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Cover Pages Newsletter
May 27, 2003
Website: http://xml.coverpages.org
Hosted by: OASIS
Sponsored by: Corel Corporation, Global eXchange Services,
ISOGEN International, SAP, and Sun Microsystems
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CONTENTS
Featured News Stories Selected Articles and Papers Selected from the Press Events Cover Pages Sponsors
-------------------------------------------------------------------- Featured News Stories --------------------------------------------------------------------
Recently featured news stories from the Cover Pages news at: http://xml.coverpages.org/news.html OR http://xml.coverpages.org/covernewsTOP.html
OASIS TC Approves Version 1.1 Specifications for Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML).
OASIS has announced the approval of Version 1.1 Committee Specifications for the Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML). The 30-day public review period begins 2003-05-28. SAML is an XML-based framework for exchanging security information. The V1.1 release includes the SAML XML Assertion and Protocol Schemas, along with prose documentation: "Assertions and Protocol", "Bindings and Profiles", "Security and Privacy Considerations", "Conformance Program Specification", and "Glossary". http://xml.coverpages.org/ni2003-05-27-b.html
IBM Announces General Availability of DB2 Information Integrator V8.1.
IBM's new DB2 Information Integrator V8.1 provides the foundation for a strategic information integration framework that helps customers to access, manipulate, and integrate diverse and distributed information in real time. The federated data server supports graphical tools for configuration of data source access and definition of integrated views across diverse, distributed data; XML schema can be automatically mapped into relational schema. http://xml.coverpages.org/ni2003-05-27-a.html
Microsoft and ACORD Use InfoPath for Linking Insurance Forms to XML Web Services.
A joint announcement from Microsoft ACORD describes an effort to create a forms service that will link standardized insurance forms to XML Web services. Electronic forms filled out once will be linked to other forms, databases, back-end systems, and applications via XML Web Services. A related announcement highlights Microsoft's support of UNeDocs through InfoPath using a smart client for on-line and off-line processing of XML forms. http://xml.coverpages.org/ni2003-05-23-b.html
Systinet to Provide UDDI Solution for PSN Global Directory of Digital Photography Services.
The Common Picture eXchange Environment interoperability specifications released by I3A are moving forward with support from Systinet, recently selected to provide the UDDI registry for PSN's Directory Service. Using CPXe XML/WSDL specs, the Picture Services Network helps photographic device and software vendors give customers easy access to a range of digital photography services through a UDDI-based online registry of photo service providers. http://xml.coverpages.org/ni2003-05-23-a.html
-------------------------------------------------------------------- Selected Articles and Papers --------------------------------------------------------------------
Selections of abstracted and annotated articles/clippings at: http://xml.coverpages.org/articles.html http://xml.coverpages.org/clippings.html
"XMPP vs SIMPLE: The Race For Messaging Standards." By Cathleen Moore. In InfoWorld (May 27, 2003). As IM bounds ahead in the enterprise, a behind-the-scenes battle is taking place between competing IETF standards. Which standard takes home the prize may depend less on technical merits than on brute force. At the head of the competition are SIMPLE (Session Initiation Protocol for Instant Messaging and Presence Leveraging Extensions) and the open-source, XML-based XMPP (Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol). http://www.infoworld.com/article/03/05/23/21FExmpp_1.html http://xml.coverpages.org/xmlPapers200305.html#MooreRace
