13, Number 7 (July, 1999), pages 8-10. "This month's article shows you how to create an XML schema in accordance with the current draft spec from the W3C XML Schema Working Group. 1. Create XML schema, 2. Create document according to schema, 3. Point to schema using namespaces. Remember that this article is based on a working draft of the XML schema specification. The final recommendation might look slightly or completely different from this, but the concepts will remain the same. . . The example shows the structure of our Joke Markup Language. The root element is 'Joke', which contains three elements (Setup, PunchLine, and OneLiner) and two attributes (Type and FirstUsed)." [See http://architag.com/newsletter/joke.xsd.]

[September 03, 1999] "XML Central to Lotus' Future. Internet standard to open up Domino." By Cynthia Morgan and Dominique Deckmyn. In Computerworld Volume 33, Number 35 (August 30, 1999), page 8. "Domino's proprietary environment will open up to the emerging Extensible Markup Language (XML) standard, Lotus Development Corp. officials said last week. 'Our goal for Domino is to store XML data natively,' said Michele Daziel, Lotus' general manager of the Web application market. XML technology will gradually be added to Domino, with a major update likely in the second half of next year. But Lotus wouldn't commit to full native support by then. Native XML support in Domino is high on the wish list of Brad Hertenstein, manager of e-commerce and Web services at staffing and training firm Romac International Inc. in Tampa, Fla. Romac, which wants to export job-offer information to third parties, picked XML as its standard format. Today, that requires a Java servlet to pull data from a Domino database and convert it to XML. XML is also key to Lotus' knowledge management plans, currently code-named Project Yoda, where XML will be used to help summarize and categorize data in Domino databases, Web pages and other documents."

[September 03, 1999] "Super solution to record storage?" By Patrick Thibodeau. In Computerworld Volume 33, Number 36 (September 02, 1999). "When President Clinton leaves the White House in January, his legacy will include an e-mail system with some 40 million messages on it. Those records, by law, must go to the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). The NARA has the task of storing and preserving those messages for as long as it has to, which is pretty much forever. But 'for practical purposes, there is no durable digital media,' said Kenneth Thibodeau, director of the electronic records program at the NARA. The NARA has been working with the San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC) to attempt to resolve these storage issues. Using a million e-mail messages as a test, SDSC has 'shown us through massively parallel processing that you can handle this,' Thibodeau said. SDSC is using a supercomputer to speed migrations of data to new media, reformatting to meet new standards and importing metadata into new catalogs, among other things. SDSC has also been using Extensible Markup Language (XML) tags to keep track of all the documents -- something 'which has a lot of market support,' Thibodeau said."

[September 03, 1999] "Quark, Adobe help print publishers get online." By James Niccolai. In InfoWorld (September 1, 1999). "While the Internet is busy turning the publishing industry on its head, executives from Quark and Adobe Systems hawked new products here today that they said are helping their traditional print customers face the online challenge. Chuck Geschke, president, co-founder, and chairman of Adobe, agreed with his rival. Adobe's goal is 'to assist the migration of our print customers to this new world,' he said. Both executives [of Quark and Adobe] pointed to Extensible Markup Language (XML) as a technology that will allow customers to write content for catalogs, magazines, and newspapers that can more easily be reformatted for delivery in other formats. Quark's answer to the problem is avenue.quark, an XML-based product announced here this week and designed to allow publishers to prepare content written in QuarkXpress for online delivery. A prerelease of avenue.quark is available here at the show, with Version 1.0 of the product due to ship in the first half of next year, Gill said."

[September 03] "XML: The Web is Just the Beginning." By David Chappell. In ent - The Independent Newspaper for Windows NT Enterprise Computing [Online] Volume 4, Number 14 (August 18, 1999). "How many different ways are there to represent stored data today? Off the top of my head, I can think of a whole bunch: relational tables, ISAM and VSAM files, ordinary flat files containing plain ASCII text and many more. Having one common way to describe all kinds of data, whether it's stored in a database, sent across a network or used in some other way, would be a step forward. We're almost there. XML, the universal mechanism for describing data, has arrived. The first clear proof of this is in Web browsers, where XML support has become a critical feature. But I think people place too much emphasis on XML's use on the Web. . . Depending on how it's accessed, the same information can be viewed as relational data or as an XML document. XML as a lingua franca for information storage and exchange is a powerful idea, and technologies like this one lead the way. We are approaching a day when a majority of new data formats, whatever their use, will be defined using XML. Whether the problem is to define the layout of information in a database, specify header formats for a new protocol or represent information exchanged between applications, some XML schema will be used to describe the data."

