[December 24, 1998] "Using XML with Visual J++. [XML Coding]" By Benjamin Briandet. In ZDNet DevHead (December 23, 1998). "'<--Get to know the basics of XML in this tutorial. Then use the included code to create a simple database application.-->' XML (eXtended Markup Language) is the newest language for accessing data over the Internet. While it is not yet directly supported by Web browsers, Internet Explorer supports a package of Java classes in com.ms.XML for processing XML. These classes are very easy to use, so you can write a simple application or applet in just a few minutes. In this article, we'll teach you the basics of XML, and show you how to use it to write the database application. . ."

[December 24, 1998] "XML Marks the Data." By Suzanne Hildreth. In WebServer Online (October 1998). "Since the introduction of XML earlier this year, vendors have been clamoring to announce their particular XML-based product or enhancement and, according to some industry-watchers, rapid implementation of the extensible formatting language looks set to continue."

[December 24, 1998] "Stretching the Concept of the Document." By Tim Bray. From WebReview.com (December 5, 1998). "Information resides in documents and databases. Tim Bray looks at how XML is making developers reconsider this distinction." [link? - check back later]

[December 24, 1998] "The Habits of Gecko." By Stephanos Piperoglou. In Internet World (December 24, 1998). "Beyond HTML and CSS, Gecko also supports XML 1.0, and can display XML documents with CSS style sheets attached to them. It supports the W3C Document Object Model for Level 0, Level 1, as well as part of the still unpublished draft for Level 2. This means you have total control of HTML, XML and CSS through client-side methods like JavaScript. Everything in CSS is exposed to dynamic manipulation, making nifty DHTML effects possible with lightweight, small scripts. . ." See also the press release "Netscape Delivers 'Gecko' Browsing Engine Incorporating Advanced Features For Internet Browsing Anywhere. Small, Fast Browsing Engine for Virtually Any Application, Computing Platform, Device or Developer" and 'XML in Mozilla'.

[December 24, 1998] "IBM's Internet Start-up: AlphaWorks." By Ted Smalley Bowen. In InfoWorld (December 23, 1998). "How does an $80 billion company retool its product development pipeline to meet the requirements of the fast-paced Internet market? If dedicating all nine full-time staffers to the task doesn't seem adequate, the tactic nonetheless seems to have paid off for IBM. The alphaWorks 9 -- just enough for a departmental baseball team -- resembles a Silicon Valley software start-up by design. Steering IBM's efforts in such cutting-edge sectors as Java, XML, Internet media, and the extended network of mobile and embedded systems demands a nimble approach. The roughly 2-year-old group exerts its leverage through an extreme form of matrix management within IBM, and efficacious use of the Web in dealing with developers and potential customers. For example, the group managed to streamline the process for naming product and technologies within IBM. For scientists and product teams, working with alphaWorks is voluntary. . .It's almost like business school for computer science students. . . 'AlphaWorks will to do a ton of work in Java and XML, and they'll probably start doing stuff in streaming media and security,' [analyst Ann] Thomas said. 'I'm sure that [the group's backing] goes all the way to the top. It's a great way to see if there's a market for research technologies'."

[December 24, 1998] "XSL Prototype Available For Free Download." By Charles Babcock. In Interactive Week (December 23, 1998). "IBM Corp. and its Lotus Development Corp. division are making available for free download a prototype implementation of eXtensible Stylesheet Language, a translation engine for transforming eXtensible Markup Language into HyperText Markup Language or other specified formats for the Web. Dubbed LotusXSL, the translation engine is based on the newly released working draft of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) eXtensible Stylesheet Language (XSL) specification. In addition to HyperText Markup Language (HTML), the XSL specification allows the translation of eXtensible Markup Language (XML)-formatted data into Precision Graphics Markup Language for viewing by a Web browser or other client viewer." See 'LotusXSL - An experimental implementation of the Construction Rules section of the XSL World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Working Draft.' and the announcement for several new technologies.

[December 23, 1998] "Web Publishing For Businesses Made Simple." By Charles Babcock. In Interactive Week (December 22, 1998). "Allegis Corp. announced Net-It Central 3.0, a publishing system for business end users to publish reports and documents directly to intranet or extranet Web sites. Net-It Central 3.0 will be available in January for $9,995. Its features extend publishing to Web sites for users with little or no technical skills. The system's document creation is based on eXtensible Markup Language (XML), which allows authors to categorize documents based on project name, author, department or another easy-to-recognize keyword. In addition, XML makes it possible to search many documents based only on a keyword such as author or project."

[December 23, 1998] "Microsoft, DataChannel Unleash Beta 2 of XML Parser." By Jeff Walsh. In InfoWorld (December 21, 1998). "Microsoft and DataChannel Monday announced the second beta version of their co-developed Extensible Markup Language (XML) parser written in Java. The XJ2 parser contains a higher performance validating XML engine, support for Extensible Query Language (XQL) and data transformations through the Extensible Stylesheet Language (XSL). The XSL processor enables developers to apply style sheets to XML data in order to transform or display the data. The XQL support enables the querying of information within an XML document." See the text of the press release for other information.

[December 22, 1998] "Comparative Review of World-Wide-Web Mathematics Renderers." By Ian Hutchinson. Technical Report. 'Since there has been a lot of theorizing on MathML lately, I thought I would explore the practical performance of the existing renderers. I wrote a little article. . . ' Abstract: "I review three available means of browsing mathematical documents on the web. Two consist of Browsers with MathML rendering built in: Amaya, sponsored by W3C, and e-Lite, a Java-based commercial offering from IceSoft in collaboration with WebEQ. The comparison is with Netscape rendering mathematics created by the TeX to HTML translator TtH in HTML4.0. The MathML browsers compare very unfavorably with Netscape. e-Lite is extremely slow and consumes vast resources on the client platform. Its equation alignment is poor and it can't cope with large equations. Amaya is significantly faster rendering, is more robust, and has much smaller footprint. Its equation alignment is much better but it lacks support for most attributes of the Presentation MathML standard, including ``bold'', limiting its usefulness. Netscape, with minor settings adjustments on X and Mac platforms, renders equations produced with TtH at full text speed with more complete support of symbols and styles than either of the others. At present, therefore, Netscape has the overwhelming advantage, but of course, it is not rendering MathML."

[December 22, 1998] "Cross-Reference Your XML Data." By Charles Heinemann [Program Manager, XML Microsoft Corporation]. In Extreme XML [Column] (December 07, 1998). "This month's topic: Using internal cross-references to join XML elements. We can establish relationships between different data elements by using defined IDs and IDREFs."

[December 22, 1998] "Tracking the Emerging Impact of XML." By Barry Schaeffer. Reprinted from Newspapers and Technology [November, 1998)] in ISI's 'Information Productivity Bookshelf'. Excerpt: "The Rise of the "Markup Language: A second key trend is the use of XML for tagging languages designed to support specific information flows. Initiatives like the Open Financial Exchange (OFX), Chemical Markup Language, XML/EDI, and MathML are harbingers of a growing view that information flow must be both open and application centered. The News Industry Text Format, although predating the XML movement, is also part of this growing lexicon. Application languages are nothing new, of course, but they have been unique and largely incompatible, each requiring its own expensive software resources. With XML, all of these differing protocols can be at least handled by the same, straightforward, software, drastically lowering costs and enabling cross language communication (OFX and EDI, for example, to link orders and payments in a manner not currently possible.) In an XML-based world, virtually every application tool can embed the necessary functionality to create and receive selected XML languages, folding them seamlessly in with existing functions."

[December 22, 1998] "Agile electronic commerce, virtual business and the new economy ." An Ontology.Org White Paper. By Howard Smith [Computer Sciences Corporation]. "Forward thinking organisations are beginning to organise, standardise and stabilise their digital services, in order to create and maintain sustainable computer-mediated relationships throughout an e-business lifecycle. . . .Part of the current excitement surrounding XML is that the SGML, EDI and Internet communities expect it to be able to bring this sense of order to electronic trading relationships. After all, in many cases, today's best practice in electronic commerce is little more than the integration of legacy system functionality into the Web architecture. XML will change the landscape forever and give to the digital entrepreneurs a myriad of new ways to carve a niche for themselves in the online landscape."

[December 22, 1998] "The Trouble With Browsers." By Tim Bray. From XML.com ['Wrapping Up 1998] December 18, 1998. "XML.com's technical editor wants to know why the Web browsers don't support XML: It seems to me that the server-side stuff is looking really good and the authoring picture is getting better. The browsers, though, just aren't where they should be. For browsers, read "Microsoft and Netscape" although if these guys don't get with the XML program, there may be an opening for lightweight fast-moving players to come up the middle.'"

[December 22, 1998] "A Tale of Two Browsers . . . or Kids, Don't Try This at Home." By Glenn Davis. From XML.com ['Wrapping Up 1998] December 18, 1998. "Recently it was my pleasure/frustration to take a look at the XML and DOM support offered by the developer previews of the two main Web browsers. I'm interested in XML from a designer's perspective. I'm excited about XML and the future it promises so it was time for me to start tinkering around with it in the browsers that claim to support it. I tinker with new technologies when they become available and I've been champing at the bit to start tinkering with XML in a Web browser."

[December 22, 1998] "Will anyone challenge Inso in electronic delivery?" By Mark Walter. From XML.com ['Wrapping Up 1998] December 18, 1998. "For years DynaText, created by Electronic Book Technologies and then sold to Inso, has ruled the high end of SGML document delivery. Its most serious competition came from Synex, which Inso gobbled up earlier this year. Today there are signs that the dynasty is vulnerable. The emergence of XML viewers from Netscape and (soon we hope) Microsoft gives developers an alternative base platform for creating XML client software. On the server side, the lack of true database functionality in DynaWeb creates an opening for repository-based Web production servers. . ."

[December 22, 1998] "Editors at XML '98. By jove, they think they've got it! (but does anyone want it?)" By Liora Alschuler. From XML.com ['Wrapping Up 1998] December 18, 1998. "First, we look at two stand-out demonstrations of the new approach to structured editing from the stalwarts of the past generation of the let-em-eat-tags school: SoftQuad's XMetaL and Arbortext's EPIC. Finally, we look at the state of the market -- both buyers and sellers -- for XML editors."

[December 22, 1998] XML and Standards Rescue Ship-to-Shore Telemedicine. Using XML in the Real World." By Lisa Rein. From XML.com (December 19, 1998). Using the eXtensible Mail Transport Protocol (XMTP), "JABR Technologies' Consult98 telemedicine system provides yet another example of how XML can be utilized now, using today's existing formats and protocols. JABR Technology, a year-old Boston-based company, has developed Consult98, a telemedicine system which operates using standard data formats and protocols over the Internet. This solution dramatically lowers the cost of telemedicine by replacing costly workstations with a $500 digital camera and a PC. J. Borden has created an online demonstration of XMTP so that developers can test it in an interactive fashion. The XMTP demo is available by sending e-mail to test-xmtp@jabr.ne.mediaone.net. See also: "XML Media/MIME Types" and the JABR XML Projects, including the Synapse system, OceanMed, XPository, XTRIME - eXtensible Transacted Internet Messaging Engine. On Synapse, compare: Robert Richardson, "Net Access - Brains and Browsers" (ZDNet EBusiness), October 01, 1998.

[December 21, 1998] "New HTML Standard To Use XML, Emphasize Function Over Layout." By James C. Luh. In Internet World Volume 4, Issue 40 (December 7, 1998), page 23. "The World Wide Web Consortium has convened a new working group to overhaul HTML, the markup language that underpins the Web. The new group hopes to build a specification that improves on HTML 4.0 in several major ways, according to Dave Raggett, the W3C's HTML activity lead. For one, the new version of HTML will use XML syntax. Previous versions of HTML were founded on SGML, the more general text markup standard from which XML was derived." See the W3C Working Draft "Reformulating HTML in XML" (WD-html-in-xml-19981205).

[December 21, 1998] "Simplifying Web Document Sharing." By Nate Zelnick. In Internet World Volume 4, Issue 40 (December 7, 1998), page 24. ". . . a group of companies with specific interest in document management have proposed the Web extensions for Distributed Authoring and Versioning (WebDAV) as a standard way for documents to provide information about themselves so that applications can do more than fetch or post a file. . . WebDAV's approach breaks down into three new types of information available through HTTP. Methods for adding, changing, and inspecting document properties allow an HTTP request to find out what a document can say about itself and in what terms. . .To reveal how a set of documents is related, WebDAV introduces the concept of a collection. Collections define the hierarchical relationship of resources in a parent-child relationship . . . The last part of WebDAV concerns versioning. . ." See "WEBDAV (Extensions for Distributed Authoring and Versioning on the World Wide Web)" for additional references.

[December 18, 1998] "Oracle & XML: Making Your Data and Documents Work Harder." By Steve Muench ['Oracle XML Evangelist']. Closing Keynote Presentation at the XML '98 Conference. "This presentation details our vision and plans for tightly integrating XML into the Oracle technology stack and explains how developers can exploit that tight integration to accelerate the delivery of their own future visions."

[December 17, 1998] "Open-source Tool Passes Data Between Web Apps via XML." By Antone Gonsalves. In PC Week [Online] (December 17, 1998). "The Cambridge, Mass., company's WDDX (Web Distributed Data Exchange) enables developers to pass data between heterogeneous Web servers running ASPs (Active Server Pages), Perl, Java, JavaScript or components built with Allaire's Cold Fusion fourth-generation language tool. Using the SDK (software development kit) available through Allaire, developers can build a WDDX module for a particular platform. The module converts data going to or coming from a database into a WDDX packet, which can move on HTTP. For example, using the SDK, a developer would build a special Component Object Model object for converting data from an ASP or a Java class for use with a Java component. A WDDX module would be needed on the client and the server to convert or read data."

[December 17, 1998] "Metadata Accord Coming Into View." By Mark Hammond. In PC Week [Online] (December 14, 1998), page 16. "Microsoft Corporation last week offered a leash, of sorts, by transferring its OIM (Open Information Model) metadata exchange specification to the Meta Data Coalition, a consortium of 47 vendors and users. The coalition pledged to integrate OIM, which more than 60 software developers currently support, with its existing Meta Data Interchange Specification, which is backed by only seven developers. . . A blended interface that expands OIM beyond Microsoft's Windows NT operating system to Unix is due by October. It will support both Component Object Model and Common Object Request Broker Architecture." For more on the transfer of "the rights to maintain and evolve the [Microsoft] Open Information Model (OIM) to MDC," see the press release: "Microsoft Joins Meta Data Coalition to Foster Meta Data Standard. Announces XML Meta Data Interchange With Leading Repository Vendors."

[December 17, 1998] "Sun Offers Microsoft a Hand. Wants to work together to overcome barriers to Java-Windows interoperability." By Michael Moeller. In PC Week [Online] (December 14, 1998), page 10. ". . . Sun officials also said they wanted to go further than that to get the most out of Java. Their next step: Extend an open hand to Microsoft and develop ways to make Sun's Enterprise JavaBeans and Java Platform for the Enterprise interoperate with Windows NT 4.0 and Windows 2000. An update to Enterprise JavaBeans, called Moscone, is due by the second quarter, with a reference implementation due by the fourth quarter. Moscone will add support for XML (Extensible Markup Language) and some testing suites."

[December 17, 1998] "XML Broadens Horizons of Formatting and Presentation." By Pritpal Singh. In Internet World Volume 4, Issue 41 (December 14, 1998), page 23. [Intranet Advisor]. "Q: I've read a lot about XML recently. Can you tell me how it differs from HTML? A: Before answering this question, I think it's necessary to discuss the background and structure of markup languages -- such as SGML, HTML, and XML -- in general. . . XML will not replace HTML, but it will allow corporations to move data across the Web with their own customized definitions."

[December 16, 1998] "XML White Paper." By [SoftQuad Software, Inc.]. [Introduction:] "XML is one of the most important new developments for the Web. You should find this paper of interest if you create Web sites for a living, or you are involved in maintaining your company's presence on the Internet, because you will want to learn how XML can be used to provide more functional Web sites than HTML alone can. If you are responsible for managing corporate documents, you will want to learn how XML can be used to create a robust, scalable repository with possibilities for entirely new means of delivery. Or perhaps you are just interested in HTML and the Internet, and want to know how XML is going to change the future of the Web. This paper explains what XML is and what it is good for. Numerous examples are presented, to show that XML solves real-world problems and is actually not all that difficult to understand. It describes the status of XML today, where it is going in the future, and what you should be doing today to get ready for it. . ." For more on SoftQuad Software's XML/SGML/HTML products, see the entry in "XML Industry Support."

[December 16, 1998] "Links in XML: Detection, Representation and Presentation." By Liam R. E. Quin (GroveWare Inc.). Preprint version. Presentation at the Markup Technologies '98 Conference, Chicago, November 1998. Abstract: "The XML language has support within it for HyperText links, and uses links itself to associate disparate components of compound documents. A number of associated standards and recommendations have grown up around XML, and many of these introduce their own forms of linking. Furthermore, there are linking conventions in both computer-based information display systems and in paper-based typographical layout. This paper provides a summary of many of these linking systems, and also attempts to delineate the underpinnings of a unifying abstract model based on the concept of Linking Functions sufficient to describe the links. A single and minimal terminology set is used. Indications are also made of linking forms that are in common use but that XML does not at the time of writing directly support."

[December 15, 1998] "Unicode: What Is It and How Do I Use it?" By Tony Graham of Mulberry Technologies, Inc. Presentation at the MT '98 Conference, November, 1998. The document abstract: "The rationale for Unicode and its design goals and detailed design principles are presented. The correspondence between Unicode and ISO/IEC 10646 is discussed, the scripts included or planned for inclusion in the two character set standards are listed. Some products that support Unicode and some applications that require Unicode are listed, then examples of how to specify Unicode characters in a variety of applications are given. The use of Unicode in SGML and XML applications is discussed, and the paper concludes with descriptions of the character encodings used with Unicode and ISO/IEC 10646, plus sources of further information are listed." Several other papers from the Markup Technologies '98 Conference are also online; see references in the annotated agenda.

[December 15, 1998] "Competition Squeezes Wireless Internet Group." By Anthony Cataldo. In EETimes Issue 1039 (December 14, 1998). "An open wireless communications consortium working on an international platform to bring the Internet to mobile phones is under intense pressure to come out with a second version of its protocol and language extensions as wideband CDMA draws near and as alternative schemes come to the fore. Since it was founded in 1997 by Ericsson, Nokia, Motorola and Unwired Planet Inc., the Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) consortium has managed to corral support from some 70 wireless-service providers, cellular-phone manufacturers and software developers. The group is touting an open-standards model for development of XML extensions called the Wireless Markup Language (WML). Proponents say it promises interoperability among all open air interfaces and existing narrowband phones. . . But at least one key partner said the consortium isn't moving fast enough to roll the next version of the standard. And it still has a way to go in wooing software developers and wireless operators. . ." See "WAP Wireless Markup Language Specification."

[December 14, 1998] "REX: XML Shallow Parsing with Regular Expressions." By Robert D. Cameron. CMPT Technical Report TR 1998-17, School of Computing Science, Simon Fraser University, November 1998. Abstract: "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 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." In the online version, Appendix D An Interactive Shallow Parsing Demo" presents an interactive regular expression demo using the regular expression support facilities of Javascript 1.2.