"XML Transactions for Web Services, Part 3." By Faheem Khan. From O'Reilly WebServices.xml.com (May 27, 2003). Part 3 in a series explaining XML-based transactions. The author discusses the Business Activity (BA) transaction; the BA specification is included in the same WS-Transaction document that includes the AT specification. http://webservices.xml.com/pub/a/ws/2003/05/27/transactions.html http://xml.coverpages.org/xmlPapers200305.html#Khan3
"Caching XML Web Services for Mobility." By Douglas Terry (Microsoft Research, Silicon Valley Lab) and Venugopalan Ramasubramanian (Cornell University). In ACM Queue Volume 1, Number 3 (May 2003), pages 71-78. Disconnected operations will likely be a problem for wireless environments for some time to come. Can local HTTP caching provide a way around such outages? The availability of Web services is a significant concern to consumers using mobile devices and working in different kinds of wireless and wired networks. http://www.acmqueue.org/issue3/caching1.cfm http://xml.coverpages.org/xmlPapers200305.html#TerryCaching
"XMLSec 1.0 Helps Ensure Multi-Platform WS-Security." By Vance McCarthy. In Integration Developer News (May 27, 2003). Developers have one more assurance that they will be able to implement WS- Security across multiple platforms. The XML Security Library, an Open Source implementation of W3C's XML Digital Signature and XML Encryption (the core components of WS-Security), has released its major 1.0 release to developers. It includes support for multiple crypto engines, as well as OpenSSL, GnuTLS and NSS. http://idevnews.com/IntegrationNews.asp?ID=67 http://xml.coverpages.org/xmlPapers200305.html#McCarthyXMLSec
"Q&A: Walter Hamscher, XBRL International." By Erin Joyce. From InternetNews.com (May 23, 2003). Interview. You could say that PricewaterhouseCoopers consultant Walter Hamscher began his work with the XML standards consortium XBRL International more than a few years ago while he was working on his PhD in computer science at MIT. He was working with artificial intelligence and needed some data to feed the programs, but was frustrated by the lack of quality in formatting of the financial data available to him. Years later he would help write the first version of XBRL, or Extensible Business Reporting Language. http://www.internetnews.com/dev-news/article.php/2211891 http://xml.coverpages.org/xmlPapers200305.html#Hamscher
"XML Data Management: Information Modeling with XML. Book Excerpt Offers Guidelines for Achieving Good Grammar and Style." By Chris Brandin (Chief technology officer, NeoCore). From IBM developerWorks, XML zone. May 27, 2003. An excerpt from Chapter 1 of the book XML Data Management: Native XML and XML-Enabled Database Systems, co-edited by developerWorks editor Akmal Chaudhri. Increasingly, XML has become the means to model components of information systems, and those components automatically construct themselves around what has been expressed in XML. http://www-106.ibm.com/developerworks/xml/library/x-xdmchp1.html http://xml.coverpages.org/xmlPapers200305.html#Brandin
"Introducing XUL - The Net's Biggest Secret: Part 1." By Harry Fuecks. From SitePoint (May 21, 2003). Part 1 of a 3-part series. In one of the Internet's quieter corners, mozilla.org, a revolution has been taking place. A new XML format, called XUL (Extensible User Interface Language), pronounced Zool is on the way to re-shaping what we know about both the Internet, and desktop applications. http://www.sitepoint.com/article/1140 http://xml.coverpages.org/xmlPapers200305.html#FuecksZul
"WSDL Tales From The Trenches, Part 1." By Johan Peeters. From O'Reilly WebServices.xml.com (May 27, 2003). The core message of this article series: write WSDL up front, do not generate it as an afterthought, as is often suggested by vendors. Part 1 considers what sound software engineering practice and distributed computing experience offer to web service design. http://webservices.xml.com/pub/a/ws/2003/05/27/wsdl.html http://xml.coverpages.org/xmlPapers200305.html#Peeters