[September 03] "Extensibility Jumps on BizTalk ." By Brian Ploskina . In ent - The Independent Newspaper for Windows NT Enterprise Computing [Online] Volume 4, Number 14 (August 18, 1999). "While most of the industry waits for a BizTalk server to be released from Microsoft Corp. later this year, Extensibility Inc. jumped in with XML Authority 1.1, the first commercial product designed for the BizTalk Framework. XML Authority 1.1 will provide import and output support for BizTalk-compatible schemas and for [XML?] schemas from standards bodies such as the World Wide Web Consortium. "The BizTalk Framework aims to accelerate the adoption of XML with a set of design guidelines that encourage the consistent development of XML schemas,' says James Utzschneider, director of business frameworks at Microsoft. 'Extensibility's XML Authority will facilitate this goal by providing [a] migration tool that customers can easily use to migrate their existing XML schemas to the BizTalk Framework.' Developers can use Authority to create and exchange schemas compliant with BizTalk, while existing formats can be ported to the Microsoft framework."

[September 03] "MS XML Developer Center Launched." By Brian Ploskina. In ent - The Independent Newspaper for Windows NT Enterprise Computing [Online] (August 26, 1999). "Microsoft Corp. launched the XML Developer Center on its MSDN Web site on Wednesday. The site is a tool for developers who need information on building XML enabled applications. Features of the site include technical information, an XML developer's guide, technical articles, XML samples and downloads, expert chats and peer help. The site discusses ways to make legacy apps work on the Internet using Microsoft's still-to-be-released BizTalk XML server, native XML capabilities in the still-to-be-released Windows 2000 operating system and other helpful articles."

[September 03] "ERP, Say Hello To Web -- Web, Say Hello To ERP." By Tim Wilson. In (September 03, 1999). "ERP, meet the Web. That's the message from two of the biggest names in ERP -- PeopleSoft and SAP -- which this week unveiled strategies for bringing their back-office applications to thefront lines of business-to-business e-commerce. PeopleSoft introduced PeopleSoft 8, a new version of its enterprise software suite designed for thin clients and with XML underpinnings to improve integration with other applications. XML provides a road system for these communities. PeopleSoft 8 and mySAP.com rely heavily on this language as the primary means of linking applications, both within the suites and across third-party applications. SAP is using XML to promote collaboration -- such as joint design, engineering, and procurement processes -- across enterprises. An XML-based metadata repository hosts information on how to get the right message in the right format to the right place and provides the relevant data structures for Internet applications."

[September 03] "Tibco Expands Middleware for Web Commerce." By John Cox. In Network World Volume 16, Number 34 (August 23), page 34. "The latest release of middleware from Tibco Software adds a set of programs designed to let customers more easily blend back-end applications with new Web-based electronic commerce systems. In Version 2.0, Tibco has added a half-dozen new or improved parts. For example, the TIB/Adapter for Active Database tracks changes to a database and then messages relevant applications. A new version of TIB/Message Broker now supports data schema based on XML. Message Broker will now be able to 'read' information about a purchase order created by SAP AG's R/3 business software, for example, store it in XML, and then share it with any other application that also supports XML."

[September 03] "Why Fight? Print, Web Publishing Merges Macromedia, Adobe, and Quark stride toward cross-media publishing." By Cameron Crouch. In Network World (September 02, 1999). "As publishers debate print versus digital media, publishing technology developers move toward convergence. Traditional print folk Adobe and Quark have joined Web broadcast guru Macromedia to find new ways to merge tools and shift print publishing to the Internet and create a true cross-media platform. While Macromedia, Adobe, and Quark target different customers, the three share an interest in developing standards for cross-media publishing. Macromedia is pushing Flash as the Web format, while Quark and Adobe look to XML and its companion standards. Announced this week, Avenue.quark is a way to take Quark XPress content and move it to the Web and other media using XML tags. True to Quark's customer base of print publications, company representatives demonstrated the tool by dragging content from a Quark XPress layout for the San Francisco Bay Guardian newspaper into an XML workspace. XPress automatically extracts formatting such as headlines, subheads, and bylines. You can then post the content on a story server. Due to ship in late September, Quark XPress 4.1 promises better support for PDF and Web tools for developers."