[December 14, 1998] "XML Means Something Different To Everybody." By JP Morgenthal. In InternetWeek Issue 745 (December 14, 1998), page 19. "XML, with its associated tools, makes for an excellent text-processing facility. It requires following a specific set of rules for creation and organization of documents, but the upside is that we now have a consistent set of tools to structure and process textual data in a generic manner. XML does not make a good database format for medium to large data sets. It requires that a representation of the document be held in memory or the document will be continually parsed and reparsed."

[December 14, 1998] "Documents Coming Alive. How XML Will Transform the Way We Design and Exploit Documents." By Emmanuel Lazinier (Ministère de la Défense, Bureau CALS, France). A presentation made at CALS Europe '98, Paris, September 17, 1998. Abstract: "Could eXtensible-Markup Language, in itself a minor technical innovation, be the hallmark of an upcoming revolution in man's communication and, even further, cognition? The author believes so, and, to make his point, begins with a short survey of man's cognitive history to date, as seen by today's major anthropologists. He then proceeds to analyze what he sees as the ongoing transition from a culture based on externalized symbols to one based on externalized intelligence. Some speculations on the possible concrete impacts of XML on information gathering/transmission and consumption are finally presented." Note that this document is one in a collection of XML-related documents planned for the XML Francophone, which will "host contributions from French-speaking individuals wishing to share their knowledge and opinions about XML and its economical and cultural import." A version of this paper is also available in French.

[December 14, 1998] "Python Slithers Forward." By Jeff Walsh. In InfoWorld Volume 20, Issue 50 (December 14, 1998), page 10. "Like its namesake's tendency to squeeze its prey, the success of the Python scripting language is applying pressure to vendors through open-source projects, adding Extensible Markup Language (XML) support and serving as the scripting language for a new Web application platform. The Corporation for National Research Initiatives, in Reston, Va., is in charge of Python's development, while the Web application platform -- called the Z Object Publishing Environment (Zope) is an open-source project overseen by Digital Creations, in Fredericksburg, Va. Digital Creations previously developed Principia, a Web application platform, and Bobo, a toolkit for publishing objects. These products have been rolled into Zope. . . An XML strategy for Zope is being solidified, because it is intended to support WebDAV and other XML-based standards. Zope can also serve as a repository for HTML pages, so users would not need to know how to write any code." For other information, see "XML and Python." [alt URL]

[December 14, 1998] "Software AG, DataChannel Team Up on XML." By Antone Gonsalves. In PC Week [Online] (December 14, 1998), page 46. "Software AG and DataChannel Inc. are combining technologies to build a product that will enable corporations to use XML to conduct high-volume Web-based transactions. The software, code-named X-machine, will combine DataChannel's RIO, an Extensible Markup Language-based information push system, with an XML data server that will be built by Software AG, of Darmstadt, Germany. Software AG's XML data server will be the first component of the company's XML-based development products and the kernel of its future database system."

[December 11, 1998] "XML Standard Proposed for Exchanging Product Information." By Stannie Holt. In InfoWorld (December 10, 1998). "Product information specialist Agile Software is teaming up with the National Electronics Manufacturing Initiative and two electronics manufacturers to propose an Extensible Markup Language (XML)-based standard for companies to exchange product information such as bills of materials or engineering change orders. The proposed XML standard will be offered to standards bodies such as the World Wide Web Consortium and the Supply-Chain Council as an open, nonproprietary set of specifications, an Agile representative said Thursday." See the full text of the press release.

[December 10, 1998] "SAP Embraces Java And XML." By Jeffrey Schwartz. In InternetWeek (December 10, 1998). "ERP supplier SAP AG this week disclosed plans to add extensions to its Business Framework infrastructure, which among other things includes a dose of Java. . . With respect to SAP's 'Support of Extensible Markup Language (XML) for electronic commerce applications': XML provides a universal method for describing and formatting messages. With the SAP Business-to-Business Procurement (SAP BBP) solution, SAP will extend its open Business Application Programming Interfaces (BAPIs) that capture business content with XML, which provides an open standard for data formatting. The use of XML in the communication between buy side and sell side in a business-to-business relationship includes purchase orders that are delivered over the Internet in conjunction with online catalogs, for example. The SAP open catalog interface ensures that virtually any supplier can publish their online catalog on the Web and that buying organizations can connect to it. The inherent openness to third-party catalogs and existing business systems is guaranteed by the Business Application Programming Interfaces (BAPIs) that are also XML-enabled (Extensible Markup Language).' The first product to support XML will be its BBP software for business-to-business procurement." See: "SAP Discloses Business Technology Solution Map".

[December 10, 1998] "Attribute Grammars Over Extended Grammars for Structured Document Queries." By Frank Neven (Limburgs Universitair Centrum, Diepenbeek, Belgium). Unpublished paper, 1998. 14 pages. Abstract: "Widely-used document specification languages like, e.g. SGML and XML, model documents using extended context-free grammars. These differ from context-free grammars in that they allow arbitrary regular expressions on the right-hand side of productions. To query such documents, we introduce a new form of attribute grammars (extended AGs) that work directly over extended context-free grammars rather than over context-free grammars. Viewed as a query language, extended AGs are particularly relevant as they can take into account the inherent order of the children of a node in a document. We show that two key properties of standard attribute grammars carry over to extended AGs: efficiency of evaluation and decidability of well-definedness. We further characterize the expressiveness of extended AGs and consider several extensions." Also on attribute grammars: see the following entry.

[December 10, 1998] "Generating SGML-specific Editors: From DTDs to Attribute Grammars." By José Carlos Ramalho, Alda Reis Lopes, and Pedro Henriques. Presentation at the Markup Technologies '98 Conference, and printed in the GCA's published proceedings, Markup Technologies '98 Conference Proceedings, pages 61-72. [See also the preceding entry on attribute grammars.] "Many SGML parsers are implemented using traditional syntax-directed translation; this provides good performance for structural validation and batch processing. Problems emerge when we change the goal or the processing context - for example, to build an extension for semantic validation, or to validate online instead of batch. In the early 1970's, a newer paradigm of semantics-directed translation, based on the formalism of `attribute grammars', caught the attention of compiler developers. We have developed a DTD editor that generates attribute grammars which correspond to the DTD being edited - from which, in turn, it is possible to generate a specialized editor for the specific document type. We conclude with a glimpse of the intended environment, which will include a style editor and a semantic editor as well as the DTD editor described. . . An attribute grammar (AG) is a well accepted formalism used by the compiler community to specify the syntax and semantics of languages. Introduced by Knuth, the AG appeared as an extension to the classic CFG (context-free grammar) to allow the local definition (without the use of global variables) of the meaning of each symbol in a declarative style. Terminal symbols have intrinsic attributes (that describe their lexical information) and Nonterminal symbols are associated with generic attributes; semantic information can be synthesized up the tree (from the bottom to the root), but can also be inherited down the tree (from the top to the leaves), enabling explicit references to contextual dependencies. . ."

[December 09, 1998] "Heavy Hitters in the Spotlight at XML '98. Highlights from XML '98 [Trip Report]." By Liora Alschuler and Mark Walter. In Seybold Report on Internet Publishing Volume 3, Number 4 (December 1998), pages 1, 13-15. "Commitments to XML by industry leaders IBM, Oracle, Netscape, and Microsoft grabbed the spotlight at XML '98, held last month in Chicago, but there were a host of other announcements, as XML contnues to gather momentum in the market." Attendance was "well over 1,100" and at least 500 people enrolled in pre-conference tutorials. See the main conference entry for related news/reports.

[December 09, 1998] "Dreams Come True. Macromedia's Dreamweaver 2.0 Offers a Slew of Enhancements, Including XML Support and Site Management Tools" By Victor Votsch. In Seybold Report on Internet Publishing Volume 3, Number 4 (December 1998), page 18. "This major upgrade has powerful new features for efficient page production, deluxe site management, visual authoring for dynamic publishing, and Roundtrip XML. . . One of the top authoring tools for Web professionals just got better. . . it embrace of XML foretells the next generation of Web documents." See also a press release.

[December 09, 1998] "Open Market to Launch LivePublish, SecurePublish. Folio Gains Document Focus and Moves Secure Content to the Intranet." By Victor Votsch. In Seybold Report on Internet Publishing Volume 3, Number 4 (December 1998), page 22. See also the online press release for details on the use of 'XML in LivePublish'.

[December 09, 1998] "XML's Schizophrenic Nature." By Brian Travis. In <TAG> Volume 11, Number 11 (November 1998), pages 1, 4-5. Travis discusses "XML for Documents" and/versus "XML for Data."

[December 09, 1998] "Simple XLinks, Extended XLinks, and XLinks in Groups." By Neill Kipp. In <TAG> Volume 11, Number 11 (November 1998), pages 1-3. The author discusses the advantages of the XML Linking Language (XLink) over HTML-style links. He provides an overview of the principal XLink features. See the main database entry for XLink citations.

[December 09, 1998] "Automating SGML-to-XML DTD Conversion (Part 2)." By Bob DuCharme. In <TAG> Volume 11, Number 11 (November 1998), pages 5-7. In this second part of a two-part <TAG> article, the author discusses SGML-XML DTD conversion in the case of mixed content models, RCDATA, CONREF, and SUBDOC. For other documentation on the differences between SGML and XML, see the dedicated section "XML and SGML."

[December 09, 1998] "Where Have All the Parsers Gone?" By Elaine Brennan. In <TAG> Volume 11, Number 11 (November 1998), pages 8-10. The author expresses concern about the (low) quality of XML sample code that appears in some popular XML handbooks. The two books reviewed are The XML Handbook (Goldfarb and Prescod) and The XML Companion (Bradley).

[December 07, 1998] "'Gecko' Crawls Out of Mozilla." Wired News Report (December 7, 1998). "Gecko is the first Netscape-branded software product to emerge from the company-sponsored Mozilla open-source initiative. Mozilla is unique, taking as it does contributions from thousands of developers working collaboratively over the Internet to test, develop, and improve the Netscape browser code." See also the press release and now "The Habits of Gecko".

[December 07, 1998] "XML and Electronic Commerce: Enabling the Network Economy." By Bart Meltzer and Robert Glushko. In ACM SIGMOD Record Volume 27, Number 4 (December 1998). Excerpt: "The barriers to adoption of EDI leave many businesses with paper-intensive, manual, costly processes to exchange business documents, forms and messages with their trading partners. Neither EDI nor a manual paper process can change at the same pace as the dynamics of a business. Any solution that is targeted at enabling the network economy must be one that insulates businesses operating computer systems from the daily changes that occur in a business. For this reason, our approach to enabling the network economy is to make the business documents, forms and messages that flow between businesses, comprehensible to each business no matter what computer system is used and even if each business is using different computer systems. XML used in Electronic Commerce is an enabling technology that makes it possible for business documents forms and messages to be interoperable and comprehensible. XML is one of the key ingredients that will accelerate the reality of a network economy and new business models based on the Internet. Early work with XML and electronic commerce is happening in the area of procurement, distribution, supply chain management. . ." Also available in postscript format.

[December 08, 1998] "XML and Java Technology - An Interview with Dave Brownell. [Part One]" From java.sun.com ['The Source for Java Technology']. December, 1998. "XML, the eXtensible Markup Language, is the universal syntax for describing and structuring data independent from application logic. This past February, XML 1.0 became a Technical Recommendation of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). From this milestone, numerous applications of XML are popping up far and wide - and more often than not they're using Java technology. We asked David Brownell, designer of Sun's Java Project X, for some perspective." [Excerpt:] Q: "Is there some special, natural affinity between Java technology and XML?" A: "You bet. Java software is portable code ... XML is portable data. By themselves, neither of these technologies provides such a solution. To get portable data, you need to pick a representation that is usable in most programming languages ... like XML, which is structured text. To get portable behavior, you need a maintainable program standard that runs on most computer systems ... like Java language class files. Use Java and XML together, and you get both. . ." See also references to Sun's XML support in XML Industry News and in Sun Java Project X [previously: 'The Sun XML Library'].

[December 08, 1998] "Recommendations for using Extensible Markup Language (XML) in Collaborative Planning Forecasting and Replenishment (CPFR) Communications." White Paper from Syncra Software. Abstract: "The VICS Collaborative Planning, Forecasting, and Replenishment (CPFR) Voluntary Guidelines prescribe two data format standards for exchanging messages among trading partners: X12 EDI and Standard Interchange Language (SIL). In the months since the CPFR Guidelines were developed, the World Wide Web Coalition (W3C) has approved another standard for structured data interchange: Extensible Markup Language (XML). XML, because of its tight integration with other Internet specifications, and wide support from soft-ware vendors, is a promising alternative data format for CPFR communications. This document addresses strategic concerns and current progress in the mapping of CPFR data interchange requirements to an XML Document Type Definition (DTD), for use with XML parsers and other Internet tools."

[December 08, 1998] "Managing Names and Ontologies: An XML Registry and Repository." By Robin Cover. From Sun Microsystems, Technology & Research. November, 1998. "Early adoption of XML by a host of industry partners is thus creating a wealth of opportunity for information reuse and collaborative distributed network computing over the Web. At the same time, the rapid emergence of XML DTDs and vocabularies from industry and government sectors has focused public attention upon issues of resource identification, classification, cataloging, and delivery that hinder reuse and interoperability. The results of new collaborative endeavors are not necessarily easy to identify and access on the Internet. Simply put: XML resources are not nearly as discoverable and reusable as they deserve to be." [local archive copy]

[December 08, 1998] "DMTF Makes Real Standards Progress." By Jonathan Angel. In Network Magazine[.com] Volume 13, Number 13 (December 1998) [News & Analysis], page 18. ". . . the DMTF tackled the problem of data exchange. Instead of creating a new standard (one attempt called the HyperMedia Management Protocol was never finished) the group expeditiously decided to adopt the Extensible Markup Language. . . The glue that holds DEN and WBEM together is the DMTF's Common Information Model (CIM), an object-oriented model for representing all the managed components-hardware, applications, and users-in a network and describing the relationships between them. Vendors stress that XML support will gradually be added to their management applications, without making SNMP or Desktop Management Interface (nterface (DMI) obsolete. Ultimately, however, XML may be embedded in a new generation of smart devices. For example, future routers are likely to incorporate HTTP servers so that they can transmit information directly in XML. Universal employment of XML tags would slightly increase the bandwidth required for exchange of management information. But only those few curmudgeons who mourned when the Internet moved from ASCII text to formatted HTML are likely to mind." For other information, see "DMTF Common Information Model (CIM)."

[December 07, 1998] "Microsoft Joins Meta Data Coalition." By Bob Trott. In InfoWorld (December 07, 1998). "Microsoft has turned over its Open Information Model (OIM) meta-data specification to the Meta Data Coalition and has joined the group of 47 software vendors and customers, company officials announced Monday. The coalition will integrate the OIM and its own Meta Data Interface Standard (MDIS) 1.1 in hopes of providing a technology-independent, vendor-neutral specification to facilitate sharing and reuse of meta data."

[December 07, 1998] "SoftQuad Forges XML Trail. Easy-to-use XMetal Editor Speeds Up Authoring, Offers Variety of Wizards." By Antone Gonsalves. In PC Week [Online] Volume 15, Number 49 (December 07, 1998), page 52. "Softquad Software Inc. is one of the latest vendors to build a new tool simplifying development in XML, which is attracting growing corporate interest as a standard for distributing data across Web-based environments. XMetal, scheduled to ship in March, is one of the few authoring tools that provide features to speed up the process of writing in Extensible Markup Language." See also the SoftQuad Software press release, "SoftQuad Software Inc. Announces XMetaL, Latest XML/SGML Content Authoring Tool. New XMetaL Ushers in Next Generation of Structured Document Authoring. Delivers Unprecedented Ease of Use and Deployment for Corporate Customers."

[December 07, 1998] "Aroma of JavaBeans permeates server offerings." By Carol Sliwa and David Orenstein. In ComputerWorld (December 07, 1998). "New offerings from Inprise Corp., Information Builders Inc., Persistence Software Inc. and Secant Technologies Inc. all promise to support Enterprise JavaBeans - components that reduce the amount of code developers need to write for server-based applications. Bluestone Software Inc. will announce its new XML Server, a pared-down, entry-level version of its Sapphire/Web application server that can read and write the Extensible Markup Language (XML) and that also supports Enterprise JavaBeans."

[December 07, 1998] "XML Gains Ground as Standard." By Jeff Walsh. In InfoWorld Volume 20, Issue 49 (December 7, 1998), page 74. "As the Extensible Markup Language (XML) picks up speed as the lingua franca for cross-platform Web data, other open-source technologies are quickly moving to support the standard. Recently, a Perl module was announced that will bring the parsing of XML to the popular Web scripting environment. Another online project brings JavaBeans and XML together as two sides of the same coin."

[December 07, 1998] "Peer-To-Peer Enterprise Information Sharing -- DataChannel's RIO 3.1 Allows Collaboration Among A Broad Range Of Users." By Jeff Angus. In InformationWeek Issue 712 (December 07, 1998). ". . . All clients support finding a file and viewing the file by double-clicking it, whether downloading it to your local drive or viewing it either within a browser or by launching the authoring application. This launching capability may confuse users at first because "opening" the file may result in seeing the file in a view pane or starting up the authoring program with the file in a window. Viewing utilities from Net-It and Inso, packaged separately under the name Webview Extensions, should make this clearer when they're added. This set of functions is delivered through Extensible Markup Language, so as that standard proliferates, we can expect DataChannel, one of the main players in the XML standard efforts, to take advantage of the metadata management standard, to increase the groupware aspects of Rio, from version control to smarter search and retrieval."

[December 07, 1998] "Vendors Serve Up XML. DataChannel, Software AG Ink Deal." By Jeff Walsh. In InfoWorld Volume 20, Issue 49 (December 7, 1998), page 16. "DataChannel last week announced it will integrate its Rio information management product with Software AG's new data server, which is based on the Extensible Markup Language (XML). The partnership between the companies will result in a combined product that will enable users to get applications up and running faster, according to DataChannel." See also the press release.

[December 07, 1998] "IETF to Approve Collaboration Protocol." By Jeff Walsh. In InfoWorld Volume 20, Issue 49 (December 7, 1998), page 16. "The Web will come one step closer to becoming a truly collaborative medium next week as the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) approves the Web Distributed Authoring and Versioning (WebDAV) protocol. WebDAV enables users in different locations to work on the same documents or Web site. It provides features for preventing overwrites and the capability to exchange document properties such as the author's name." See "WEBDAV (Extensions for Distributed Authoring and Versioning on the World Wide Web") for additional references.

[December 02, 1998] "<XML>Ready for Prime Time?</XML>." By Phil Keppeler. In Network Magazine[.com] Volume 13, Number 13 (December 1998) [News & Analysis], pages 12, 14. "Since the Extensible Markup Language (XML) specification was first proposed in late 1996, it has remained in the headlines as one of the Web's next big killer applications, with the promise of being a solution for e-commerce, EDI, contextual searching, online data warehouses, and more. But the question remains: Will it emerge as a significant architecture for Internet applications, or fade into the background as have so many technologies that promised to revolutionize the medium? A flurry of recent announcements by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), as well as pressure from Microsoft as it adds XML support to its products, indicates that XML-based applications are at least a step closer to reality."