"All Consuming Web Services." By Erik Benson. From O'Reilly WebServices.xml.com (May 27, 2003). By taking small steps, first consuming information from multiple web services, and then exposing newly processed information via your own web services, we can begin to build complex applications in our spare time, with very few resources required up front. http://webservices.xml.com/pub/a/ws/2003/05/27/allconsuming.html http://xml.coverpages.org/xmlPapers200305.html#Benson
"Adobe Ships New Acrobat Versions." By David Becker. From CNET News.com (May 27, 2003). Software maker Adobe Systems has now released new versions of its Acrobat electronic-publishing software. Version 6 of Acrobat splits the software into several versions, targeting different classes of publishing professionals and regular office workers. http://news.com.com/2100-1012_3-1010176.html http://xml.coverpages.org/xmlPapers200305.html#BeckerAdobe
"XML Matters: Kicking Back with RELAX NG, Part 3. Compact Syntax and XML Syntax." By David Mertz, Ph.D. (Facilitator, Gnosis Software, Inc). From IBM developerWorks, XML zone. May 14, 2003. The RELAX NG compact syntax provides a much less verbose, and easier to read, format for describing the same semantic constraints as RELAX NG XML syntax. This article installment looks at tools for working with and transforming between the two syntax forms. http://www-106.ibm.com/developerworks/library/x-matters27.html http://xml.coverpages.org/xmlPapers200305.html#Mertz
"Government to Set Up ebXML-RosettaNet Link." By Kim Joon-bae. In Korea IT Times (May 20, 2003). Two next-generation international e- commerce standards, 'ebXML' and 'RosettaNet,' will soon become interoperable, allowing the nation to take a leading role in linking the two mainstay standards on the global level. http://www.etienglish.com/news/detail_top.html?id=200305200009&art_grad=9 http://xml.coverpages.org/xmlPapers200305.html#Joonbae
"APIs, Protocols, And Rogue Plumbers. Who Should Unclog the Web Pipes to Keep Information Flowing?" By Jon Udell. In InfoWorld (May 23, 2003). The inexorable logic of Web services sets aside APIs in favor of protocols. XML messages flowing through the pipes enact those protocols. Anyone with authorized access to that plumbing will be able to monitor and inject messages quite easily, and everyone will know that's true. http://www.infoworld.com/article/03/05/23/21OPstrategic_1.html http://xml.coverpages.org/xmlPapers200305.html#UdellPlumbers
"XHTML is the Most Important XML Vocabulary." By Kendall Grant Clark. From XML.com (May 21, 2003). Taking the long view of recent technology, XHTML may be the most important XML vocabulary ever created. http://www.xml.com/pub/a/2003/05/21/deviant.html http://xml.coverpages.org/xmlPapers200305.html#KGClarkXHTML
"XHTML 2.0." W3C Working Draft 6-May-2003. Edited by Jonny Axelsson (Opera Software), Beth Epperson (Netscape/AOL), Masayasu Ishikawa (W3C), Shane McCarron (Applied Testing and Technology), Ann Navarro (WebGeek, Inc), and Steven Pemberton (CWI - HTML Working Group Chair). With an early implementation in RELAX NG. XHTML 2 is a general purpose markup language designed for representing documents for a wide range of purposes across the World Wide Web. To this end it does not attempt to be all things to all people, supplying every possible markup idiom, but to supply a generally useful set of elements. It provides the possibility of extension using the span and div elements in combination with stylesheets. http://www.w3.org/TR/2003/WD-xhtml2-20030506/ http://xml.coverpages.org/xmlPapers200305.html#XHTMLv20WD
"The XML.com Interview: Steven Pemberton." By Russell Dyer. From XML.com (May 21, 2003). Interview. At the top of the HTML hierarchy stands Steven Pemberton, chair of the HTML working group of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). He has had both subtle and profound influences over the Web, not only in HTML standards, but in concepts that permeate the Web. http://www.xml.com/pub/a/2003/05/21/pemberton.html http://xml.coverpages.org/xmlPapers200305.html#Dyer-Pemberton