[September 03] "Getting Cozy With XML. [A Hands-On Look at XML.]" By Liz Levy. In Imaging and Document Solutions Volume 8, Number 9 (September 1999), page 16. [A review of Adept version 8.0.]

[September 02] "Heavy into XMetaL." By Dale Dougherty. In WebTechniques (September, 1999). "Many Web developers see themselves as coders rather than as page authors. They write code, run it in a browser, and then modify it when problems arise. Despite WYSIWYG alternatives, it was hard to beat a text editor such as Emacs, long revered by programmers as well as many tech writers. Emacs could be customized for specific applications and for coding in programming languages, like C or Perl, or markup languages, like LaTeX or SGML (see also Yuri's Legacy). This is because Emacs itself is programmable, which lets the coder be more productive by building tools for editing. XMetaL, a new XML editor from SoftQuad, looks like a cross between a visual development environment and a word processor. Because it's highly programmable, XMetaL can become almost any kind of editor you want, maybe even an editor for people who don't care much about XML coding. You can customize XMetaL to create a complex and powerful editing environment that can be integrated into publishing and information-management applications. Like its sister product, HoTMetaL, an HMTL-only editor, XMetaL provides three distinct views of a document: First there's a plain-text view, similar to the way you might view a document in Allaire HomeSite. There's also a Normal, or display, view in which the markup is hidden from view and the elements are formatted based on instructions in a style sheet -- similar to the views available in Macromedia Dreamweaver or Microsoft FrontPage. Finally, there's a Tags-On view, a hybrid of the two previous views in which the tags are visible as symbols in a formatted document. These views are nicely integrated, as is the ability to preview the document in Internet Explorer 5..."

[September 02] "XML and the Enterprise. A Conversation with DataChannel's Norbert Mikula." By Michael Floyd. In WebTechniques [Beyond HTML] (September, 1999). ['Michael Floyd chats with Norbert Mikula, one of the early pioneers of XML, about DataChannel's XML Framework and the latest version of RIO.'] "As one of the early XML pioneers, Norbert Mikula is credited with developing the first 'validating' XML parser in Java. He has worked in the SGML community, having written both an SGML parser and a Document Style Semantics and Specification Language (DSSSL) style-sheet engine. As a member of the technical staff at DataChannel, Norbert has had a significant role in the development of XML technologies. As you may know, DataChannel was founded in 1996 by Dave Pool and Tim Gelinas (the team behind Internet In A Box and Mosaic In A Box), and helped define enterprise information portals (EIP) as a new class of Web application. Recently, Norbert was promoted to the chief technology officer post at DataChannel. I also learned that he is the chief technical officer of the Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards (OASIS). I recently sat down with Norbert to discuss DataChannel's XML Framework, including its new XPages technology, and the latest version of RIO. What follows in an excerpt from that conversation. The complete interview can be found at http://www.beyondHTML.com. . . XPages is what I would like to call taking XML and XSL to the enterprise level. In our mind the DOM is going to be the API to data in the future. How do I get my data into the DOM, and once I have it there, what do I do with it? The problem of how to get data there is solved by providing a plug-in architecture for connectors to various legacy data systems and converting the data to XML and into the DOM. So, now we have data coming from different data sources. Let's call them XML data streams. What we allow you to do in XPages is that you can now work with data streams. You can mix them. What we came up with is the HTTP object broker. What the HTTP object broker allows you to do is to specify on a URL, how you navigate through your DOM structure to a specific node. RIO is an enterprise information portal. In other words, it is about personalizing access to stream information: personalize it on a per-user basis; personalize it on a per-group basis; and so on. Now if we combine XPages with this functionality, you can control who gets what part of the DOM to see; you can control who is allowed to execute what on the DOM. So we have per-use and per-group administration, and we have access controllers that define who is allowed to do what on which section of the DOM. We also add notification. That means whenever something predefined changes in your DOM -- say you add a new node, you add a new subtree -- those changes are being sent to a notification server. The notification server in turn knows what to do when a state change happens. In our world, everything is a DOM node. So you get a very coherent architecture where the DOM is at the core..."