[December 01, 1998] "XML Meshes B2B Systems. Ironside and Ariba tag set aimed at bringing buyers, sellers together." By Jim Kerstetter. In PC Week [Online] Volume 15, Number 48 (November 30, 1998), page 39. "Ironside Technologies Inc. and Ariba Technologies Inc. are working on a set of XML tags that will bring together the disparate sides of B2B electronic commerce. The Extensible Markup Language tags, which should be completed by year's end, will be a hot button in Ariba's buyer-side applications that tie in to Ironside's applications for business-to-business sellers. Both companies' chief technology officers met this month to hash out the details of the tags, officials from both companies said."

[December 01, 1998] "For Web Abstraction: Objects, XML, HTTP. XML Makes a Good Object Bag." By Frank Willison. From WebReview.com (September 25, 1998). "Nicolas Popp [Editor-in-Chief for Technical Publishing, O'Reilly & Associates] sang the praises of middleware in his talk entitled Combining XML and Object Technology to Build Distributed Web Applications. Middleware is an old song in application development, part of the client/server hymnal; but Popp gave it new, Web-based lyrics: Object creation and XML. And he no longer talks about client/server technology; in the Web space, the next step is server-to-server technology."

[December 01, 1998] "The Allure of XML's Standard Data Format." By Andy Oram. From WebReview.com (September 22, 1998). "Lots of companies pour their money into feature-loaded database products grinding away on expensive servers. So it's intriguing to learn from XML University's Brian Travis, in his XML in Action tutorial (Day One), that a lot of organizations' information lies tucked away in proprietary, hard-to-query documents such as word-processing files. Wouldn't it be great to have a single, flexible format that would allow you to combine and present all your critical information in any manner you chose?" See also "XML Packages Data Like an Envelope."

[December 01, 1998] "Software Doesn't Write Poetry Yet, But It Can Automate the Grunt Work. Using Intelligent Searching for Knowledge Formation and Reuse." By Tony McKinley [Innodata]. In KMWorld Magazine Volume 7, Issue 13 (December 1998), pages 16, 28. The article discusses intelligent object retrieval using XML-based technologies.

[December 01, 1998] "XML Explodes Onto the Scene: Vendors Rush to Release Tools." By Jeff Walsh. In InfoWorld Volume 20, Issue 48 (November 30, 1998), page 53. "The Extensible Markup Language (XML) is the text of a thousand faces. Despite its hype usually being associated with Web publishing because Standard Generalized Markup Language (SGML) vendors are first out of the gates with the most advanced tools, XML is finding its way into niches throughout the computing infrastructure."

[December 01, 1998] "IBM Harnesses [XML] Language." By Jeff Walsh. In InfoWorld Volume 20, Issue 48 (November 30, 1998), page 53. "IBM has developed a technology, called xmLDAP, that enables Extensible Markup Language (XML) to query a company's directory services database. The technology can query any directory services that support the Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) through a proxy server, according to company executives. IBM showed off the xmLDAP technology at the recent XML '98 trade show."

[November 30, 1998] "Content Management Breaks Down Your Documents." By Liz Levy. In Imaging & Document Solutions Volume 7, Number 12 (December 1998), pages 16-28. [ISSN: 1083-2912.] "XML provides a foundation: XML (Extensible Markup Language) is a technology that is bringing together the separate worlds of document management and content delivery. Using XML, a document can be separated into its discrete elements. For example, a 50-page report might contain a five-page executive summary, three 15-page chapters, 20 charts, five tables, eight photographs, 40 headlines, and 30 captions. XML offers a way to identify the different types of information presented and the relationships between that information."

[November 30, 1998] "XML: Putting It All In Context [Computer Quick Study]." By Suruchi Mohan. In Computerworld Volume 32, Number 47 (November 23, 1998), page 29. "The Extensible Markup Language (XML) is a specification that lets you tag text for a Web-based document. It doesn't describe what the text should look like (that's what HTML, the Web programming language, is for), it gives meaning to text on a page. XML helps structure information in a document to make it 'smart.' For example, you may have a statement, 'The skies today are . . .' followed by a variable that would be replaced by the appropriate word ('clear,' 'overcast,' etc.) based on conditions in a database or other data source." Article includes Q&A from Emilie Schmidt, CTO, State of North Carolina, Raleigh. See also the associated XML Resources.

[November 30, 1998] "XML Server Consolidates Multiple Data Stores." By David F. Carr. In Internet World Volume 4, Number 39 (November 23, 1998), page 23. "Betting that XML will prove to be a cure for many systems integration headaches, Object Design Inc. is offering its eXcelon server as the database for this universal data format. Although eXcelon is built on top of the ObjectStore engine, it will be a new product dedicated to XML data management rather than an add-on to ObjectStore. The product, announced at the XML '98 conference held in Chicago last week, is in its first round of beta testing. Object Design is promising to make a subsequent beta available over the Web in December, with general availability to follow in early 1999. Object Design has made some previous forays into managing Web content, but it may get more mileage out of XML support. Like HTML, XML offers the simplicity of a text-based markup language, but its object-like data structures play to the company's strengths."

[November 30, 1998] "Parsing - Who Needs It? SGML/XML and Computer Science." By Dick Grune [Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam]. Presented November 20, 1998, at the Markup Technologies '98 Conference. SGML was clearly not designed to interface seamlessly with existing computer science parsing techniques. Most of these techniques were already very well-known in the beginning of the 80s, when SGML was designed. The syntax issues of SGML in ISO 8879 are expressed in completely novel terminology and the parsing requirements do not match known algorithms and techniques. The results were not favourable: few computer scientists have worked on parsing SGML, although many software designers and programmers have. Most computer scientists found parsing SGML a less than attractive challenge, and some were daunted by its alien terminology. The situation has deteriorated with the advent of HTML, which had a syntax defined more or less by what Netscape or Microsoft could get away with. Unsurprisingly, this did not lead to a strong basis and stable software. The developers of XML got the point, and did it right, both from the parsing point of view, the terminology, and the SGML compatibility."

[November 30, 1998] "Object Design Stands Behind XML With Server." By Antone Gonsalves. In PC Week [Online] Volume 15, Number 48 (November 30, 1998), page 47. "Object Design Inc. plans to ship next year a data server that makes it easier for corporations to use XML to integrate data from a variety of sources for Web applications. The eXcelon server enables developers to build a cache, called an XMLStore, to save application-bound data that can be drawn from relational databases, documents and multimedia files."

[November 27, 1998] "Winner, Standards: XML. [PC Magazine Technical Excellence Awards]." By Michael J. Miller and PC Magazine Staff. In PC Mgazine [Online] Volume 17, Number 22 (December 15, 1998), page 174. XML wins the technical excellence award in the Standards category. "Like its predecessors, XML uses markup tags to describe the contents of virtually any type of file, such as a Web document, a spreadsheet or graphic, or a set of database records. The thirst for a language to describe data is easily evidenced by the number of XML-based languages that have popped up since the W3C started work on XML two years ago. These include languages for financial transactions (OFX), vector graphics and multimedia (VML and SMIL), Web site ratings (RDF), and syndication of content (ICE)."

[November 27, 1998] "Proposal Tries to Contain XML Chaos." By Jeff Walsh. In InfoWorld Volume 20, Issue 48 (November 25, 1998), page 12. "When the Extensible Markup Language (XML) enabled people to create their own unique data-markup tags, many industry observers feared that chaos would ensue. Several vertical industry groups rushed to solve this problem and agreed on standardized tag sets to aid information sharing. But with the recent XML Namespaces proposal moving up to a Proposed Recommendation in the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), the chaos that could have crippled XML's usage may be resolved."

[November 27, 1998] "The XML Infusion." By Sebastian Rupley. In PC Mgazine [Online] Volume 17, Number 22 (December 15, 1998), page 29. [Web searching - 'Precision searching with XML']. A summary of Bill Gates' XML promo at the Fall 1998 Denver Professional Developer's Conference, and comments on XML-enabled Web searching.

[November 27, 1998] "Introduction to XML." By STEP Stürtz Electronic Publishing GmbH. White Paper from OASIS (Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards). November, 1998. "XML is the future of the Web. The decisive factor is that XML can be tailored completely to the needs of users, the information they want to exploit and finally the application purpose. The enormous possibilities are at the same time a great danger to the success of XML. XML is not a solution but rather a tool to develop solutions. They are as good or as bad as the concepts behind them. With XML, basically everything is possible: from a highly effective, information-orientated language to a layout-orientated HTML extension which basically does not exceed the possibilities of HTML and misses the potential of XML."

[November 27, 1998] "The XML Cuisinart. Making Users Happier and Markup Better with XML and SGML Appliances." By Chet Ensign, Matthew Bender & Company, Inc.. White Paper from OASIS (Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards). November, 1998. "An SGML or XML appliance may be as simple as a batch script that allows the user to provide a few initial settings then executes on an entire collection of tagged files. It may be as involved as a series of interactive dialog boxes that walk the user through a specific task. The defining characteristic of an appliance is that it is focused on performing one or two small but specific sets of tasks. It does not try to be a general-purpose tool. Instead, it is designed to optimize some specific task and help its user execute that task quickly and efficiently. A good appliance will reduce the task to the fewest necessary steps, minimize distractions that interfere with the user's concentration, limit the choices or options to just those required, and help focus the user's concentration on the key parts of the task at hand."

[November 27, 1998] "XML: Chance and Challenge for Online Information Providers." By Hans Holger Rath, Ph.D., STEP Stürtz Electronic Publishing GmbH. White Paper from OASIS (Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards). November, 1998. "XML opens up new possibilities for the online information provider. Efficient creation, maintenance and storage of information in documents can be restricted to the content accessed, re-used, and re-composed for various needs. The 'virtual document' generated from existing material on-the-fly opens up new products for the online market. Hyperlinks can lead to dedicated document parts instead to the whole document. The availability of XML is a big chance for the online market. Both providers as well as users will benefit when the advantages are realised and implemented in online products.

[November 27, 1998] "XML: The Foundation for the Future." By Mike Hogan, POET Software. White Paper from OASIS (Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards). November, 1998. "XML is incredibly hot these days. Articles in major business magazines are trumpeting XML as the heir apparent to HTML in the Internet. Technology leaders like Microsoft, Netscape, Sun, Novell and others have announced new products and technologies based on XML that promise to have a dramatic impact on the computing landscape. Bill Gates has stated that Microsoft Office will support XML, giving it critical mass. Internet visionaries are talking about the impact XML will have on Internet search engines, electronic commerce, intelligent agents, seamless roaming, file systems, electronic data interchange (EDI), push technologies, software distribution, data re-purposing and more."

[November 27, 1998] "Putting XML to Work: Advantages of Content Management." By Interleaf Corporation. White Paper from OASIS (Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards). November, 1998. "Content management is more than just new technology. At its core, content management allows companies to use information to build stronger relationships along the supply chain, consequently tying customers, distributors, suppliers and manufacturers together. It employs new technology to customize information for customers by re-purposing existing knowledge of a customer's product, order and maintenance history. Content management creates a powerful win-win situation between the producer and user of a product, by maximizing customer productivity, satisfaction and loyalty and generating new revenue streams through increased order size and cross-selling."

[November 27, 1998] "An Introduction to the Extensible Markup Language (XML) [Preview of the Preliminary Program for the 1998 ASIS Annual Meeting.]" By Martin Bryan. In Bulletin of the American Society for Information Science Volume 25, Number 1 (October/November 1998), pages 11-14. ". . . XML restricts the use of SGML constructs to ensure that fallback options are available when access to certain components of the document is not currently possible over the Internet. It also defines how Internet Uniform Resource Locators can be used to identify component parts of XML data streams. XML was not designed to be a standardized way of coding text; in fact, it is impossible to devise a single coding scheme that would suit all languages and all applications. Instead XML is formal language that can be used to pass information about the component parts of a document to another computer system. XML is flexible enough to be able to describe any logical text structure, whether it be a form, memo, letter, report, book, encyclopedia, dictionary or database."

[November 27, 1998] "Collaborative Authoring on the Web: Introducing WebDAV." By E. James Whitehead, Jr. In Bulletin of the American Society for Information Science Volume 25, Number 1 (October/November 1998), pages 25-29. "The WebDAV Distributed Authoring Protocol defines a set of extensions to the base Hypertext Transfer Protocol for the following capabilities: 1) Overwrite prevention. Keeping more than one person from working on a document at the same time. This prevents the "lost update problem" in which modifications are lost as first one author, then another writes changes without merging the other author's work. 2) Properties. Creation, removal and querying of information about Web pages, such as its author, last modified date, etc. Also included is the ability to make hypertext links between pages of any resource type. 3) Name space management. Creation, removal and automatic consistency maintenance of collections containing sets of resources. Also, the ability to copy and move Web pages and to receive a listing of resources in a collection (similar to a directory listing in a file system)."

[November 27, 1998] "An Introduction to the Resource Description Framework (RDF)." By Eric Miler. In Bulletin of the American Society for Information Science Volume 25, Number 1 (October/November 1998), pages 15-19. "The Resource Description Framework (RDF) is an infrastructure that enables the encoding, exchange and reuse of structured metadata. RDF is an application of XML that imposes needed structural constraints to provide unambiguous methods of expressing semantics. RDF additionally provides a means for publishing both human-readable and machine-processable vocabularies designed to encourage the reuse and extension of metadata semantics among disparate information communities."

[November 27, 1998] "SGML, XML and the Document-Centered Approach to Electronic Medical Records." By Gloria Shobowale. In Bulletin of the American Society for Information Science Volume 25, Number 1 (October/November 1998), pages 7-10. ". . . For the description of medical records, especially for narrative information, a standard generalized mark-up language, document type definition (SGML DTD) for medical information, called MML (medical markup language) had been created in Japan. It is already implemented by more than ten healthcare providers. [...] The Kona proposal provides the framework for definition of common data elements in an electronic medical record that can be encoded with standard tags. Because XML tags define objects or parts of a document, they facilitate the transfer of component parts of a document to another computer system. This functionality supports the four levels of the Kona architecture." [local archive copy]

[November 27, 1998] "Next-Generation Browsers." By Jeffery Veen. In Wired News (November 18, 1998). "[On Aurora and RDF:] Using RDF to define these relationships, rather than a strict XML vocabulary, also allows Mozilla to understand the resources it displays in a more abstract -- and extensible -- way."

[November 25, 1998] "The Power of XML. XML's Purpose and Use in Web Applications." By Hiroshi Maruyama, Naohiko Uramoto, and Kent Tamura (IBM Research). IBM White Paper (October 1998). "XML is so powerful and flexible that many groups of people are considering it for different purposes. We'll discuss these different purposes: 1) Meta content -- use XML for describing meta information of other documents or online resources; 2) Rich document descriptions -- use XML to customize and enrich document descriptions; 3) Database -- use XML for publishing and exchanging database contents; 4) Messaging -- use XML as a messaging format for communication between application programs." Also available in PDF format.

[November 25, 1998] "XML and What it Will Mean for Libraries." By C. M. Sperberg-McQueen. Presented at the meeting "TEI and XML in Digital Libraries," sponsored by the Digital Library Federation, and held on June 30 - July 1, 1998, Jefferson Building LJ119, Library of Congress, Washington, DC. See the collection of final reports for related documents, and "MARC (MAchine Readable Cataloging) and SGML/XML" for the broader picture.

[November 25, 1998] "Object Design Launches XML Server. New offering is based on Object Design's established object database." By John Cox. In Network World Volume 15, Number 47 (November 23, 1998), page 36. "The new software, called eXcelon is essentially a database for documents formatted using the Extensible Markup Language (XML), an emerging Web standard. XML, among other things, provides a standard way to present in document form data, such as sales figures, customer information and orders. . . . Excelon, now in limited beta testing, is a data manager for large numbers of XML documents. In the future, users will be able to generate XML documents from spreadsheets or other programs and store these directly in eXcelon. Or, using third-party tools or OLE DB calls, administrators will be able to shift big chunks of data to eXcelon servers from relational database servers." See the ObjectDesign press release for other details.

[November 25, 1998] "Executive Touts XML as Revolutionizing E-commerce." By Jeff Walsh. In InfoWorld (November 17, 1998). Randall C. Whiting gave a Keynote Address at XML '98 in Chicago. "CommerceNet president and CEO Randall C. Whiting on Tuesday praised the Extensible Markup Language (XML) as the way to bring interoperability to electronic-commerce sites. . . .Whiting sees XML as a way to encourage interoperability across different business models, but the move seems to be for everyone to try and standardize on a single tag set rather than intelligently transform the XML between sites."

[November 25, 1998] "XML and Semantic Transparency." By Robin Cover. Excerpted/revised from an OASIS/Sun draft article. ". . .As enchanting as it is to contemplate the apparent 'semantic' clarity, flexibility, and extensibility of XML vis-à-vis HTML (e.g., how wonderfully perspicuous XML <bookTitle> seems when compared to HTML <i>), we must reckon with the cold fact that XML does not of itself enable blind interchange or information reuse. XML may help humans predict what information might lie "between the tags" in the case of <trunk></trunk>, but XML can only help. For an XML processor, <trunk> and <i> and <bookTitle> are all equally (and totally) meaningless. . ."

[November 25, 1998] "XML '98: The Gathering." By Dale Dougherty. From XML.com. Overview of the XML '98 Conference. "XML '98 opened Monday in Chicago, with a bustling crowd of over 1100 attendees. The conference is organized by the GCA, which has long been gathering SGML's true believers, a pleasant mix of academics, developers and consultants. However, this conference is attracting a new audience based on growing interest in XML among corporate developers."

[November 25, 1998] "Big Blue Launches Big Push Into XML." By Mark Walter. "A week after Oracle announced a big XML push IBM threw its weight behind the standard, launching yesterday its own XML Web site, making available 10 free XML Java applications, and demonstrating a Java-based PGML viewer it is building with Adobe." For other information, see the IBM XML Web site and the description of new IBM XML tools and technologies.

[November 25, 1998] "Adobe, IBM Brew a Java PGML Viewer." By Mark Walter. In SRIP and from XML.com. "Adobe has enlisted the aid of IBM in developing a Java PGML viewer the company revealed yesterday at a small press function hosted by IBM. The Java PGML viewer is the first Java implementation of the Adobe imaging model, which also underlies Adobe PostScript, PDF and the Acrobat viewer." See details in the IBM press release.

[November 25, 1998] "XML Writes the Book. ArborText, Interleaf Set to Ship New Publishing." By Scot Petersen. In PC Week [Online] Volume 15, Number 46 (November 16, 1998), page 28. "Corporate users with heavy-duty document management needs may now have a reason to turn to XML: the release this quarter of two new Extensible Markup Language-based publishing systems. Both Epic, which is built around ArborText's core Adept Editor, and BladeRunner attempt to solve that problem by enabling data to be converted into XML components and input once to a centralized repository. There, the components can be indexed and organized for customized publication to any medium."

[November 25, 1998] "XML Forges Smoothly Ahead. Corporate use still low, but top vendors work to change that." By Larry Seltzer. In PC Week [Online] Volume 15, Number 46 (November 16, 1998), page 56.. "A movement is under way to establish XML as a standard way of defining all data interchange. There are also many industry-based efforts to define vertical vocabularies. The RosettaNet initiative, for example, is attempting to define the IT supply chain in XML. The RosettaNet initiative is a good example of how XML is being used as an enabling technology for EDI (electronic data interchange) based on standard vocabularies. XML is most famous for its connections to the Web, but DataChannel Corp., Microsoft and others provide programming tools for using XML in general-purpose programming situations." See also "RosettaNet."