"Demystifying XML in Microsoft Office 2003." By Tim Hickernell, John Brand, Mike Gotta, David Yockelson, Andy Warzecha, and Steve Kleynhans (META Group). META Group News Analysis. May 15, 2003. We believe the inclusion of the XML enhancements in Office 2003 is more about Microsoft preparing Office for a future role as an XML-capable front end to any back-office system (Microsoft and non-Microsoft) than about adding immediate value. http://www.metagroup.com/cgi-bin/inetcgi/jsp/displayArticle.do?oid=41048 http://xml.coverpages.org/xmlPapers200305.html#META-XML
"Web Services Internationalization Usage Scenarios." W3C Working Draft 16-May-2003. Edited by Kentaroh Noji (IBM), Martin J. Dürst (W3C), Addison Phillips (webMethods), Takao Suzuki (Microsoft), and Tex Texin (XenCraft). Also available in non-normative XML format. Produced by the Web Services Internationalization Task Force of the W3C Internationalization Working Group, as part of the W3C Internationalization Activity. "The goal of the Web Services Internationalization Task Force is to ensure that Web Services have robust support for global use, including all of the world's languages and cultures... this document examines the different ways that language, culture, and related issues interact with Web Services architecture and technology. http://www.w3.org/TR/2003/WD-ws-i18n-scenarios-20030516/ http://xml.coverpages.org/xmlPapers200305.html#I18N-Scenarios
"DB2 Information Integrator Goes Live." By IT Analysis Staff. In The Register (May 21, 2003). IBM has "published the packaging and pricing of DB2 Information Integrator. The basic concept is predicated upon a federated database approach in which multiple heterogeneous databases appear to the user as if they were a single database. http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/53/30795.html http://xml.coverpages.org/xmlPapers200305.html#RegisterIBM
"IBM DB2 Information Integrator V8.1". IBM Software Announcement Letter. May 20, 2003. 19 pages. Referenced from the IBM DB2 Information Integration website. "IBM DB2 Information Integrator V8.1 is a new product from IBM that provides the foundation for a strategic information integration framework that helps customers to access, manipulate, and integrate diverse and distributed information in real time. This new product enables businesses to abstract a common data model across data and content sources. http://www.ibmlink.ibm.com/usalets&parms=H_203-134 http://xml.coverpages.org/xmlPapers200305.html#IBMDB2-Ann
"Microsoft Supporting UNeDocs Through Microsoft Office InfoPath. Smart Client For On-Line And Off-Line Processing of XML Forms." By Zdenek Jiricek (Public Sector Manager, Microsoft Eastern Europe). May 15, 2003. PDF from the 13 slides. From a presentation given at the May 2003 UNeDocs Seminar on electronic trade documents, held during the United Nations Forum on Trade Facilitation. Jiricek identifies current problems for trading and explains how Miscosoft InfoPath offers relevant solutions in the UNeDocs context. http://xml.coverpages.org/JiricekUNEDOCS200305.pdf http://xml.coverpages.org/xmlPapers200305.html#Jiricek
"UN XML Project Gets Microsoft Support. Aims to Make Electronic Exchange of Business Documents Between Companies Cheaper." By Joris Evers. In InfoWorld (May 16, 2003). A United Nations project that uses XML to give small and medium-size companies an alternative to paper forms when doing business across borders has won support from Microsoft. At a UN conference in Geneva Microsoft demonstrated how the product of the XML project called UNeDocs would work in Microsoft's InfoPath application. http://www.infoworld.com/article/03/05/16/HNunxml_1.html http://xml.coverpages.org/xmlPapers200305.html#EversUNeDocs
"W3C Makes Patent Ban Final." By Paul Festa and Lisa M. Bowman. In CNET News.com (May 21, 2003). The Web's leading standards body on Tuesday finalized a patent policy banning the use of most royalty- bearing technology in its technical recommendations, an issue that sparked a clash between open-source advocates and software makers. http://news.com.com/2100-1032_3-1008800.html http://xml.coverpages.org/xmlPapers200305.html#FestaPatentPolicy