[September 02] "Yuri's Legacy." Sidebar to "Heavy into XMetaL." By Dale Dougherty. In WebTechniques (September, 1999). For any who do not know of Yuri Rubinsky's legacy, see "Tributes to the memory of Yuri Rubinsky" for his influential role in advancing SGML and The Yuri Rubinsky Insight Foundation (YRIF). YRIF "is dedicated to commemorating the genius of the late Yuri Rubinsky by bringing together experts from a broad spectrum of disciplines to stimulate research, development and educational initiatives that will ensure access to advanced information technologies..." [local archive copy]

[September 01] "Sun Gives Away StarOffice Applications." By Guy Middleton. In CMPNet TechWeb News (August 31, 1999). "Sun Microsystems said Tuesday it would give away productivity applications following the acquisition of Fremont, Calif.-based desktop software house Star Division. The acquisition gives Sun an office suite deployable across diverse clients, with the current release running on Windows, OS/2, Solaris, and Linux, in addition to a network computer-oriented Java release and the technology to build a portal-based productivity application service. Palo Alto, Calif.-based Sun said it would make StarOffice's source code available under the Sun Community Source License (SCSL) program, an arrangement extended to Java developers. 'It's difficult to see exactly what Sun's strategy is, although they are hoping to kill a major Microsoft revenue stream. This is a serious threat to Microsoft,' said Robin Bloor of Bloor Associates, in Milton Keynes, U.K." For the XML connection, see the main news entry.

[September 01] "Publishing Titans To Display New Wares." By Stuart Glascock. In CMPNet TechWeb News (August 27, 1999). "From Adobe to Xerox, an encyclopedia of printing, graphics, and Internet-savvy publishing companies are converging next week at the Seybold San Francisco 21st Century Publishing Conference. Among the hundreds of companies displaying technologies are Apple, Adobe, Canon, Canto Software, Eastman Kodak, Heidelberg, Noosh, Quark and Xerox. In all, the exhibitors cover markets in online and print publishing, color proofing, digital media, intellectual-property rights and Web tools. Conference organizers are expecting 35,000 attendees, including more than 3,000 paid attendees for a series of educational tutorials. Quark is planning the first public showing of a new tool, avenue.quark, which introduces an XML tool for the Macintosh platform. It is designed to address the need to repurpose QuarkXPress content for multiple uses on the Internet, according to internal documents."

[September 01] "XML Vendors Fight Uphill Battle. Technology is drawing customers, but questions loom over deployment." By Lee Pender. In PC Week [Online] Volume 16, Number 35 (August 30, 1999), page 25. "IT users want XML technology, but where to get it remains the question. While some customers are signing on with Extensible Markup Language application providers such as DataChannel Inc., of Bellevue, Wash., others are betting that the technology will rapidly find its way into wares from more established vendors. XML eases the transfer of data between systems by providing a universal format for files in transit. While users see the value of XML, they must consider the different methods used to deploy it. Some corporations have turned to XML technology that is embedded in e-commerce applications from vendors such as IBM. Bill Barnett, manager of the distributed object integration team at First Union Corp., in Charlotte, N.C., is deploying XML within IBM's e-commerce framework and says the technology has helped his company share data among applications. Some analysts and large vendors are touting the type of XML deployment First Union has undertaken as the future of XML adoption: XML will simply be a useful technology housed in other applications, one analyst said. 'Three years from now, there will be no XML market,' said Alexis DePlanque, an analyst at Meta Group Inc., in Stamford, Conn. 'XML will simply be a component of things we already use'."

[September 01] "US: Accountants Try to Harness the Internet." By Richard Waters. In Financial Times [London] (September 01, 1999). "The US accounting establishment has thrown its weight behind an internet technology that could eventually transform the online use of financial information about US companies. Provided it is able to win wide support in corporate America, the initiative would potentially make it much easier for investors and others to search for, and analyse, financial data over the internet. Using the new specification, known as XFRML, it would become possible to search for information across a range of companies with a single instruction and collate information from a number of sources, the AICPA said. The information could then be downloaded on to a spread sheet and be used to analyse and compare financial performance across a range of companies. The Big Five accounting firms, along with Microsoft and several other technology companies, have joined the development project." See "Extensible Financial Reporting Markup Language (XFRML)."

[September 01] "Linking mobile devices to business software." By Erich Luening. In (August 30, 1999). "Microsoft and German software giant SAP are teaming up to connect mobile devices with enterprise software. The two companies announced plans to develop technology for connecting Microsoft Windows CE-based and other mobile devices to SAP's business applications using the Internet and the Microsoft's BizTalk Framework. The project uses Microsoft BizTalk Framework program and the work SAP is doing to integrate new technologies that will enable handheld or wearable Internet appliances to intelligently interoperate and interact with mySAP.com, the company's portal service. The companies plan to demo products based on Microsoft's BizTalk Framework and SAP business applications at SAP's Saphire '99 user conference next month. The BizTalk framework is a scheme to tie together industry-specific versions of XML, which is gaining widespread attention as a way to conduct e-commerce over the Internet."