[November 25, 1998] "New Standards Will Ease Electronic Ordering." By Timothy Dyck. In PC Week [Online] (November 25, 1998). "EDI (electronic data interchange) is the complex and expensive-to-use VAN (value-added network)-based standard everyone loves to hate, but it has also been the only game in town. That will change as new standards such as OBI (Open Buying on the Internet), OTP (Open Trading Protocol), XML (Extensible Markup Language) and EDI over Internet are deployed in production environments as early as next year."

[November 23, 1998] "XML and Java: The Perfect Pair: Part 1 ." By Ken Sall. In Web Developer's Virtual Library (WDVL) (November 16, 1998). "Both XML and Java are Internet friendly. XML was designed to be an optimized, flexible, readable format which is straightforward to use over the Internet; Java has been network-aware from the beginning in its support of sockets, HTTP, HTML, and servers. Both support Unicode (two byte characters) and therefore contribute to internationalized applications. Much as Java provides programmers the ability to represent complicated data structures and object-oriented models (sometimes in a tree or table view), XML is ideal for representing complex, hierarchical data models. While Java developers have benefited from a rich development environment for several years, XML proponents are more recently experiencing the widespread availability of tools to support their ability to write applications that process XML documents. (Some may argue that truly mature XML authoring tools have not yet arrived. No argument here.). . . "

[November 23, 1998] "Multipurpose XML." By [InfoWorld Staff]. In InfoWorld Volume 20, Issue 47 (November 23, 1998), page 41. "Although most of the spotlight at XML'98 was on the strength of the Extensible Markup Language (XML) in graphics, databases, and other areas, most of the product announcements highlighted using XML to separate form and content through a host of new and updated Web publishing tools. SoftQuad announced XMetaL, its XML/SGML content authoring tool, which enables users to author content in the native format of their company's current publishing system. The tool provides a familiar word processor-like environment with enhancements for working with larger, structured documents. XMetaL can also create documents that conform to specific Document Type Definitions (DTDs). . ."

[November 23, 1998] "IBM's XML Giveaway. Seeking to Boost Market, Big Blue releases Nine New Free Tools." By Robin Schreier Hohman. In Network World Volume 15, Number 46 (November 16, 1998), pages 1, 87. "IBM is about to throw its considerable weight squarely behind Extensible Markup Language, and the company hopes to link its name with this emerging Web data definition technology as inextricably as Sun is associated with Java. As part of the initiative, IBM is releasing for free nine XML development tools and applications that, among other things, use Java to create an XML visual editor, convert data to JavaBean classes, and convert XML to a printable format. While the initiative is aimed largely at developers, IBM's push could help bring XML more quickly to the forefront by driving the production of XML-compatible applications. IBM is also launching a new dedicated Web site today, complete with online courses, papers, standards and sample XML code that could spur development of XML applications and the acceptance of the technology."

[November 23, 1998] "W3C Considers Proposals From Microsoft, Adobe." By James. C. Luh . In Internet World (November 16, 1998). "The W3C (World Wide Web Consortium) has created a Scalable Vector Graphics working group to build a specification for an XML-based vector graphics format. The working group has released a previously private document outlining its design goals and requirements for a scalable Web graphics specification. To create a widely usable standard, the group will consider a number of proposals, including Vector Markup Language (VML), submitted by a group led by Microsoft; the Precision Graphics Markup Language (PGML) specification, submitted by a group led by Adobe Systems; and another proposal for Web Schematics."

[November 23, 1998] "XMI Puts Component Modelers on the Same Page ." By Antone Gonsalves. In PC Week [Online] Volume 15, Number 47 (November 23, 1998), page 32. "IBM, Oracle Corp. and Unisys Corp. are attempting to solve conflicts developers face when trying to move resources between a variety of tools by implementing a new interoperability standard. In a recent demonstration at an Object Management Group meeting in Burlingame, Calif., the three companies demonstrated the use of the XMI (Extensible Markup Language Metadata Interchange) specification in moving a design model for a component-based application between a variety of tools. The OMG is expected to adopt the XMI specification in the first quarter of next year." See the database entry, "Object Management Group (OMG) and XML Metadata Interchange Format (XMI)."

[November 23, 1998] "Infoseek Rolls Out Enterprise Server." By Kathleen Ohlson. In Computerworld Online News (November 17, 1998). "Infoseek Corporation today rolled the latest version of Ultraseek Server, boosting the corporate Web search application with Extensible Markup Language (XML) and Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) support. With Ultraseek Server 3.0, any documents that are written in XML will now be recognized, said Dora Futterman, Infoseek's director of product marketing. The software will also be able to recognize document type definition as the XML standard continues to be tweaked, Futterman said." See the text of the Infoseek press release for other details.

[November 23, 1998] "XML, SSL Give Ultraseek New Search Power." By Jim Kerstetter. In PC Week [Online] Volume 15, Number 47 (November 23, 1998), page 28.

[November 23, 1998] "IBM, Oracle Hop on XML Bandwagon." By Carol Sliwa and David Orenstein. In Computerworld Volume 32, Number 46 (November 16, 1998), page 6. "Microsoft Corp. has led the Extensible Markup Language (XML) charge for a long time. Now other heavy hitters are jumping on the bandwagon, as corporate users catch on to the new language that can help them format, organize and manage data they want to expose on the Web. IBM Monday planned to publicly assert its intention to "embrace" XML -- on the heels of last week's similar announcement from Oracle Corporation." See the accompanying Extensible Markup Language (XML) Resources from the Computerworld Web site.

[November 23, 1998] "XML and Java: Siblings or Rivals?" By Dana Gardner. In InfoWorld (November 20, 1998), page 6. "The Extensible Markup Language (XML) in many ways augments Java; however, XML is also evolving into an object transport protocol that could undermine Java's claim as a does-all platform. XML tags Web-based information for recognition by developers and computers, which is necessary because HTML lacks a way to add meaning to content aside from cryptic URLs. XML aims to add that meaning to Web objects -- a task once assigned to Java. Sun acknowledges that XML can communicate to clients without JVMs, but it claims XML needs Java to reach its potential."

[November 22, 1998] "Object Design Server Delivers XML." By Jeff Walsh. In InfoWorld Volume 20, Issue 46 (November 16, 1998), page 63. "Object Design this week will announce a new Extensible Markup Language (XML) data server called Excelon at the XML '98 show in Chicago. Excelon enables developers to build Web applications using XML by caching, storing, and sharing information in the middle-tier. Web applications can send XML queries through Excelon to make requests of mainframes and databases that don't use XML. The software also handles any load balancing required to ensure optimal performance." See the full text of the announcement for other information on Object Design's Excelon.

[November 22, 1998] "[Shape-Shifter.] IBM Announces XML Initiatives to Shape Web Standards. [IBM Unveils Series of XML Tools.]" By Jeff Walsh. In InfoWorld (November 23, 1998), page 41. "IBM announced several new Extensible Markup Language (XML) initiatives last week at the XML'98 show in Chicago, including a XML Web site, nine development tools, and a graphics technology. The tools are available for free at IBM's alphaWorks Web site (www.alphaWorks.ibm.com/Home), where developers can download preview versions. IBM uses the site as a way to gauge users' interest in specific areas of development." Resources include: (1) The Bean Markup Language (BML) is an XML-based language for creating, accessing and configuring JavaBeans. The language has an interpreter that reads the script to create the Bean hierarchy and a compiler to create the Java code. (2) The XML Editor Maker builds Java-based data-entry Web forms from an XML Document Type Definition (DTD). (3) DataCraft lets developers build Web-based queries of IBM DB/2 and Microsoft Access databases. (4) Dynamic XML with Java enables developers to put Java code within their XML documents, which IBM said would be useful in server-side Java and Java-based workflow applications. (5) PatML matches and replaces patterns for transforming large XML documents to smaller XML subsets or other document types, and the user can specify the rules for the patterns and transformations. (6) TeXML provides mapping from XML into the TeX formatting language, which is used primarily in academia. (7) XML Bean Maker enables developers to generate a JavaBean and all of its necessary Java classes for a given DTD. (8) XML TreeDiff lets users quickly find differences between Document Object Model trees. (9) The XML Productivity Kit for Java works with IBM's XML Parser for Java, which provides additional programming resources." See similarly by Jeff Walsh: "XML initiatives: IBM unveils series of XML tools" in InfoWorld Volume 20, Issue 47 (November 23, 1998).

[November 22, 1998] "Free XML Utilities From IBM." By Richard Karpinski. In InternetWeek Issue 742 (November 23, 1998), page 11. "IBM last week unleashed a slew of free XML developer tools to help seed the market, as well as enhance its reputation in this increasingly crucial area of enterprise software. IBM, which previously made a big splash releasing a Java-based XML parser on its alphaWorks site, released nine more tools. It also launched its XML information site at www.ibm.com/xml. With partner Adobe Systems Corporation, IBM also showed the first working demonstration of its Precision Graphics Markup Language (PGML) viewer, a technology for rendering vector graphics within Web browsers." See alternately: "IBM Releases Free XML Tools" (Richard Karpinski).

[November 21, 1998] "XML Announcements Pop Up Everywhere." By Jeff Walsh. In InfoWorld Volume 20, Issue 46 (November 16, 1998), page 21. "Last week, Oracle further defined its XML support; Microsoft pushed a new query language for XML; and Oracle, IBM, and Unisys announced a new XML schema for sharing information among programmers. This week at the XML '98 show in Chicago, IBM is expected to make an announcement on XML and Java, DataChannel will advocate for XML as it joins the Open Applications Group; and Interleaf will announce a services group to help companies adopt XML-based solutions."

[November 21, 1998] "Ex-IBM Exec Joins DataChannel. Lucie Fjeldstad Accepts Chief Executive Position." By Mike Vizard. In InfoWorld Volume 20, Issue 46 (November 16, 1998), page 64. [Interview with Lucie Fjeldstad] "A 25-year veteran of IBM, Lucie Fjeldstad retired after seeing more than her fair share of paradigm shifts. Last week she became president of DataChannel, a small start-up in Bellevue, Washington that develops tools built on top of the Extensible Markup Language (XML) file format. Fjeldstad spoke with InfoWorld Executive News Editor Mike Vizard about why she decided to leave her consulting practice and take on a management position to help lead a company focused on emerging XML technologies." See the full text of the DataChannel press release for related information.

[November 21, 1998] "[Rated XML.] Review of Just XML, by John E. Simpson." Reviewed by Ross Owens. In InfoWorld (November 23, 1998), page 85. Reviewed November 21, 1998. "Although the book revolves around the 'B' flicks, Simpson still gets an 'A' for effort. Just XML takes a difficult subject and makes all the right movies." Or: Book Review: Rated XML.

[November 13, 1998] "Infoseek Goes Bilingual." By Chris Oakes. In Wired News (November 12, 1998). "Infoseek, one of the Web's largest search engines, said Thursday that it will make new searching software available next week -- software that can interpret documents encoded with the eXtensible Markup Language, better known as XML. 'It's a bold move, and I commend them for it,' said Tim Bray, an independent programmer and co-editor of the XML 1.0 specification, which was recommended as a standard by the World Wide Web Consortium in February. 'Infoseek is making a reasonable bet that there is going to be a lot of XML around and [that] searching it is going to be in demand.' The company will support XML in a new version of proprietary software it will sell to Web sites and corporate network managers beginning Tuesday. Called Ultraseek Server 3.0, the software is designed to add search capabilities to the Web pages and other documents stored on Web sites and company networks."

[November 13, 1998] "XML Integration Tool for Databases Revealed ." By Jeff Walsh. In InfoWorld Volume 20, Issue 45 (November 9, 1998). "While many XML-enabled databases are hitting the market, and debates remain heated as to whether XML is best served out of a relational or object database, developers will likely want to experience the benefits of XML before considering any major changes. The XML Extractor, developed by News Internet Services, and soon to be published on the Web, is a Java applet that learns the structure of information in a user's database and outputs specific data with XML-based syntax. The applet uses Sun Microsystems' Java Database Connectivity protocol to access and extract information from any SQL, Access or other relational database. The Extractor will be distributed as open source software, under a plan where any developers who make changes to the extractor have to publish their source online so others can benefit from their work." See the reference to the associated white paper in the following item.

[November 13, 1998] "XML Extractor/ Assembler. A Generic Approach to Generating XML from Legacy Data." By Jonathan Shapiro, with Phil Notick, Laird Popkin and Betsy Shanley. From News Internet Services. See the preceding item.

[November 13, 1998] "Inso to acquire Sherpa Systems for $35M." By [PC Week Online Staff]. In PC Week [Online] (November 12, 1998). "Inso Corporation announced late Wednesday that it will acquire Sherpa Systems Corp., a provider of product data management tools, for approximately $35 million. With Inso's expertise in XML and structured content distribution technologies, Sherpa will be positioned to provide the backbone for information management and distribution for enterprise operations, Inso officials said." See also the press release "Inso Corporation Signs Definitive Agreement to Acquire Sherpa Systems Corporation" and the database entry for Inso Corporation in 'XML Industry Support.'

[November 13, 1998] "Wireless Protocol Gathers Steam." By R. Scott Raynovich. In Wired News (November 11, 1998). "Eleven additional companies have joined the Wireless Application Protocol Forum, a group attempting to establish global standards for accessing Web applications through wireless phones and data terminals. Among the new members of the WAP Forum are Bell Atlantic Mobile, France Telecom, and Italy's Telital S.P.A. The group, which now has 71 members, was founded in February by Ericsson, Motorola, Nokia, and Unwired Planet." For information on the XML-based Wireless Markup Language (WML), see "WAP Wireless Markup Language Specification."

[November 11, 1998] "Bridging the Gap Between SGML and HTML: The Potential of XML for Technical Communicators." By Deborah S. Ray and Eric J. Ray. In Technical Communication Volume 45, Number 3 (August 1998), pages 427-432.

[November 11, 1998] "Arbortext Debuts XML System For Enterprise ." By Charles Babcock. In ZDNet Inter@ctive Week (November 9, 1998). "Arbortext Inc. is introducing an Extensible Markup Language-based document management system for the enterprise that manages multiple steps in the document creation-to-publication process. The system is intended to make information from different sources quickly available throughout the enterprise. It can draw files from a variety of sources, such as Microsoft Corp.'s Word, HyperText Markup Language files, any ASCII-based text source or a legacy system. It can find and merge files and present the results in an eXtensible Markup Language (XML) format ready for publication on the Web. Arbortext has dubbed Version 1.0 of the XML document framework the Enterprise Product Information Chain (Epic)." See the ArborText press release and the ArborText entry in the XML Industry Support document.

[November 11, 1998] "Arbortext Eyes the Enterprise." By Mark Walter. From XML.com. "In a bid to become more of a full-system supplierbortext, known for its SGML/XML authoring and composition software, has introduced EPIC, a package of software and services for implementing XML-based publishing solutions at the enterprise level. EPIC, which stands for Enterprise Product Information Chain, is targeted at product-support documents, especially user guides, data sheets, service bulletins, reference books, and assorted documentation that accompany complex products. . . EPIC matches Arbortext's structured authoring tool (the Adept editor) with a choice of repositories-Documentum, Poet, or Sherpa's configuration-management system-connected through Arbortext's Willow API. To streamline the process of implementing an XML-based system, Arbortext is offering several prebuilt modules. One facilitates review-and-approval, using either Adept or a Web browser; another customizes Web output based on visitor profiles."

[November 11, 1998] "Built-in database support will integrate with DOM on client side." By Mark Walter. In Seybold Report (November 9, 1998). Excerpt: ". . . The XML support comprises three facilities: 1) Oracle's own XML parser. Written in Java, it programmatically processes XML documents or fragments coming into or out of the database; 2) XML support in Oracle 8i's database-backed file system. The 'file system' of the database can automate parsing and rendering of data between XML and the database; 3) Tag-aware searching by the ConText full-text engine." For details, see also the Oracle White Paper: "XML Support in Oracle8i and Beyond" and the Oracle entry in the 'XML Industry Support' page. See in print: Seybold Report on Internet Publishing Volume 3, Number 4 (December 1998), pages 16-17 ("Oracle Plans XML Support in 8i").

[November 09, 1998] "Sun Spreads Wings. NetDynamics Update Dovetails with Enterprise Web Strategy." By Antone Gonsalves. In PC Week [Online] (November 9, 1998). "Sun Microsystems Inc. will upgrade its NetDynamics Application Server next quarter as the company lays the foundation for its Java extended enterprise strategy. The release, code-named Owens, will include support for EJBs (Enterprise JavaBeans) and Microsoft Corp.'s COM (Component Object Model). Sun's plans also bring together the latest Internet specifications, including XML (Extensible Markup Language) and its own Jini technology, deployed on a series of servers, including the NetDynamics and JES (Java Embedded Server) servers, for extending networks and applications to infinite numbers of nodes."

[November 09, 1998] "XML Examined - The Nascent Internet Standard Is Emerging As The Most Effective Way To Organize And Exchange Data." By Gregory Dalton. In Information Week Issue 708 (November 09, 1998). "The Extensible Markup Language is still something of an unknown quantity for a large part of the IT industry. But it's increasingly showing up on the radar screens of savvy tech managers as a way to facilitate many areas of electronic business by improving how data is organized and exchanged between companies over the Internet. 'We're neck-deep in XML for the next generation of everything, from message formats to interfaces to all kinds of stuff,' says Mark Lussier, senior systems architect at DHL Airways Inc. And while DHL's involvement with XML is certainly not typical, many companies are at least at the testing stage with the nascent standard."

[November 09, 1998] "Standards Help Blur Distinctions In Browsers." By Richard Karpinski. In InternetWeek Issue 740 (November 09, 1998). "The race to define the next generation of Web publishing is on, with Microsoft and Netscape planting their respective stakes in the ground for emerging Web standards. Both companies are making significant advances in supporting standards that include Extensible Markup Language (XML), Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) and the Document Object Model (DOM). . . The bottom line for IT organizations banking on these next-generation browsers: Begin now to prepare Web content and applications for these evolving standards, especially on the server side, while tracking and demanding support for standards-and not browser-specific extensions-on the client. . . The Dallas Morning News uses Inso Corp.'s XML-based DynaBase product to mark up content in XML and a Visual Basic script to convert XML documents into simpler HTML for delivery to Web browsers. . ."

[November 09, 1998] "DataChannel Integrates XSA." By Matthew Nelson. In InfoWorld Volume 20, Issue 45 (November 06, 1998). "DataChannel has announced that it will incorporate Extensible Security Architecture (XSA) into its flagship product, DataChannel RIO, by the end of the year. DataChannel RIO provides a framework for creating two-way portals on corporate intranets and extranets to manage information and content. By incorporating XSA, DataChannel RIO will now support a number of standard security interfaces including X.509, Active Directory Service Interface (ADSI), and LDAP. The system utilizes Extensible Markup Language, or XML, for the distribution of information."

[November 09, 1998] "ReachCast Converts Documents to XML." By Jeff Walsh. In InfoWorld Volume 20, Issue 45 (November 09, 1998). "ReachCast recently announced its product suite designed to turn static corporate documents into interactive Extensible Markup Language (XML) documents. The suite consists of ReachSite, an XML application server, and ReachCreate, which helps to add structure to corporate documents such as Adobe's Portable Document Format (PDF) and Microsoft Office files."