"BEA Gains Ally in Battle With IBM." By Martin LaMonica. In CNET News.com (May 21, 2003). Software maker BEA Systems on Wednesday got a boost in its ongoing application server battle with IBM through a bundling deal with Hewlett-Packard. http://news.com.com/2100-1012_3-1008532.html http://xml.coverpages.org/xmlPapers200305.html#LaMonicaBEA
"W3C Announces Royalty-Free Patent Policy." By Edd Dumbill. From xmlhack.com (May 21, 2003). In a significant step to protect the freedom to implement Web standards the W3C has announced the publication of its patent policy. After long debate, the royalty-free policy has been implemented as a result of widespread consensus. http://www.xmlhack.com/read.php?item=1979 http://xml.coverpages.org/xmlPapers200305.html#DumbillPatents
-------------------------------------------------------------------- Selected from the Press --------------------------------------------------------------------
Selected references for abstracted and annotated industry news at: http://xml.coverpages.org/press.html
"OASIS Works to Establish Classification Standards for Web Security Vulnerabilities." http://xml.coverpages.org/WAS-Announce200305.html
"Open GIS Consortium Releases Web Map Service Cookbook." http://xml.coverpages.org/WMS-Cookbook.html
"XML for Analysis Council Gains Momentum and Added Industry Support. Public Interoperability Event Showcases Industry Adoption and Support of XMLA." http://xml.coverpages.org/XMLA-Interop.html
"ebXML Applications Demonstrated Live at London Conference." http://xml.coverpages.org/ebXML-DemosLondon.html
"Microsoft, ACORD Link Insurance Forms to XML Web Services, Helping Agents Enter Data Once and Share Data Across Their Businesses. Microsoft Office InfoPath 2003 to Help Insurance Industry Cut Processing Time and Costs, Reduce Errors." http://xml.coverpages.org/AcordInfoPath2003.html
"Microsoft and ACORD to Link Insurance Forms to XML Web Services." http://xml.coverpages.org/MS-JoshLeeInfoPath.html
"Yellow Dragon Announces the General Availability of Yellow Dragon Messaging 1.0. Secure and Reliable Messaging for Web Services and ebXML." http://xml.coverpages.org/YellowDragonAnn200305.html
-------------------------------------------------------------------- Events --------------------------------------------------------------------
Selected references from the events calendar at: http://xml.coverpages.org/conf.html
Burton Catalyst Conference North America 2003. July 9 - 11, 2003. San Francisco, California, USA. http://www.burtongroup.com/catalyst/catna03/ http://www.burtongroup.com/catalyst/downloads/pdf/catnabro03.pdf http://xml.coverpages.org/conf.html#catalystNA2003
W3C Workshop on the Long Term Future of P3P and Enterprise Privacy Languages. June 18 - 20, 2003. Multimedia Campus Kiel, Kiel (Schleswig-Holstein), Germany. http://www.w3.org/2003/p3p-ws/ http://www.w3.org/2003/p3p-ws/cfp-kiel.html http://xml.coverpages.org/conf.html#p3p-2003
EEMA 2003. EEMA Sixteenth Annual Conference. "Management and Compatibility of Web Services: The Impact on Your Business." June 16 - 18, 2002. Prague, Czech Republic. https://www.eema.org/eema2003.asp https://www.eema.org/eema2003/programme.asp http://xml.coverpages.org/conf.html#eema2003
SVG Open 2003. July 13 - 18, 2003. Westin Bayshore Resort and Marina, Vancouver, BC, Canada. http://www.svgopen.org/ http://xml.coverpages.org/conf.html#SVG-Open2003
WebDB 2003. Sixth International Workshop on The Web and Databases. June 12 - 13, 2003. San Diego, California, USA. http://www.cse.ogi.edu/webdb03/index.htm http://www.cse.ogi.edu/webdb03/accepted_paper.htm http://xml.coverpages.org/conf.html#webdb03
-------------------------------------------------------------------- Cover Pages Sponsors --------------------------------------------------------------------
Publication costs for the Cover Pages website and for this newsletter are underwritten by OASIS Members committed to providing this OASIS resource freely to the public:
Sun Microsystems, Inc. URL: http://sun.com SAP URL: http://www.sap.com ISOGEN International LLC URL: http://www.isogen.com Global eXchange Services URL: http://www.gxs.com Corel Corporation URL: http://www.corel.com
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Prepared by Robin Cover for The XML Cover Pages archive.