[September 01] "Sun Offers Up Free StarPortal Office Apps Suite." By Dan Briody and Nancy Weil. In InfoWorld (August 31, 1999). "Sun Microsystems on Tuesday announced the upcoming release of StarPortal, a free Web-based software suite targeted as a competitor to Microsoft's Office and based on technology acquired when Sun bought Star Division. The StarOffice software suite, which contains word processing, spreadsheets, and presentation applications, is immediately available for free download from Sun's Web site. The 65MB version for 'fat' clients, will be followed early next year by StarPortal, the Web-based version that will be accessible from any device with a browser, Sun said. Sun is in talks with Internet service, Internet outsourcing, and network hosting providers and with vendors of enterprise resource planning, customer relationship management, and sales-force automation software to promote acceptance of its network services model through use of StarPortal." For the XML connection, see the main news entry.

[August 31, 1999] "Sun to Offer Microsoft Office Competitor for Free." By Stephen Shankland. In CNET News.com (August 31, 1999). "As part of Sun Microsystems' acquisition of software firm Star Division, the computing company will put more pressure on Microsoft by giving a Microsoft Office competitor, called Star Office, away for free to anyone, the company said. In line with the plan to become more open, Star Office file formats eventually will become XML, and the standard for interacting with it will become published openly and contributed to the ECMA standardization group, Marco Boerries said. . . In addition to giving the software away for free, Sun will make the original programming instructions, or 'source code,' available under the Sun Community Source License, said Brian Croll, a marketing director in Sun's platforms and software group. Though Sun's Community Source License allows people to look at the source code of software such as Java and later Star Office, advocates have criticized it as not being open enough because Sun maintains ultimate control over the software and requires royalties for people who use it in commercial products." For the XML connection, see also the main news entry. [alt URL]

[August 31, 1999] "Sun to Offer Star Division Office Apps for Free." By Nancy Weil. In InfoWorld (August 31, 1999). "Sun Microsystems on Tuesday announced the upcoming release of StarPortal, a free Web-based software suite targeted as a competitor to Microsoft's Office and based on technology acquired when Sun bought Star Division. Sun said it will launch what it calls an "early access" version of StarPortal later this year. The site will offer Web-enabled office productivity software including word processing, presentation graphics, spreadsheet, and other office functions via any Web browser and also will be offered for portable devices at some point, Sun said. Sun also is offering the current StarOffice desktop software for free download. StarOffice 5.1 runs on the Linux, Windows, Solaris, and OS/2 operating systems. Users will be able to import various software file formats, including those from PowerPoint, Excel, and Microsoft Word." For the XML connection, see the main news entry.

[August 31, 1999] "Sun to Acquire StarOffice for Hosted Applications." By Dana Gardner. In InfoWorld (August 27, 1999). "Sun Microsystems on Tuesday in New York is expected to announce the acquisition of Star Division's StarOffice 5.1 suite of Java-based productivity applications and will add them to Sun's growing arsenal of 'dot-com' products for ISPs, application service providers (ASPs), and enterprises, according to sources. Analysts and observers said that Sun's main objective with the multilanguage Star products is to rush to become the leading global provider of Internet-based applications hosting infrastructure -- from hardware platforms to application servers to hosted e-mail to Java productivity applets -- for the fast-growing service provider and portals businesses. Sun will use Fremont, Calif.-based Star's word processing, spreadsheet and charts, presentations, database, HTML editor, vector and bit-map graphics editors, e-mail, calendar, and task management applications to target both home and business users. And the ability for home-based users to access a robust set of free applications from free PCs over inexpensive Internet connections may soon prompt a radical shift at corporations away from such large PC client packages as Microsoft Office, analysts said. According to the Gartner vision: When the third generation of network computing devices emerges in 2002, many home and mobile users will mirror their PC- or in-office network-based data to ASP sites that store the files and provide the applications for their use from any Java- or Extensible Markup Language (XML)-enabled interface device. The need for Java in such devices, a high priority for Sun, will grow because ASPs won't be able to handle on servers all of the processing and data retrieval needs of millions of simultaneous users." For the XML connection, see the main news entry.