[November 09, 1998] "The March of XML Continues as it Wins New Advocates." By Jeff Walsh. In InfoWorld (November 06, 1998). "The Extensible Markup Language (XML) is being touted as the new data format by the Customer Support Consortium and the Desktop Management Task Force, which are teaming up to create virtual support communities. . . The move to XML is designed to make it easier for software vendors to implement the frameworks already developed by the Consortium, because vendors will only have to put an XML parser into their tool instead of needing a specific parser to communicate with the support protocol." See: "DMTF Common Information Model (CIM)."

[November 09, 1998] "Putting a 'V' Into E-Commerce. VoxML dials up Web sites, but developers will stay on hold, PC Week Labs finds." By Herb Bethoney. In PC Week [Online] (November 9, 1998). "PC Week Labs' examination of VoxML's SDK showed it to be a useful set of development tools for experimenting with VoxML - the kit includes a VoxML Simulator application for testing VoxML applications - but the SDK has a long way to go before it will allow developers to fully deploy a voice application. For example, the version of the Simulator we used, the latest available from Motorola's VoxML Web site, doesn't yet support all of the VoxML specifications, especially input types such as Record, Time or Date. VoxML is based on the XML (Extensible Markup Language) standard and conforms to the language rules of XML with tags that support the creation of interactive speech applications." See more information in "VoxML Markup Language."

[November 06, 1998] "Programming Marked-Up Documents." By Lauren Wood. In Markup Languages: Theory & Practice Volume 1, Number 1 (Winter 1999) 91-100. Abstract: "The Document Object Model is a programming interface to HTML and XML documents. The level 1 DOM specification enables application writers to access, navigate, and manipulate the content and structure of HTML and XML documents. The paper describes the motivation behind the work on the DOM, as well as the rationale behind some of the design decisions. A precis of future work is given." See the Table of Contents for the inaugural issue of Markup Languages: Theory and Practice.

[November 06, 1998] "Automating SGML-to-XML DTD Conversion (Part 1)." By Bob DuCharme. In <TAG> Volume 11, Number 10 (October 1998), pages 9-10. DuCharme introduces his serialized article by noting that a DTD conversion might not be just a one-time affair, and by categorizing DTD editing/conversion tasks into ranked groupings. For other documentation on the differences between SGML and XML, see the dedicated section "XML and SGML."

[November 06, 1998] "Extending the DTD." By Brian Travis. In <TAG> Volume 11, Number 10 (October 1998), pages 1, 4-6. Travis talks about the "crisis surrounding the DTD" -- by which he means the various (XML) schema proposals (e.g., XML-Data and Document Content Description for XML (DCD)) vis-à-vis extension of DTD syntax. "So, I'm uncommonly torn on this one. On the one hand, we already have the DTD , which has proven itself to be a perfectly good way to define complex hierarchical structures. Extending the DTD to add rich data types would make it incompatible with SGML unless SGML keeps up (unlikely). However, we could keep the DTD syntax compatible with SGML and go the DCD route for those who think this is a better way. This might lead to confusion, as users try to decide which schema definition language is best for them. Bray pointed out that people won't be writing DTD s or DCD s, anyway. There will be tools that provide a graphical view of the structure of a document. These tools could easily create either a DTD or a DCD as its output format, without users needing to know anything about the syntax."

[November 06, 1998] "The DOM for Non-Programmers." By Elaine Brennan. In <TAG> Volume 11, Number 10 (October 1998), pages 1-4. The W3C DOM specification is "not a document designed for easy readability by non-programmers, so this article is one non-programmer's take on the contents - and implications - of the DOM in the XML universe."

[November 06, 1998] "Reflections on Seybold SF 1998: Same Hype, New Twist." By Chris Ziener. In <TAG> Volume 11, Number 10 (October 1998), pages 6-8. A report on the Seybold San Francisco/Publishing '98 conference.

[November 06, 1998] "Microsoft Stresses Simplicity, Functionality in IE 5.0." By Bob Trott . In InfoWorld [Electric] (November 4, 1998). - "Search Assistant, 'add' and 'organize' option, simplified error messages, expanded 'AutoComplete' capabilities. . . For developers, who received a Technology Preview of IE 5.0 in June, the beta includes enhanced Extensible Markup Language (XML) support, including the abilities to natively render documents in XML, and to intermix XML and other formats, such as HTML."

[November 06, 1998] "Net Content-Sharing Protocol Makes Debut ." By Lee Copeland. In CMPNet TechWeb News (October 28, 1998) "A host of high-tech vendors and Web publishers from the ICE Authoring Group unveiled the ICE 1.0 standard Tuesday. ICE, or the Internet Content and Exchange protocol, is designed to automate content-sharing across businesses. Borrowing from a television model, the standard would enable 'producers' to syndicate their Web content to affiliate 'subscribers.' Based on XML, the ICE standard uses XML tags to format data for server-to-server processing. The Authoring Group includes a wide range of industry sponsors, such as Adobe Systems, Microsoft, Sun Microsystems, National Semiconductor, Tribune Media Services, Channelware, and Vignette. Sponsors envision ICE as an important tool for e-commerce, publishing networks, and portal sites."

[November 06, 1998] "Internet Explorer 5 and XML." By Charles Heinemann [Program Manager, XML Microsoft Corporation]. In Extreme XML [Column] (November 4, 1998). Using an example XML document with information about <employees>, Heinemann shows how the Microsoft Internet Explorer 5 Beta supports a technical preview release of XML schema, W3C namespaces, and 'DataTips'. He summarizes new DOM support in the MSXML parser, illustrates the XSL support with an XSL style sheet, and shows how one can use the new C++ XMLDSO to display the employee information. Finally, the article explains MSIE 5's support for direct viewing of XML in the browser - how it is 'possible to view the XML file by simply typing the URL of the XML file in the IE address box'. See also Heinemann's previous article in the Extreme XML column, "XML, Validation, and Extra Cheese." [local archive copy]

[November 06, 1998] "XML Lets Buyers Comparison-shop." By Diane Trommer. In lectronic Buyers' News - EDTN Network (October 26, 1998). "Promising to "revolutionize the way companies do business with their suppliers," Intelisys Electronic Commerce, LLC, has added XML-based technology to its electronic procurement system. By integrating XML with its IEC-Enterprise procurement system, Intelisys will enable buying organizations to search across distributed supplier catalogs, obtain up-to-date product information, and perform price comparisons. . ." See also the press release, "Intelisys Electronic Commerce Adopts Webmethods' XML-Based Technology to Further Streamline Procurement. Intelisys XML-based IEC-Enterprise Now Available."

[November 04, 1998] "The ICE Protocol: Automating the Exchange of Syndicated Content." By Victor Votsch. In The Seybold Report on Internet Publishing Volume 3, Number 3. ('October 30, 1998.') Excerpt: "The ICE specification is concerned with content distribution based on business rules. These rules govern the day-to-day distribution and manipulation of content, as well as how it is handled on a site. ICE-based systems will manage and automate syndication relationships, data transfer and results analysis. Combining industry-specific vocabularies and business logic, ICE promises to be the basis for complete solutions for content partners interested in syndicating any type of information. The ICE group expects that vertical industries will create XML DTDs that contain the vocabulary specific to their businesses. Already there are a number of efforts to establish industry-specific DTDs that provide common vocabularies for data and document exchange: Rosetta.net, Ontology.org, and CommerceNet are all promoting targeted vocabularies in industries such as aerospace, electronics and health care. The ICE spec can take advantage of any existing or emerging DTDs; the protocol itself is indifferent to the format of the content." For information on ICE, see the dedicated page: "Information and Content Exchange (ICE) Protocol."

[November 04, 1998] "A Simple XLink Package." By Leslie Carr. In InterChange - Newsletter of the International SGML/XML Users' Group Volume 4, Issue 4 (October 1998). See a related document by Carr, "Initial Experiences of an XLink Implementation." Other articles on the XML Linking languages are referenced in "General: Papers, Articles, FAQs for XML Linking."

[November 04, 1998] "XML: The Language of the World Wide Web Fostering Web. Application Development is the Goal Behind Extensible Markup Language." By Phillip Merrick. In Network World Volume 1, Number 44 (November 02, 1998), page 41. [Technology Update.] "Extensible Markup Language (XML) is poised to become the technology of choice for corporations conducting business-to-business commerce via the Internet. XML is founded on the principles that guide any successful computing movement. It is accessible as an open standard; it is interoperable across disparate platforms and applications; and by computing standards, it is a development language that is simple to understand and use. . . XML also provides the basis for a common API across Web servers, legacy systems, databases and middleware infrastructures. This will allow companies to link business processes across a diverse set of systems without having to write custom APIs. Applications can be linked directly into back-end systems using only the open standards of the World Wide Web (HTML, XML and HTTP) as the glue."

[November 04, 1998] "Oracle Powering up XML, Data Warehousing." By Paul Krill and Jon Cornetto. In InfoWorld Volume 20, Issue 44 (November 02, 1998), page 5. "Oracle will flesh out its data-integration strategy this month by detailing improvements in its Extensible Markup Language (XML) and data warehouse plans. Under the company's XML blueprint, iFS [Internet File System] will use XML for drag-and-drop data parsing, data rendering, and document type definitions, according to Oracle company officials. XML is a tagging language for accessing documents. Future versions of iFS will add more extended XML support, the officials said. Electronic commerce, messaging, and application integration will also be key focuses of Oracle's XML efforts. The company will support the definition, processing, and management of XML e-commerce data formats and transactions. Application integration will be supported by applying XML to Oracle's messaging infrastructure, Internet Messaging 4.2, for integrating front- and back-office systems."

[November 03, 1998] "Adams, Harkness & Hill banks on XML technology." By Blaise Zerega. In InfoWorld Volume 20, Issue 44 (November 2, 1998), page 70. [Mentor's Corner.] "Financial investors know that great risks often lead to great returns, and as one of the first commercial Lotus Notes sites, the Adams, Harkness & Hill (AH&H) investment bank is no stranger to investing in emerging technologies. In 1997, when the company sought to Web-enable its Notes-authoring system, the bank looked past an obvious answer from Lotus Domino and instead selected an Extensible Markup Language (XML) solution. XML - a sophisticated cousin of HTML - enables tagging of information in a document for better searching and data exchange. In production for almost a year, AH&H's XML-based Web publishing process is expected to save about $100,000 in labor costs and reduce staff work by more than 1,500 hours. These projected savings make the company's executives very excited about the prospects for the emerging technology. Automating the publishing process and replacing manual distribution were obvious answers to the need for speed, but how to go about it was less apparent. The bank briefly considered Lotus Domino and HTML Web-authoring products before selecting Inso Dynabase, an XML-based solution. The XML package gives the bank a fast, automated process that makes up-to-the-minute financial research available via the Web. Analysts produce research using Acrobat, Notes, Microsoft Word, or Excel and send it to a Notes database. There, a Notes agent exports it to a Dynabase server, where the files are automatically converted to XML and tagged according to predefined indexes." [Photo of Steve Frankel, AH&H's Managing Director.]

[November 03, 1998] "XMI to Enable Component Sharing." By Antone Gonsalves. In PC Week [Online] (November 02, 1998), page 10. "The Object Management Group will begin voting in January on the final submission for XMI (Extensible Metadata Interchange), a technology for bringing XML (Extensible Markup Language) into the realm of component repositories and object-oriented application development tools. The voting process is expected to take four to six weeks. 'All systems are go [for approval],' said Sridhar Iyengar, a Unisys Corp. fellow in Blue Bell, Pa., and chairman of the OMG Object, Analysis and Design Task Force, which was responsible for the XMI standard. 'It's procedural at this point.' The XMI format standard is a subset of XML and will become the cornerstone of an open information interchange model for exchanging programming data over Web-based networks. With XMI, data can be exchanged between various tools, repositories and applications, enabling collaborative development efforts over the Web among developers using different tools." For more on XMI, see the recent post from Stephen Crawley and the database entry, "Object Management Group (OMG) and XML Metadata Interchange Format (XMI)."

[November 03, 1998] "A CIM-pler Solution. DMTF proposal, XML Win Support as Standard for Net Management." By Paula Musich. In PC Week [Online] (November 02, 1998), page 15. "A growing number of vendors are lining up behind the Desktop Management Task Force's choice of the CIM (Common Information Model) specification and XML (Extensible Markup Language) as the transport and encoding mechanisms for CIM data. The combination is promising to bring users a standard way for applications to share management data. Without needing to support proprietary APIs, users will be able to more easily manage networks and do it more easily via the Web." For details, see: "DMTF Common Information Model (CIM)."

[November 03, 1998] "CIM: Net management's Best Kept Secret." By Jeff Caruso. In Network World Volume 1, Number 44 (November 02, 1998), page 24. "The Desktop Management Task Force (DMTF) recently advanced the CIM standard by releasing the encoding specification for representing CIM data using Extensible Markup Language (XML). This means applications can retrieve CIM data using the Web technology of XML. CIM defines a way to represent and exchange management data collected from any source, be it a router, server or desktop system. If the data is represented using CIM, any network management tool or application that understands CIM can analyze the data and make correlations between information coming from different locations in the net, uniting systems and network management under one umbrella standard." On DMTF CIM, see "DMTF Common Information Model (CIM)."

[November 03, 1998] "ReachCast Makes Online Files Easy to Swallow." By Brian Hannon. In PC Week [Online] (November 02, 1998), page 29. "Road warriors today do not want to consume huge documents to find a single piece of data. But with XML on the menu, online document searching is now more palatable. Startup ReachCast Corp., of San Ramon, California, uses Extensible Markup Language to turn a document into a browser-based table of contents. ReachCast comprises ReachCreate, which dissects documents into interactive XML components, and ReachSite, an XML application server."

[November 03, 1998] "DataChannel Rio to Get XSA Support." By Matthew Nelson. In InfoWorld (November 02, 1998). "DataChannel has announced that it will incorporate eXtensible Security Architecture (XSA) into its flagship product DataChannel Rio by the end of the year. DataChannel Rio provides a framework for creating two way portals on corporate intranets and extranets to distribute and manage information and content. By incorporating XSA into DataChannel Rio, the product will now support a number of standard security interfaces including X.509, Active Directory Services Interface, and Lightweight Directory Access Protocol. The system utilizes Extensible Markup Language for the distribution of information." See also the press release.

[October 30, 1998] "The Open Applications Group Supports XML." By Thomas Sullivan. In ent [Online] Volume 3, Number 17 (October 21, 1998), page 36. [Data Management.] "The Open Applications Group Inc. (OAGI, Chicago, www.openapplications.org), a nonprofit industry consortium comprising software vendors and associated organizations, announced the sixth version of its Open Applications Group Integration Specification, designed to promote the interoperability of business applications across varying hardware and software platforms. Release 6 expands the functionality of the specification with Supply Chain, Logistics, Sales Force Automation and Customer Service interoperability specifications and support for XML. Perhaps the most noteworthy of these additions, though, is XML support. 'As XML came onto the horizon in the middle of last year, we looked at it because it is an industry initiative, and it includes support from some of the most prominent vendors in the industry,' says David Connelly, president and CTO, OAGI". See: "Open Applications Group - OAGIS 6."

[October 30, 1998] "XML and the World-Wide Web Consortium Leverage Action Project." By Brian Matthews. In ERCIM News Number 35 (October 1998). "The World-Wide Web is based on some very simple technologies. In particular, the Hypertext Markup Language (HTML), is a simple language for describing documents. However, HTML is severely limited as a information management medium. HTML's mix of structure and presentation means that reformatting the data to give different views is hard. Further, the lack of domain specific data modelling in HTML has made accurate searching for information on the Web difficult and has made it hard to interact with databases. Thus the very features which led to the widespread acceptance of HTML are limiting the utility of the Web itself."

[October 30, 1998] "W3C Completes DOM Specification. Document Object Model Soothes Cross-browser Headaches." By Liora Alschuler. From XML.com (October 21, 1998). [Also, e Seybold Report on Internet Publishing Vol. 3, No. 3.] "The DOM is one more piece in the interoperability puzzle that the W3C is constructing while the market still cares about vendor independence and cross-application standards. The fact that this is getting done before the Net bandwidth problems are solved is helpful, because it's a step forward for Web publishers who want to create client-side applications, and who realize that it's the software, not just the content, that makes a great site. For those with a long-range view, the DOM does not reduce the cost of creating well-structured information, but once you've gone to the trouble of putting in all those tags, the DOM should help reduce the cost of creating that cool software that generates the payback for your investment." For other references, see: "W3C Document Object Model (DOM), Level 1 Specification."

[October 30, 1998] "[Review:] HotMetal Recasts Tools. HotMetal Version 5.0 Offers Fortified HTML Editing Features." By Sean Dugan. In InfoWorld Volume 20, Issue 43 (October 26, 1998), page 57. "SoftQuad's Version 5.0 of HotMetal Pro . . . is a tool worthy of the most advanced user. With this version, HotMetal graduates to a truly WYSIWYG editing environment, with strong page previewing capabilities and extensive drag-and-drop features. Overall, HotMetal is a top-notch editor for developing Web sites and HTML pages. The interface has been greatly streamlined, and managing a hairball collection of Web resources -- the bane of all Webmasters - is virtually painless."

[October 30, 1998] "Java Database Solves Portability Issues." By David F. Carr. In Internet World Volume 4, Issue 35 (October 26, 1998), pages 29-30. "Cloudscape Inc.'s embeddable Java database, JBMS, is finding its way into Fortune 1000 intranets, courtesy of Dow Jones Interactive. In June, Dow Jones introduced Interactive Intranet Toolkit, a software package that helps companies enrich their intranets with customized news feeds from the Dow Jones News Service and thousands of other sources. The toolkit is in use at about 100 customer sites today. In the Dow Jones application, JBMS manages news feeds formatted in XML (eXtensible Markup Language). Those headlines and full-text stories are generated by Dow Jones' Custom Clips service, which maintains profiles of the news that subscribers are interested in receiving. Content is transmitted by FTP or e-mail from Dow Jones to a server at the customer's site."

[October 30, 1998] "Understanding XSL." By Jay Greenspan. In HotWired Webmonkey (October 28, 1998). "The most important thing to learn from this article is that XSL does a lot more than apply style. When put through an XSL processor, the information in the XML source document will be evaluated, rearranged, then reassembled. What you end up with is not just a pretty version of the XML data - rather, you get flexible source information that can be added easily to, modified, or reordered. This end product is called the Result Tree. . . Notice how easy it is to add HTML tags to the XML data. When the XSL processor saw that those tags were not part of the XSL vocabulary, it passed them through to the Result Tree. If you take a moment, you'll probably see the huge potential here. XSL could be used as a transformation language. Data stored in one XML file could be transferred to another file with completely different tags. Even better, this information could be modified to work with some XML application that responded to a different tag set. . ." For other articles on XSL, see "XSL Articles, Papers, Tutorials."

[October 30, 1998] "Veo Systems Looks to Ensure I-commerce, XML Interoperability." By Matthew Nelson. In InfoWorld Volume 20, Issue 42 (October 19, 1998), page 22. "As Extensible Markup Language (XML) becomes part of Internet-commerce transaction protocols, Veo Systems intends to make sure all protocols will interoperate. Veo has released a Common Business Library (CBL) system and presented it to CommerceNet and RosettaNet for approval. CBL is intended to be a reference library of common XML tags to which protocols such as Open Buying on the Internet (OBI), Open Financial Exchange (OFX), Open Trading Protocol (OTP), Internet Content Exchange (ICE), and others will be written to interoperate. CommerceNet, through its Echo Framework Working Group, plans to present a set of common semantics and a common transaction framework for I-commerce within the next year." See "Common Business Library (CBL)."