[August 31, 1999] "SAP Launches All-Out Web Assault." By Jessica Davis. In InfoWorld (August 31, 1999). "SAP helped pave the road for businesses that want to move transactions onto the Web when it introduced its Extensible Markup Language (XML)-based Internet-Business Framework, made up of mySAP.com Workplace technology and XML-based WebFlow and Web messages. The Internet-Business Framework initiative was one of several announcements SAP made Monday at its SAP TechEd developer's conference here. Others centered on the Linux platform, the Enjoy SAP initiative, and SAP on TAP. The Internet-Business Framework adds support for XML to all SAP software. The Framework's Business Connector translates RFCs, SAP's BAPIs, and other information into XML so that it can easily flow to both SAP and non-SAP systems. Business Connector is available for download now and works with R/3 and 3.1 and higher." See the Microsoft and SAP announcments.

[August 31, 1999] "XPath: XML Path Language." By Norm Walsh. In ArborText Think Tank (August 09, 1999). "Welcome to the first regular issue of Standard Deviations from Norm. In this column, we will explore existing and emerging XML standards, learn how they work, and examine ways that you can use them in your next project. Deviating, if you'll pardon the pun, from my own plan of action, this column is not going to be as 'hands-on' as I anticipated. Instead, I'm going to introduce a relatively new but important building block for future specifications -- XPath. In future issues, we'll get to roll up our sleeves and try XPath out in the trenches. In this issue, we'll discuss the July 9, 1999 Working Draft of XPath, the XML Path Language. XPath emerged from the XSL and XPointer Working Groups. It provides a common foundation for solving a fundamental problem: How do you locate elements, attributes, and other XML document nodes in a concise, interoperable way?"

[August 30, 1999] "Vendors Tout Publishing Technologies at Seybold." By Laura Kujubu. In InfoWorld (August 30, 1999). "Vendors spotlighted products designed to help ease the Web publishing process at the Seybold San Francisco show on Monday. eBusiness Technologies launched DynaBase 3.2, an Extensible Markup Language (XML)-enabled content management and delivery solution for developing and deploying Web applications across an enterprise. DynaBase 3.2, which provides a built-in search engine to search structure content, now features a Multiple Webs function for managing changes in large data sets; fine-grained searching via indexed structure documents; and dynamic document assembly, in which several scripting language functions allow you to extract and serve chunks of large documents. DynaBase 3.2, available at the end of September, is priced starting at $60,000 per package. In addition, Arbortext, provider of XML-based content software, announced its Epic 2.0 product, which allows round-trip conversions between Microsoft Word and XML. Epic 2.0 allows for the creation of XML content using Word, enabling users not literate in XML to gain the benefits of XML by using familiar tools, according to the company. Epic 2.0, which runs on Window NT and Sun Solaris, is available immediately, priced starting at $96,000 for a 45-seat system. . ."

[August 27, 1999] "O'Reilly Labs Review: Object Design's eXcelon 1.1." By Jon Udell. From XML.com. August 25, 1999. ['Jon Udell (of Byte magazine fame) takes an in-depth look at one of the emerging XML data servers, Object Design's eXcelon. Udell writes that while not everyone agrees that XML should become a full-fledged data management system, "object-database vendors are busily repositioning their object-database products as XML data servers." How does eXcelon measure up? Udell finds it a solid product for helping pplications talk to data stores. Read his review to find out why.'] "One of ObjectStore's hallmark features is an aggressive 'cache-forward' architecture that maximizes the in-memory performance of persistent objects, while allowing these cached objects to be shared by many such programs in a transactionally-consistent way. Users familiar with ObjectStore can infer that it's the engine under eXcelon's hood, but the hood is shut tightly. Why? eXcelon aims squarely at a market-website content-management-that's attuned not to object-oriented programming with persistent data, but rather to a hodge-podge of tagged-text files, scripts, images, and techniques. eXcelon aims, therefore, to enable users and integrators to build XML-oriented content repositories that leverage the strengths of ObjectStore- caching, transactional integrity, and querying..."

[August 27, 1999] "Report from Montreal. XML Right On Schedule...as evidenced by this year's MetaStructures 99 and XML Developers' Day in Montreal." By Lisa Rein. From XML.com. August 25, 1999. ['Lisa Rein reports from the Metastructures 99, held last week in Montreal. If you couldn't go, find out what people were saying there, what soared and what flopped.'] "Last week's