[October 30, 1998] "Rio 3.2 Opens Corporate Portals." By Jeff Walsh. In InfoWorld Volume 20, Issue 42 (October 19, 1998), page 22. "DataChannel has announced it will ship the beta version of its upcoming Rio 3.2 product on November 1, extending the company's move toward enabling the creation of two-way corporate portals. On the heels of Microsoft announcing WebDAV support DataChannel is planning to ship WebDAV servlets in Rio 4.0, scheduled for the first quarter of 1999. The servlets will add WebDAV capabilities to various server platforms, enabling users to save files directly to a Web server, the same way Microsoft is promising Office 2000 and Windows NT 5.0 will do."

[October 30, 1998] "Microsoft Products to Get WebDAV Support." By Jeff Walsh. In InfoWorld Volume 20, Issue 42 (October 19, 1998), page 50. "Microsoft has announced support for Web Distributed Authoring and Versioning Protocol (WebDAV) in its Office 2000 product line and Windows NT 5.0 Server products. Microsoft also pledged future WebDAV support in the Windows operating system, FrontPage, and BackOffice product lines." See: "WEBDAV (Extensions for Distributed Authoring and Versioning on the World Wide Web."

[October 29, 1998] "RosettaNet Emerges." By Nicole Lewis. In Sm@rt Reseller ([October 29, 1998). "While various aspects of each standard may impact the channel, the standard that will most directly affect the reseller is being developed by RosettaNet, a consortium of major distributors, resellers, manufacturers, software publishers, product shippers, technologists and bankers, among others. osettaNet is using XML, a common alphabet for doing business on the Web, to build its e-commerce dictionary. The organization says the dictionary will be the one defining framework by which all PIPs will be exchanged. 'We will actually define the grammar by which we can build all the XML documents that machines could then exchange to truly do meaningful interface processes,' says Chehade. But while RosettaNet is taking the lead in developing standards and guidelines in the IT supply chain, other standards efforts remain in their infancy." See also "RosettaNet."

[October 28, 1998] "The Need for a European XML/EDI Pilot Project." October, 1998. By Martin Bryan. From the SGML Centre. See also: "European XML/EDI Pilot Project."

[October 28, 1998] "ICE Group Releases Spec for Content Exchange, Syndication." By Matthew Nelson . In InfoWorld (October 27, 1998). "The ICE Authoring Group and Advisory Council on Tuesday released the ICE (Information and Content Exchange) specification, Version 1.0, here at the ICE 1.0 Summit: Building Internet Value Networks. The ICE 1.0 specification is intended to streamline the exchange of content across the Internet and enable the syndication of such information between companies in business-to-business exchanges. The Authoring Group itself is composed of Vignette, Microsoft, National Semiconductor, Adobe, Sun Microsystems, and NetPerceptions, among others." See also the database entry, "Information and Content Exchange (ICE) Protocol."

[October 28, 1998] "OBI Protocol Gains Backers, but Critics Remain." By Whit Andrews. In Internet World (October 19, 1998), pages 15, 18. "Because OBI is based on Electronic Data Interchange (EDI), the critics say, Extensible Markup Language (XML) offers more elegant ways to automate the exchange of fundamental information between buying and selling software. 'On the other hand, EDI already has wide acceptance,' Keenan noted, 'making OBI attractive to companies that prefer to take small steps with their legacy systems rather than leap to an XML-based architecture'."

[October 27, 1998] "Microsoft Supports WebDAV." By Richard Karpinski. In InternetWeek Issue 737 (October 19, 1998), page 33. "Microsoft said it will incorporate WebDAV support into Windows NT 5.0, Office 2000 productivity applications, FrontPage 2000 Web authoring tools and BackOffice services. Web Distributed Authoring and Versioning (WebDAV) is a set of extensions to HTTP 1.1 that establishes an interactive mechanism for reading, writing and updating documents over the Web. Its goal is to provide a standard way for Web tools to handle Web workflow and document publishing." See: WEBDAV (Extensions for Distributed Authoring and Versioning on the World Wide Web.

[October 27, 1998] "Communicator to include ngLayout." By Paul Festa. In CNET News.com (October 27, 1998) [Posted 9:40 a.m. PT]. "In a move welcomed by the developer community, Netscape Communications confirmed that it will include the ngLayout engine in the 5.0 version of its Communicator Web-browsing software. First announced in April under the code-name Raptor, ngLayout improves on Communicator's current engine in being "incredibly small and incredibly fast," said Micki Seibel, product manager for Communicator. . . 'The layout engine interprets HTML and XML content and renders it,' Seibel said. 'It's the heart of the browser'."

[October 27, 1998] "The Technical Content of TMX 1.1." By Sarah Carroll. In Multilingual Computing and Technology [#22] Volume 9, Issue 6 (October 1998), pages 48-49. [ISSN: 1065-7657.] Summary: "TMX 1.1. - A format for the exchange of data between competing translation database systems. TermBase Exchange, a sister standard to TMX, will allow for the exchange of data between terminology management systems." For reference to the TMX DTD and other details, see the database entry, "Translation Memory eXchange (TMX)."

[October 27, 1998] "XML High on User, Vendor Priority List." By Carol Sliwa. In Computerworld Volume 32, Number 43 (October 26, 1998), pages 43-44. "Hordes of people are lining up at shows and conferences to learn more about how Extensible Markup Language (XML) can help them tag and better categorize information so users can access and search for it more easily. And even as most people are still trying to figure out where to use basic XML, some vendors are busy trying to extend XML's capabilities."

[October 26, 1998] "Standard For Management Takes Hold." By Tim Wilson. In InternetWeek Issue 738 [News and Analysis] (October 26, 1998), pages 1, 70. "Several vendors and other experts said CIM will get a major boost from Extensible Markup Language (XML) technology, which has been adopted as the official application-to-application protocol under CIM. 'XML will give users access to any Web [management] environment very readily,' Turner said. The DMTF's XML Encoding Specification v1.0 will do for management applications what HTML does for Internet applications: make it easier to read. Under this specification, management apps will be able to exchange data, such as object classes and instances, in a common format. The DMTF's XML Encoding Specification v1.0 will do for management applications what HTML does for Internet applications: make it easier to read. Under this specification, management apps will be able to exchange data, such as object classes and instances, in a common format. DMTF leaders said CIM and XML will succeed where earlier management data standards, such as the Open Software Foundation's Distributed Management Environment, failed." See: "DMTF Common Information Model (CIM)."

[October 26, 1998] "Microsoft Ties Data Transfers To XML in IE 5.0." By Antone Gonsalves. In PC Week [Online] Volume 15, Number 43 (October 26, 1998), page 33. "The Redmond, Wash., company has wrapped Extensible Markup Language technology within a Component Object Model component embedded within Internet Explorer 5.0 Beta 2, which was released to private beta testers last week. A final version is due to ship by year's end. The implementation enables data to be transferred via XML between servers and between servers and clients. Each machine needs an XML parser that follows standards set by the World Wide Web Consortium. . . IE 5.0 also will implement Extensible Style Language and XML Schema, standards that have not yet been finalized by the W3C."

[October 21, 1998] "Formalizing SGML and XML Instances and Schemata with Forest Automata Theory." By Paul Prescod. A preliminary version of a paper presented at the MetaStructures 1998 Conference. Abstract: "The notions of schemata and validation are widely deemed to be crucial to the success of XML and SGML. This paper surveys a particular formalization for schemata that is sufficiently powerful to implement recursive SGML/XML content model validation and also many features that SGML/XML content models do not support. The same formalism can be used to describe queries and transformations over SGML and XML documents." See also the database entry, "SGML/XML and Forest Automata Theory."

[October 21, 1998] "New Spec Breaks The E-Commerce ICE." By Richard Karpinski. In InternetWeek Issue 737 (October 19, 1998), pages 1, 112. "Next week, Vignette Corp. and an army of industry and end-user partners will release version 1.0 of the Information & Content Exchange (ICE) specification, as well as some of the first products supporting the eagerly anticipated XML-based technology. The release is the culmination of months of work by more than 80 companies to define an Extensible Markup Language (XML) syntax for automating the business rules and processes needed to seamlessly syndicate, or distribute, content between Web servers." See also: Information and Content Exchange (ICE) Protocol.

[October 21, 1998] "Metastructures Conference in Review." By Dianne Kennedy. In XML Files: The XML Magazine Issue 7 (August 27, 1998). Report on the MetaStructures 1998 Conference. "Metastructures is a new name for an 'old' but leading-edge conference. Originally known as the International HyTime conference, it has historically been attended by those interested in leading edge SGML-related standards, initally HyTime and then joined by DSSSL. This year's event is co-chaired by Carla Corkern, ISOGEN International Corporation and Steve Newcomb, TechnoTeacher, Inc."

[October 21, 1998] "Highlights from XML Developers Conference." By Dianne Kennedy. In XML Files: The XML Magazine Issue 7 (August 27, 1998). Report on the XML Developers' Conference, August 20 - 21, 1998. Le Centre Sheraton Hotel, Montréal, Québec, Canada. "GCA's XML Developers' Conference provided the forum where XML application and systems developers could share their dreams, experiences, and accomplishments with each other. Described by its chairman, Jon Bosak, (also chairperson of the XML Working Group) as the 'UnConference', this iconoclastic event was attended by those who need a clear, intimate view of the fast-moving field of XML applications. This year's conference was the third of its kind, and was attended by about 140 XML developers. Since the call for papers was made only two weeks prior to the conference, it provided only the most up-to-date information."

[October 21, 1998] "[Book Review of] XML: A Primer." By Dianne Kennedy. In XML Files: The XML Magazine Issue 7 (August 27, 1998). Review of Simon St. Laurents book XML: A Primer, (Foster City, CA: MIS Press/IDG Books, 1998).

[October 21, 1998] "Veo Systems Releases XML library." By Tim Clark. In CNET News.com (October 14, 1998). "Start-up Veo Systems has released its XML-based Common Business Library to the public as a way to automate online commerce handled between computers. The company also submitted CBL 1.1 for review as a potential standard to CommerceNet and RosettaNet, two industry groups focused on business-to-business commerce. Veo hopes releasing the protocol will accelerate the use of XML (eXtensible Markup Language) in e-commerce and boost Veo's consulting practice." See also "RosettaNet."

[October 20, 1998] "WC3 to Standardize Vector Graphics. Microsoft, Netscape, IBM, Sun Join for Protocol Draft." By Jeff Walsh. In InfoWorld Volume 20, Issue 42 (October 19, 1998), page 48. "The Standard Vector Graphics (SVG) Working Group of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) plans to merge two existing submissions, the Precision Graphics Markup Language (PGML) and the Vector Markup Language. The protocol will be authored by Adobe Systems, Autodesk, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Macromedia, Microsoft, Netscape, Sun Microsystems, and Visio. A draft is expected in December."

[October 20, 1998] "Microsoft Expands COM, XML Support." By Richard Karpinski. In InternetWeek Issue 737 (October 19, 1998), page 15. "[Microsoft] "previewed COM+ integration with Microsoft's Visual Studio tools, as well as details on broad Extensible Markup Language (XML) support in the upcoming Internet Explorer 5.0 browser. Together, the developments underscore a major focus on ease of use-especially for Component Object Model (COM) development-as well as a reliance on standards-based XML to help Web development make its next leap forward, Microsoft executives said."

[October 20, 1998] "UWI consolidates Forms Creation." By [PC Week Staff]. In PC Week [Online] (October 19, 1998). "UWI.Com this month unveiled a pair of products that employ Extensible Forms Description Language, the company's forms syntax based on XML, which enables users to develop Web forms that store template, data and internal logic in one file." See: "Extensible Forms Description Language (XFDL)."

[October 20, 1998] "Microsoft Lays out its Own Strategy for XML." By Dana Gardner. In Volume 20, Issue 42 (October 19, 1998), pages 47, 50. ". . . A number of budding XML technologies - including XML 1.0, Extensible Style Language, XML Document Object Model (DOM), and XML Namespaces - will find their way into the upcoming Internet Explorer 5.0 and future Windows versions. . . Native XML support in future versions of Windows means that developers can draw on XML processing features to read and manipulate data as it moves between applications and components. In effect, XML becomes the glue that binds data and objects. . . Microsoft has plans for 'server-side XML,' whereby XML can be used as a standard way of passing data between many heterogeneous distributed application servers, as well as across multiple operating systems. . . With such potential, Microsoft intends to take a leadership position on the defining and implementation of XML, which as an open standard is overseen by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), in Cambridge, Mass."

[October 20, 1998] "Microsoft Outlines XML Features in Internet Explorer 5. Some see forward compatibility as a lingering issue." By James C. Luh. In Internet World (October 19, 1998), page 4. "Microsoft said IE5 will support the most recent Working Drafts of XSL and XML, and it plans to adapt its support to comply with subsequent versions. Microsoft will also include 'technology preview' level support for Document Content Description (DCD), a specification Microsoft proposed to the W3C in August. DCD is one proposal for defining XML schemata -- sets of rules for constructing and interpreting specific types of XML documents."

[October 19, 1998] "WAP Standard to the Rescue. New protocol will boost wireless devices' power and speed." By Herb Bethoney. In PC Week [Online] Volume 15, Number 42 (October 19, 1998), page 112. "The wireless application protocol will make wireless networks and devices faster, easier to use and more efficient. In fact, vendors are already using the markup language portion of WAP to create more robust microbrowsers for handhelds, making them much more useful as Internet access devices. A benefit of WAP is that it's based on existing Internet standards. For example, the Wireless Markup Language specification portion of WAP is based on the HDML (Handheld Device Markup Language) specification and is an XML (Extensible Markup Language)-based language. Microbrowser technology based on WAP allows each handheld device to decide how to best display information received from a server." Cf. "Wireless Has Bright Future," page 115). See also the database entry, "WAP Wireless Markup Language Specification."

[October 19, 1998] "Everyone's Making Markup Languages for Fun and Profit." By Dylan Tweney. In InfoWorld (October 19, 1998). ['Creating markup languages is now the trendy thing to do.'] "With this proliferation of markup languages, we'll soon need a markup language just to describe and categorize markup languages. Yes, I'm talking about the Markup Language Markup Language, or MLML."

[October 15, 1998] "Creating HTML Pages from DBMS Sources via XML. [Laziness Happens.]" By Henning Behme. In IX (November 1998). "To update Web pages by hand turns out to be a tedious task, once there are many links to be checked on a regular schedule. And, it's error-prone, too. XML data, in this case extracted from a DBMS by a database report, plus a few DSSSL scripts, enable the webmaster to create as many HTML files as she wishes. Outsourcing parts of these style sheets gives you the posibility to create a common look and feel for different applications." See also the article in German, "Faulheit siegt: HTML-Seiten aus Datenbeständen über XML generieren."

[October 15, 1998] "XML Inside [News]." By Suzanne Hildreth. In SunExpert Volume 9, Number 10 (October 1998), pages 6, 8. "A flurry of announcements in August and September from vendors of Extensible Markup Language (XML)-based products presage a busy year ahead for the nascent technology. XML, a specification formally released in February by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), the international organization charged with developing open standards, provides a blueprint for formatting data through the use of simple ASCII tags. Since then, a number of companies have unveiled products supporting the new technology. Here's a sampling of the activity by XML proponents over the past few months: Microsoft Corp., Redmond, WA, and DataChannel Inc., Bellevue, WA, announced a jointly-developed, Java-based XML parser for interpreting XML files; Object Design Inc., Burlington, MA, released its XML Object Manager, a database development tool that enables software developers to create XML-based Web applications; Poet Software, San Mateo, CA, and Inso Corp., Boston, MA, both released new versions of their respective XML-based content management and publishing tools; and SAP AG, Walldorf, Germany, announced support for XML as a standard for exchanging data between SAP and nonSAP systems."

[October 15, 1998] "Microsoft Outlines XML Support in IE 5 Beta 2." By Tim Bray. XML.com (October 14, 1998). ". . . the big news is that the next beta supports direct display of XML documents. This is a big step forward from the last beta, which could only display XML "islands" in HTML documents. There is a bit of a soft spot as to how the XML support will work with the DOM. We assume that internally IE transforms the XML to HTML before displaying it (which is how the Mozilla betas have been doing it). The soft spot is whether a DOM programmer accessing an XML page actually sees the pre-transformation XML elements and attributes, or only the HTML version that actually gets output. This is a pretty serious soft spot. Since XML + CSS does not really have any serious display advantages compared to HTML + CSS, the main reason why you'd want to send XML to a browser is to run some code on it after it gets there. The best way to do this is through the DOM, so a browser that supports XML but not the DOM is kind of unexciting." Note similarly Frank Boumphrey's comment on 'MSIE5 Beta 2 + XML' posted to XML-DEV: "I am using a simple script and the DOM to transform XML to HTMLon the fly,and style it with a CSS style sheet. Details available privately if any one wants them...".

[October 14, 1998] "Microsoft Supports XML in IE 5.0." By Richard Karpinski. In InternetWeek (October 12, 1998) "In addition to improved XML parsing engines, IE 5.0 will support direct viewing of XML documents, using either XSL or Cascading Style Sheets. XSL will not only support document display, but querying capabilities for extracting data from XML data sets. . ."

[October 14, 1998] "Microsoft Gives XML a Big Bear Hug." By Dana Gardner. In InfoWorld (October 13, 1998) [Posted at 9:39 AM PT]. "Microsoft is easing more Extensible Markup Language (XML) and related technologies into its browser and operating systems and in some ways is betting its future on XML, the company announced here Tuesday at its Professional Developers Conference. A number of budding XML technologies -- including XML 1.0, Extensible Style Language (XSL), XML document object model (DOM), and XML Namespaces -- will find their way into the upcoming Internet Explorer 5.0 and future Windows versions, the company said."

[October 14, 1998] "Microsoft Continues XML Push." By Ben Heskett. In CNet News.com [Intranets]. (October 13, 1998). "Microsoft is betting big on XML, a fact that may worry some and satisfy others who just want the emerging standard supported in Web technologies such as browsers so they can do more with the Web. At its annual developer's conference here, the company surprised no one by formalizing an ad hoc effort to build XML into appropriate software, a strategy largely dependent on the forthcoming Internet Explorer 5.0 upgrade, due by the end of the year, according to the company."

[October 14, 1998] "Microsoft Spells Out XML Support in Upcoming IE 5.0." By Antone Gonsalves. In PC Week [Online] (October 13, 1998). "Microsoft Corp. on Tuesday detailed the XML support it will provide in Beta 2 of Internet Explorer 5.0, which is scheduled for release by the end of the year. The browser upgrade will include support for core Extensible Markup Language standards defined by the World Wide Web Consortium as well as proposed standards for accessing and presenting data. . ." Support features include: "Direct viewing of XML; High-performance, validating XML engine; Extensible Style Language (XSL) support; XML Schemas; Server-side XML; XML document object model (DOM)." See the Microsoft press release for details.

[October 12, 1998] "XML Tools Take On Multimedia." By Richard Karpinski. In InternetWeek Issue 736 (October 12, 1998) [Intranet Applications]. "XML continues to fulfill its promise as a language for building languages, with the recent announcements of two XML-based applications for adding voice and multimedia functionality to Web applications. Motorola announced so-called voice browser technology based on the Extensible Markup Language. VoxML, or Voice Markup Language, provides users with voice-based access to Web content via either a voice browser - a browser that interprets voice the way Web browsers interpret HTML - or a standard telephone. Microsoft, meanwhile, said it has submitted another XML application, HTML+TIME, to the World Wide Web Consortium."

[October 12, 1998] "DMTF Backs XML Standard." By Benjamin Keyser. In InfoWorld Volume 20, Issue 41(October 12, 1998), page 8. "Tivoli, Novell, Cisco, and others at Networld+Interop in Atlanta next week are expected to back Extensible Markup Language (XML) as a standard way to implement the Common Information Model (CIM) object-description schema, according to the Desktop Management Task Force (DMTF). Implementations of CIM over XML may take the form of specialized servers that receive proprietary-format data and then re-package data into XML for sharing, or it may be embedded into smart devices. . . CIM is part of the larger Web Based Enterprise Management, or WBEM, initiative that was begun by a consortium of Intel, Microsoft, Cisco and others, and recently was turned over to the more neutral DMTF to help gain an industry-wide acceptance of Web-based management tools." See also the database entry, "DMTF Common Information Model (CIM)."

[October 09, 1998] "Politics Win Out Over Needs of IT Organizations." By Jeff Walsh. In InfoWorld Volume 20, Issue 40 (October 05, 1998). "A new open source effort is forming around Extensible Markup Language Transfer Protocol, or XMLTP, which is trying to establish a standard way to manipulate XML data across networks (www.xmltp.org). The protocol is similar to Microsoft's Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP), which is currently covertly in development, but Web developers are already hoping all of the differing ways to handle Remote Procedure Calls (RPCs) using XML will be compatible. 'I think that if XMLTP can be compatible with Userland's XML-RPC and with SOAP, it will only make integration that much easier,' said Josh Lucas. . ." See the XMLTP database entry.

[October 09, 1998] "A Technical Introduction to XML." By Norman Walsh. From XML.com (October 03, 1998). "This introduction to XML presents the Extensible Markup Language at a reasonably technical level for anyone interested in learning more about structured documents. In addition to covering the XML 1.0 Specification, the article outlines related XML specifications, which are evolving. Note: This is an update of the article by Norm Walsh published in 1997; the syntax is brought into conformity with the XML specification as published in the February 1998 W3C Recommendation.

[October 09, 1998] "The Code of the XML Geeks." By Peter Murray-Rust. From XML.com (October 03, 1998). "The Geek Code was developed by Robert Hayden as a way for geeks to identify themselves and their interests to others, especially other geeks. It is both wonderful and horrible. Wonderful because it is in the highest traditions of the Internet. It represents the basic desire of all geeks to communicate as virtual social animals." In this unusual XML example, 'XML:Geek' Peter Murray-Rust provides an xmlGeek XML DTD (which can be used to validate xmlGeek document instances) and then explicates the code.

[October 09, 1998] "The Web Distributed Data eXchange. Live Data from WDDX. How Different Programs Exchange Data." By Lisa Rein. From XML.com (October 03, 1998). "The WDDX proposal from Allaire, makers of the Cold Fusion application server, uses XML to define how different applications can exchange data structures. WDDX stands for Web Distributed Data eXchange. It is a non-RPC-based way to move complex data structures over HTTP between application servers and servers and browsers. Unlike XML RPC, WDDX does not rely on remote procedure calls, but it does seek to describe distributed objects using XML. WDDX provides a means for creating structurally equivalent representations of application-level data in a language-independent manner." See more information on WDDX in the database entry, "WDDX - Web Distributed Data Exchange."

[October 09, 1998] "Commerce Firm Seen Acquiring a Leader in XML." By Whit Andrews. In Internet World Volume 4, Issue 32 (October 5, 1998), pages 1, 75. "Automated procurement startup CommerceOne collected $31 million in new funding last week, and whispers indicate it may seek to acquire XML pioneer Veo Systems. Owning Veo -- with which CommerceOne recently announced a strategic partnership -- would immediately boost CommerceOne's credibility in what remains a largely theoretical and profoundly challenging market for automating the business-to-business sales process. Veo and CommerceOne declined to say whether their partnership is evolving now toward acquisition negotiations." See also "Commerce One and Veo Systems Form Strategic Partnership to Develop XML-Based Trading Partner Solutions."

[October 09, 1998] "Motorola Debuts XML-Based Markup Language for Voice-Driven Interfaces." By James C. Luh. In Internet World Volume 4, Issue 32 (October 5, 1998), page 7. "Motorola Corp. last week introduced Voice Markup Language (VoxML), an XML-based markup language for building voice-driven natural-language interfaces to Web applications. Mitesh Patel, mobile applications platform director for Motorola's Internet Connectivity Services Division, said VoxML will enable users to use their phones to access automated, voice-driven services, such as flight information access and traffic reports, by speaking natural-language commands, such as "Is Flight 277 from Denver on time?" A VoxML application will reside on a Web server, and, like a traditional Web application, will exchange information between the server and a browser on the user's end. However, VoxML applications will employ documents written in VoxML rather than in HTML, and users will access the documents not with traditional HTML browsers but with voice-activated browsing systems that users in turn can access via telephone or voice-enabled PC." See also the VoxML database entry.

[October 09, 1998] "Bringing XML to Life in the Real World." [IW Labs. Hands-On Tutorial] By Wayne Bremser. In Internet World Volume 4, Issue 32 (October 5, 1998), pages 51-52. "XML is finally here, right? Well, not really. For all of the press and excitement it's generated, XML technology is still in its infancy, and the language is still a long way from realizing its full potential. Why? As well defined as the language itself may be, without robust Document Type Definitions (DTDs) that are accepted and adopted on the industry level, XML will remain essentially proprietary technology. The impending release of Microsoft Office 2000, for example, will bring XML to desktop users from Tacoma to Tampa, but until industries and organizations agree on DTDs, XML will be a localized rather than a universal tool. This edition of IW Labs takes a look at the state of the XML art, talking with developers in the trenches about the development of DTDs, covering both general principles and real-world code. We'll also take a detailed look at a major piece of DTD code in 'Dissecting a Real-World DTD' THE STATE OF XML."

[October 08, 1998] "Why Do We Need XML?" By Eliot Kimber. Presented at the XML-Seminar '98 Göteborg, September 8 - 9, 1998 (Novotel in Gothenburg, Sweden). The two-day Seminar and Workshop was hosted by the SGML Users' Group, Swedish Chapter. [local archive copy]

[October 07, 1998] "An Efficiently Updatable Index Scheme for Structured Documents." By Hirotaka Kanemoto, Hiroyuki Kato, Hiroko Kinutani, and Masatoshi Yoshikawa. In Proceedings of the 9th International Workshop on Database and Expert Systems Applications. DEXA '98: Vienna, Austria, August 24-28, 1998. Edited by Gerald Quirchmayr, Erich Schweighofer, and Trevor J.M. Bench-Capon. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 1460. Berlin/New York: Springer Verlag, 1998. Abstract: "We propose an efficiently updatable index scheme for XML documents. This index scheme consists of four types of indices. Content index manages occurrence positions of words, element names, attribute names and attribute values. Local structure index manages logical structure of each document. Global structure index summarizes logical structure of document instances for a DTD. The last one is called structure meta index, and keeps, for each element, the number of local structure index and global structure indices which include the element. Using our four types of indices, therefore, a wide range of queries over structured documents can be processed efficiently. We compare our indices with existing indices in terms of index size, update cost and retrieval cost."

[October 07, 1998] "SGML Revisions and XML." By Bob DuCharme. In <TAG> Volume 11, Number 9 (September 1998), pages 1-2. In the previous (July 1998) issue of <TAG>, DuCharme's article "SGML: Changing to Accommodate XML" addressed a number of the SGML revisions in the WebSGML Adaptations Annex (Annex K) that are relevant to the phrase "for interoperability" in the XML 1.0 specification. In this second article, DuCharme explains why the WebSGML Project is important, and speculates on the level of support that we may expect for Annex K in commercial software products. SoftQuad reportedly has plans to support WebSGML, and some products which integrate James Clark's SP (e.g., 1.3 or higher) would have support for some Annex K features.

[October 07, 1998] "DTDs and XML Schemas." By David C. Peterson. In <TAG> Volume 11, Number 9 (September 1998), pages 4-5. Peterson provides extensive commentary on the definition of 'DTD' [document type definition] in SGML (ISO 8879) and then explains how XML schemas (may) relate to XML DTDs. He identifies three separate components in a DTD: syntax, semantic roles, and application semantics.

[October 07, 1998] "MetaStructures 1998 Conference [Report]." By Neill A. Kipp. In <TAG> Volume 11, Number 9 (September 1998), pages 6-10. Kipp provides a detailed conference report for the MetaStructures 1998 Conference (August 17 - 19, 1998) held at Le Centre Sheraton Hotel, Montréal, Québec, Canada. The conference was hosted by GCA, and chaired by Steve Newcomb (TechnoTeacher) and Carla Corkern (ISOGEN International Corp). Papers from some of the (more than twenty) presentations will be made available online from http://www.hytime.org/. "In summary," Kipp writes, "MetaStructures '98 had more attendees discussing deeper issues than last year. It had more live design and product demos than any year before. Even so, the ideas of interoperable metastructures are still on the 'bleeding edge' of technology. Therefore, if you feel that the SGML/XML trade shows are secret plots to numb your mind, then next year's MetaStructures will provide the intellectual stimulation you absolutely need."

[October 07, 1998] "Comparison of Different Approaches to Handling XML/EDI Orders." By Martin Bryan. The SGML Centre, September, 1998. Introduction: "Three different document type definitions (DTDs) were suggested during September 1998 for the preparation of orders of the type defined the SIMPL-EDI specification prepared by the UK Article Numbering Association (ANA) as an input for the CEFACT SIMAC work. The three DTDs differ in their approach to the naming of XML elements and attributes as follows: 1) the 'SIMPL-EDI Order' DTD uses UN segment names to name elements, and UN data element numbers to identify attributes of elements; 2) the 'ANA Order' DTD uses UN segment names for elements, but replaces data element names with short (English) names that describe the role of the element; 3) the 'CEN/ISSS Order' DTD uses English names to describe both segments and data elements."

[October 07, 1998] "Commentary: Converging Technologies Improve the Web-to-Print Picture." By Mark Walter. In Seybold Report on Internet Publishing 3/1 (September 1998), page 24. "Almost two years ago, we wrote that XML was going to take Web publishing into the realm formerly reserved for print: robust formatting of user-defined document types. But while XML is feasible today on the server side, it will be another 6 to 12 months before it is ready for client-side delivery to Web browsers. Meantime, three technologies are converging to open up an intermediate step that promises much better results for print documents delivered over the Web. . ."

[October 07, 1998] "As Online Journals Advance,New Challenges Emerge. [Online Journals: Repurposing Print is No Longer Enough. Spotlight]." By Mark Walter. In Seybold Report on Internet Publishing 3/1 (September 1998), pages 1, 3-9. "There are now well over 1,000 journals published in full form on the Web . . . but it is in STM (science, technical, medial) journal publishing that the most strides are being made." Many electronic journals are delivered in PDF, but SGML remains the technology of choice for canonical/archive document format, even if conversion is made to SGML after final changes are made.

[October 07, 1998] "Amazon Acquires Junglee in Commerce Portal Bid. 'Virtual Database' Tools will Allow Comparison Shopping Online." By Matt McKenzie. In Seybold Report on Internet Publishing 3/1 (September 1998), pages 22-23. "Junglee earned widespread praise when it introduced its JobCanopy service last year. The system, which treats online information as a vast, distributed 'virtual database,' applies a series of data wrappers that can gather information from a variety of sources. The technology then formats the data in a uniform manner, allowing online publishers to reuse the aggregated information quickly and easily. Junglee is also exploring XML as a means of aggregating this type of data, and of formatting it on the fly. . ." See Junglee's 1998 XML Reference List and the slides from (Junglee CTO) Anand Rajaraman's June 1998 presentation "Tower of Babel - The Three Phases of XML."

[October 06, 1998] "Component Interoperability with XML." By David Carlson. In Component Strategies Volume 1, Number 4 (October 1998), pages 14-17. [Objects and the Web] "Web-based standards are infiltrating the traditional systems development world, as HTTP is being adopted as a universal distributed protocol that is often the best choice for penetrating firewalls and interbusiness applications. See how XML can provide a partial solution to the standardization of content formats with its three levels of component interoperability - remote procedure calls, component serialization, and agent communication languages." Listing 2 in the article shows what an XML-based FIPA ACL might look like.

[October 06, 1998] "Vendors Trumpet XML. Language's Usefulness Expanding to Host of Business Solutions." By Brian Hannon and Simone Kaplan. In PC Week [Online] (October 5, 1998), page 10. "XML's data integration and structuring capabilities are being spun into numerous solutions for both online and non-Web applications. The massive move toward Extensible Markup Language will be evidenced this week as a host of tools and products based on the technology are displayed at Internet World in New York. Among the vendors showing new XML wares will be DataChannel Inc., UWI.Com, V Systems Inc., Texcel Systems Inc., WebMethods Inc. and Microsoft Corp." On DataChannel RIO, XFDL, XML-F, Texcel Information Manager, etc.

[October 06, 1998] "The Web Finds Its Voice. VoxML, an upcoming Web standard, will let you talk to your favorite Web site over the phone." By Angela Hickman. In PC Mgazine [Online] (October 5, 1998). "If Motorola has its way, someday soon you'll be able to pick up any phone, call a voice 'browser,' and then, when the call is connected, interact with an Internet or intranet application hosted on a Web server. The key to this new way of accessing the Internet is Voice Markup Language (VoxML). It's based on Extensible Markup Language (XML), which provides a common language for describing data. In cooperation with industry partners, Motorola's objective is to develop VoxML into an open platform, then to submit it to the World Wide Web Consortium for standards approval."

[October 06, 1998] "Now This Is a Dial-Up." By [Staff]. In Wired News Report (September 30, 1998). Motorola's "Internet and Connectivity Services Division on Wednesday unveiled VoxML, a markup language that encodes Web-site information so it can be read over the telephone. '[VoxML] allows consumers to access Internet or intranet information from any phone, wireless, or wireline,' said Motorola's Mitesh Patel. 'And it leverages the skills of a huge base of developers who can use their Internet-development skills beyond the desktop.' The voice markup language allows for an assortment of speech technologies to be incorporated so information on the Web can speak through any phone. Sites can either convert the text of Web pages to computerized speech, play prerecorded audio content, or construct sentences out of prerecorded words and phrases -- such as 'partly sunny' for a weather report."

[October 06, 1998] "Lots of Hype, but Few XML Browsers or Editors on Horizon." By James C. Luh. In Internet World (October 5, 1998) [Web Development]. "In a few short months XML has attracted more than its share of industry backing and media hype, but XML browsing and editing tools are still few--and many XML developers predict that they won't appear on the market for some time. . . XML browsers and editors have been slower to appear on the scene, partly because XML and HTML serve very different ends. David Megginson, author of Microstar's Ælfred XML Parser and an author of the Simple API for XML (SAX), said software companies and developers simply haven't gotten around yet to writing browsing and viewing tools. Most, he said, are still concentrating on laying the groundwork. 'We're working hard still on the low-level stuff,' Megginson said. He pointed out that the development and adoption of other Internet infrastructure standards, such as TCP/IP, took place over years. XML, on the other hand, is still in relative infancy, having only been adopted as a W3C Recommendation in February. Even when XML has matured, Megginson said, there will be no single market for XML tools: Just as TCP/IP's versatility creates markets for myriad TCP-based software products, the wide range of XML applications ensures that there will be a wide range of XML tools, each suited to a different task."

[October 06, 1998] "PersonalJava Vs. Wireless Protocol." By JP Morgenthal. In InternetWeek Issue: 735 (October 05, 1998). [Section: Intranet Applications] "It's amazing to me how many comparisons can be drawn between the Java initiatives and those based on the Extensible Markup Language (XML). They're both languages, they're both introspective (the content can be analyzed directly), they're both extensible and they both could deliver a universal data representation (UDR). . . Consequently, the two environments can work together by using PersonalJava to build the WAP User Agent software. Indeed, this combination demonstrates a general industry trend: Java is great for application development, but WAP can deliver XML's neutral data format for data delivery."

[October 06, 1998] "E-com Treasure Chest: Buying Office Supplies." By Jim Kerstetter. In PC Week [Online] (October 5, 1998), pages 1, 16. "New software and services from Ariba Technologies Inc., Commerce One Inc., Netscape Communications Corp. and Trilogy Development Group are designed to automate processes for such 'indirect' purchasing, also known as operating resource purchasing. Ariba, of Sunnyvale, Calif., this week will ship Version 5.0 of its Operating Resource Management System, which has a new XML (Extensible Markup Language) infrastructure and new components for managing travel and entertainment orders." See also the following entry.

[October 05, 1998] "Ariba Taps XML for Automated Procurement." By Matthew Nelson. In InfoWorld Volume 20, Issue 40 (October 05, 1998) [Posted at 5:06 PM PT], page 8. "The use of Extensible Markup Language (XML) for electronic-commerce applications will gain another supporter next week when Ariba ships its Ariba Operating Resource Management System (ORMS), Release 5.0. Ariba has rewritten the application's meta layer in XML to provide increased performance between the ORMS automated procurement system and supplier systems. The use of XML in such automated procurement systems has the potential to alleviate problems when computers conduct transactions with minimal human interaction, according to David Rome, vice president of marketing at Ariba."

[October 03, 1998] "The Dirt on SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol)." By Larry Seltzer. In PC Magazine Volume 17, Number 17 (October 6, 1998), page 40. Excerpt: "The main goal of the movement forming behind the programming metalanguage XML (Extensible Markup Language) is to make other aspects of computing more open. Usually, XML-based standards relate to data, but a new initiative is making programs more open and accessible than ever before. It is known by various names: Microsoft calls the program XML-SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol), and UserLand Software refers to it as XML-RPC (Remote Procedure Calling). B2B Integration Server, from webMethods, is a system for automating business-to-business transactions over the Internet. It lets you use XML-RPC as a standardized way of talking to other systems. UserLand's Frontier can connect to external systems using XML-RPC and can use XML to manage data stored in a proprietary object database. Microsoft Corp. plans to include SOAP in some of its products but has not yet made any official announcements. A fourth company, DataChannel, has a different implementation in its WebBroker but intends to ship a product compatible with SOAP."

[October 03, 1998] "Forms Vendors Look to XML As Key to Spurring Commerce. Seeking Reliable Use of Secure Documents." By Regina Kwon. In Internet World Volume 4, Issue 27 (August 24, 1998), page 18. "Two vendors of electronic forms have announced XML-based initiatives that they say will get more companies involved in online commerce. UWI.Com last week announced the XML-based eXtensible Forms Description Language (XFDL), which the company has submitted as a proposal to the Internet Engineering Task Force and other standards bodies. JetForm Corporation has incorporated XML support in its recently launched FormFlow 98 product." For more on XFDL, see Extensible Forms Description Language (XFDL).

[October 03, 1998] "Waiting for Lawsuit-Proof Electronic Documents." By Steven L. Telleen. In Internet World Volume 4, Issue 28 (September 7, 1998), page 27. "UWI.Com has developed an XML tag set for legally binding forms, called XFDL, which it has submitted to several organizations as an open standard. Any company can use this tag set to create and present legally binding forms through XML-capable Web browsers. As more companies begin to provide electronic forms that capture both content and context, UWI.Com sees document routing and change-management functionality to be its main competitive advantages."

[October 02, 1998] "XML, Validation, and Extra Cheese." By Charles Heinemann [Microsoft]. In Extreme XML. Posted August 19, 1998. Heinemann provides a simple DTD for a pizza, and then sets out to teach Uncle Edd and Junior that "The XML document must adhere to the logical structure described in the Document Type Definition." Things went well, but then Uncle Edd expressed some concern over Junior's ability to learn a new syntax. "It was tough enough," he claimed, "teaching him the XML thing." This gave me a perfect opportunity to tell him about the XML Data submission to the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). This outlines a way to describe XML documents using an XML-based syntax, so Junior would be free from having to learn another syntax and could simply validate his documents against another XML document, a schema. These schemas, I continued, will also allow more precise description, because they will incorporate data typing and inheritance. "And I can access them using the XML object model," announced Uncle Edd. "Sure can." - The article is also available in MS Word format. Heinemann's column Extreme XML appears about monthly: see the two earlier articles: Happy Days Are Here Again: Posting XML to the Server (July 15, 1998) and How Much Is That in Balboas? Accessing the Typed Value of XML Elements via Visual Basic (June 15, 1998). [Note: Pizzas are cool. I once drafted a DTD for my house, including the wiring, plumbing, and carpets, which taught me more about the CONCUR feature -- a partial solution for a real world problem that has yet to be solved in markup; Yuri Rubinsky, at least, liked my experiment. I think the example of the DTD for the epic Noah's Flood in SoftQuad's SGML Primer gave me the courage to try this. Later, however, Darrell Raymond and Gary Simons helped me understand why DTD syntax isn't a very good language for data modelling, even if it's great for specifying an arbitrarily complex serialization for an arbitrary domain problem. -rcc]

[October 02, 1998] "SoftQuad Sells Panorama to Interleaf." By [Seybold Publications Staff; edited by Patricia S. Evans]. In The Bulletin: Seybold News & Views on Electronic Publishing Volume 4, Number 2 (September 30, 1998). Excerpt: "The terms of the deal were not disclosed, but Interleaf did say that, in addition to product rights, it will be hiring eight members of the Panorama development team, thereby strengthening its expertise in SGML. According to Steve Zamierowski, Interleaf director of marketing, the acquisition of expertise was a primary motive for the sale. The strongest piece of technology, the one that brings the most to Interleaf's current product line, is the Panorama CDWeb Publisher, which allows incremental upgrades to CD-ROMs to be distributed over the Web. [. . .] Ironically, Interleaf, which let most of its SGML expertise languish a few years ago, is now scooping up SGML experts once again to strengthen its BladeRunner XML technology. At the same moment, SGML stalwart SoftQuad is getting out of the business. In our eyes the real SoftQuad gems -- HotMetal, the forthcoming XMetal and the engineers who work on them -- are still on the auction block." See the press release, "Interleaf Acquires Technology and XML/SGML Expertise From SoftQuad. Acquisition Supports Interleaf's XML-Based Enterprise Content Management Strategy."; also the news entry.

[October 02, 1998] "Net Access - Brains and Browsers." By Robert Richardson. ZDNet EBusiness (October 01, 1998). "Synapse uses MTS to perform 'pattern-based' data routing. For example, says [JABR's Jonathan] Borden, a system manager can establish a rule that, 'if all the files are ready, it's after 5 p.m., and you want to rule out a brain tumor, then send the study to the neuroradiologist on call.' The information that the server needs to make this kind of routing decision, he says, is a rule that's stored in an eXtensible Markup Language (XML) format. Much of the system is based on XML, a page-authoring language that is more portable and programmable than HTML. When Synapse sends binary images across the Internet, those images are part of larger XML-format transmissions. The system also supports the use of DICON, a medical-industry standard imaging format. DICON files contain some key patient record data in addition to the relevant images, but can't store extra information such as diagnosis reports. Synapse stores this text-based data in XML format and attaches the binary image data to the XML."

[October 01, 1998] "Media-Independent Publishing: Four Myths About XML. [The W3C's Working Group Chair Dispels Some Myths About XML.]" By Jon Bosak. First appeared in IEEE Computer Volume 31, Number 10 (October 1998), pages 120-122. [Internet Watch] Introduction: "Called 'the emerging technology of the year' after it was endorsed by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), XML burst onto the scene in February [1998]. It was called the successor to HTML and, according to some, the future lingua franca for the exchange of structured data. As XML emerged from the obscurity of its W3C beginnings, it was perhaps inevitable that this new data format would begin generating misconceptions as fast as it attracted enthusiasts. In this column, I'd like to head off some myths about XML before they become permament misunderstandings." The four myths: (1) XML is a Conspiracy Led by Microsoft. In fact, XML has the support of broad base of corporate sponsors who has worked toward a "genuinely open standard" based upon a common perception of needs for markup extensibility, structured data, formal validation mechanisms, media independence, and vendor and platform independence. (2) XML is an Extension of HTML. In fact, XML belongs to the SGML conceptual layer - being a metalanguage rather than to the HTML layer, since HTML is a particular markup language governed by its own DTD. (3) XML Can Drive Web Browsers by Itself. In fact, XML specifies syntax, not processing semantics. In order for a browser to do its work with XML (rendering, hypertext linking, etc.), "you will have to supply both the content of the document (expressed in XML) and its treatment, whichyou must specify either programmatically (with scripts) or declaratively (with style sheets). (4) XML is Just for Data. In fact, "the first wave of XML applications is based on what it can do on its own: convey structured data." See, in addition to the online version, the PDF source for the official publication of the article in IEEE Computer.

[September 30, 1998] "Cold Fusion Extends a Friendly Hand to Web Application Developers." By Dylan Tweny ['Net Prophet']. In InfoWorld Volume 20, Issue 39 September 28, 1998), page 48. "Allaire's Jeremy Allaire (who co-founded the company with his brother J.J.) is championing WDDX, which is short for Web Distributed Data Exchange. Technically speaking, WDDX is an Extensible Markup Language (XML) vocabulary defined by a Document Type Definition (DTD) that Allaire has posted on its site. WDDX provides a data format that Jeremy Allaire hopes will become the standard for data exchanges on the Web. (For more details, see http://www.allaire.com/developer.) Simply stated, WDDX is the epoxy that programmers can use to glue data from different platforms together on the Web. Allaire is releasing WDDX translation engines for Cold Fusion (this will be part of Cold Fusion 4.0), JavaScript, and Microsoft's Component Object Model and Active Server Pages platforms. It is also working on a Perl implementation of the WDDX translator, so Web developers can connect their epoxy to their duct tape." See the main database entry for WDDX.

[September 28, 1998] "XML Finding a Place in Web Procurement." By Cynthia Bournellis. In Computerworld (September 21, 1998). "Two companies have joined forces in an attempt to lead Extensible Markup Language (XML) into Internet procurement: Commerce One, a developer of electronic-commerce procurement systems that link buyers and suppliers in a real-time trading community, and Veo Systems, Inc., a developer of XML-based products for trading-partner networks. Early next year, Veo's technology will become part of an existing Commerce One extranet product called the Commerce Chain Solution. That product includes BuySite, a program that automates the procurement process from requisition toorder, and MarketSite, software that automates supplier interactions from order placement to payment. Commerce One said the integration of XML into its electronic-commerce network will speed up the indirect goods and services supply chain, thus helping companies reduce operational costs and increase efficiency. The use of XML will 'crank the procurement process up a notch,' said Chrys Varnes, director of Los Angeles County's Countywide Acquisition Management Information System (CAMIS) project."

[September 28, 1998] "XML Eases Linking ERP Apps. Open Applications Group Pushes XML for Application Integration. [XML Gets the Nod.]" By Ted Smalley Bowen. In InfoWorld Volume 20, Issue 39 (September 28, 1998). "The adoption of XML as the data description layer in leading enterprise resource planning (ERP) applications may make the work of the Open Applications Group (OAG) standards body more relevant to the industry and bring a degree of interoperability to typically shuttered ERP systems. The OAG earlier this month announced the release of updates to its namesake integration specification OAGIS, which defines methods for exchanging data and process information among ERP applications and other business applications from different vendors. The OAGIS 6.0 update adds support for Extensible Markup Language (XML) as a meta language, addresses supply-chain integration standards, and provides explanatory material for developers. Advanced planning and scheduling APIs are expected within the year. Although ERP vendors and middleware developers have embraced XML for describing data in their suites, the OAG specification calls for the use of XML in conjunction with the OAG Business Object Document (BOD) model to link disparate applications." See the September 16th press release, "The Open Applications Group Supports Supply Chain and XML" and the main database entry.

[September 28, 1998] "XML Editor Bullish on Spec's Future." By Brian Hannon [and Tim Bray]. In PC Week [Online] (September 28, 1998), page 30. Brian Hannon interviews Tim Bray, one of the editors of the XML 10. specification. 'What are your visions for XML? Where would you like to see it go?' [Bray:] 'A very high proportion of the electronic documents in the world are living inside proprietary binary files. Word Perfect, Microsoft [Corp.] Word, Interleaf, whatever. This is just wrong. . . Our great hope is that we can increase the proportion of human intellectual capital that exists in open, reusable, nonproprietary formats. That is such a good thing in and of itself that I can speculate lots as to what good things might happen as a result of that. That's just clearly the right thing to do.' Etc.

[September 25, 1998] "3Com Paves the Way to Resellers. Vendor Puts XML to Work on Its I-commerce Web Site." By Matthew Nelson. In InfoWorld Volume 20, Issue 38 (September 21, 1998), page 59. "3Com -- in what could be the first move by a major company to use Extensible Markup Language (XML) on its Internet-commerce Web site -- has added increased functionality and connections to its partners that also use XML, and in so doing may have solved a problem facing product vendors and resellers. Although XML is still officially in development, 3Com and its resellers, Insight and CDW, decided to use the language because of its capabilities. The company spent about four months reworking its I-commerce Web site to accept anduse XML, which is used to transfer customer orders and information to the channel partners' I-commerce sites. . . 'With XML, we are able to move over information about that user, plus information about the products that user is interested in purchasing, and the reseller can respond about what is in their shopping cart and all of the products they want to buy, showing their price and availability,' says Fergus O'Reilly, manager of I-commerce software development at 3Com."

[September 25, 1998] "OBI Is Open for Business. Consortium to Demonstrate E-commerce Spec at ICE Show." By Jim Kerstetter. In PC Week [Online] (September 21, 1998). "The OBI specification for business-to-business electronic commerce has finally coalesced from the vapor of discussion groups. This week at the ICE (Internet Commerce Expo) in Los Angeles, nearly a dozen companies, including Netscape Communications Corp., IBM, Microsoft Corp., Intellisys Technology Corp., Connect Inc., Epic Systems Corp., Office Depot Inc., Boise Cascade Corp. and Hoffmann-La Roche Inc., will demonstrate real-life implementations and the interoperability of the year-old Open Business on the Internet specification. If OBI becomes a viable option for corporate IT, as these companies promise, conducting business-to-business e-commerce will become an easier and more affordable option because it will finally be based on a standard. OBI developers will meet to hammer out the next steps for the spec, which is in its 1.1 version. They will discuss extending the specification to meet other technologies, including the advantages that the Extensible Markup Language (XML) could provide to OBI-based business transactions and synchronizing their work with the RosettaNet project for defining computer-industry product definitions for online catalogs."

[September 24, 1998] "Group Seeks Integrated Multimedia, DTV." By Junko Yoshida. In CMPNet TechWeb News (September 20, 1998). "With a goal to integrate 2-D, 3-D, and streaming content for digital TV (DTV) programming, leaders from key international technology-development forums gathered [in Leidschendam, Netherlands] last week to launch a new initiative to harmonize the various multimedia streams. Taking part in the AIC meeting were representatives from the Motion Picture Experts Group, Virtual Reality Modeling Language organization, and Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC). The initiative will 'write an open specification to integrate and harmonize VRML, MPEG-4, and Broadcast HTML BHTML into a seamless stream,' said Rob Glidden, co-chairman of VRML 3-D Integrated Media Working Group and one of 12 founding members of AIC. BHTML, written in the emerging Extensible Markup Language (XML), is designed for tight integration with the Java framework. Pointing to longstanding integration efforts between VRML and XML, as well as between MPEG-4 and VRML, Glidden said, 'This is a natural extension of what we have been doing at each of the groups'."

[September 21, 1998] "Web Standards. The Impact of XML. [New Media Battles: Standards.]" By [Staff]. In Digital Design and Production (August 1998), pages 83-85. A Seybold Mid-Year Report on Publishing Technology.

[September 21, 1998] "OAG to Release XML Integration Spec . [NEWS BRIEFS.]" By InfoWorld Staff. In InfoWorld Volume 20, Issue 37 (September 14, 1998), page 5. "The OAGIS 6.0 update, first posted on the group's Web site this summer, provides a mechanism for using the World Wide Web Consortium Extensible Markup Language (XML) meta-data language for data interchange, adds supply-chain integration, and provides supplemental and explanatory material for developers. Advanced planning and scheduling APIs are expected within the year. The OAG counts ERP vendors SAP and PeopleSoft among its partners in the XML effort." See (provisionally) the description of OAGIS based upon the September 16th press release, "The Open Applications Group Supports Supply Chain and XML."

[September 21, 1998] "XML.com Guide to Authoring Tools." In XML.com resources. September 18, 1998. As described by Dale Dougherty of Songline Studios Inc., XML.com has "put up a listing of commercial authoring tools. There are nineteen tools listed. For each tool, we provide a good description, along with references to our articles, as well as our assessment of the tool. We also invite users to comment on their experiences with a particular authoring tool."

[September 21, 1998] "XML: Extensible Markup Language. A Basic Overview." By John Cowan. A set forty-two (42) slides on XML, "somewhat technical, but primarily meant for application developers who have not encountered XML before." Available in Microsoft PowerPoint 95 format or in PDF format, the latter courtesy of Lars Marius Garshol, who did the conversion. The slides are distributed under the GNU Public License (GPL), so 'anyone may use them or modify them, provided the modified version is likewise freely redistributable.'

[September 21, 1998] "Building the Annotated XML Specification." By Tim Bray. From XML.com. September 12, 1998. "Its been called an exegesis of an exegesis; that is, an explanation of a method used on an annotation of a specification. XML.com's technical editor Tim Bray explains the conceptual design and syntactical execution of our popular Annotated XML Specification."

[September 21, 1998] "Using The Perl XML::Parser Module." By Clark Cooper. From XML.com. September 12, 1998. "In this article Clark presents two Perl programs which demonstrate some of the XML::Parser module's capabilities. XML::Parser is a Perl module which acts as an interface to expat, James Clark's XML parser. A prototype was originally created by Larry Wall, and Clark Cooper has continued the development of this useful tool. In this article Clark presents two Perl programs which demonstrate some of XML::Parser's capabilities.

[September 21, 1998] "Vendors Back IP Telephony Spec. OSP Provides IP Telephony `Settlement' Information." By Laura Kujubu and Stephen Lawson. In InfoWorld Volume 20, Issue 37 (September 14, 1998), page 37. "3Com, Cisco Systems, GRIC Communications, iPass, and TransNexus have announced their support of a proposed IP telephony standard -- the Open Settlement Protocol (OSP) -- which is designed to handle the settlement issues associated with IP telephony calls that travel over multiple vendors' networks. Other major players applauded the effort and agreed that it has the potential to advance the technology into the mainstream." For the XML specification, see the local database entry, Open Settlement Protocol (OSP) - ETSI/TIPHON.

[September 20, 1998] "Chromeffects Debuts." By James Niccolai. In InfoWorld Volume 20, Issue 37 (September 14, 1998), page 44. "PC makers will begin shipping in the fourth quarter Windows 98 systems that support Chromeffects, a Web technology that supports more complex features in Web pages, according to Steve Ballmer, president of Microsoft, in a keynote address at the recent Seybold conference in San Francisco. Chromeffects uses both HTML and the emerging standard Extensible Markup Language (XML) to allow developers to build Web pages that include two-dimensional and three-dimensional graphics, streaming audio, and streaming video. Using simple XML and scripting, Microsoft's FX library, and third-party development tools, Chromeffects will allow publishers to jazz up online shopping catalogs, advertisements, and other Internet-commerce media."

[September 21, 1998] "XML: The Technology Most Likely to Succeed." By Dale Dowdie. In Network World Volume 15, Number 37 (September 14, 1998), page 46.

[September 18, 1998] "Banking Industry Adopts OFX." By Lynda Radosevich. In InfoWorld [Electric] Volume 20, Issue 38 (September 21 [18], 1998), page 16 [Posted at 4:59 PM PT]. "In a development that bodes well for online banking, the financial industry is converging on a specification for exchanging data among financial institutions, businesses, and consumers via the Internet. The Open Financial Exchange (OFX) specification is emerging as a winning standard. Originally proposed by Microsoft, Intuit, and CheckFree, OFX - a financial data markup language - is picking up steam with other vendors. For instance, Netscape announced this week an agreement with financial middleware vendor Enterprise Engineering to incorporate Enterprise Engineering's OFX technology into Netscape's Application Server. The deal should help Netscape's financial industry customers such as Citibank improve their Internet banking services." See additional information in the database entry, "Open Financial Exchange."

[September 16, 1998] "Why XML Matters." By PC Magazine [Labs] Staff: Ben G. Gottesman (PC Magazine Labs, Technical Director), William Robert Stanek, Jay Munro, and David Lidsky. In PC Magazine (October 6, 1998), pages 215-238. PC Labs Reviews. "The next major language for Web and applications development stands poised to change the way we work with data dramatically. Here's how it works. We also look at 27 products that use XML already." Review outline: XML 201; Authoring Tools; Database and Data Integration Solutions; XML Parsers; Browsers; Office Suites; Applications Development Environments; Document Management Systems; XML vs. HTML in Database Applications; XML Authoring Tools; Searching with XML.

[September 16, 1998] "The W3C Document Object Model (DOM) - A Programmer's View of Documents." By Tim Bray and Lauren Wood. In The Gilbane Report on Open Information & Document Systems Volume 6, Number 4 (July/August 1998), pages 1-13. ISSN: 1067-8719. Executive Summary: "Documents are many things to many people. Computer programmers are a group whose point of view is becoming increasingly important. This is driven in particular by the advent of XML, which at one level is designed for the programmer. There is a long history of programming interfaces to documents. The most visible in recent times has been 'Dynamic HTML - which has unfortunately proved less than usable in practice. It would appear that the soon-to-arrive Document Object Model specification from the World Wide Web consortium will fix Dynamic HTML's problems and, for the first time, provide a widely-supported programmer's-eye view into a document."

"The goal of the W3C Document Object Model (DOM) is to provide a standard API for XML and HTML content, making it accessible to programmers of all stripes (from VBScript and JavaScript to C++ and Java). The DOM will finally allow for delivery on the promise of DHTML. It will provide the cross-browser predictability programmers need to build really useful applications. The reduced development costs achieved through a single API that can be used with all the major scripting and programming language will encourage business managers to make the investment in more ambitious Web content applications. The DOM may sound intimidating to non-programmers, but it is important to grasp its potential even as the work to complete it continues. Lauren Wood (Chair of the W3C DOM Working Group) teams-up with Tim [Bray in] this issue to help you understand what the DOM is all about."

[September 16, 1998] "The Style Sheet Landscape." By Jared Sorensen. In The Gilbane Report on Open Information & Document Systems Volume 6, Number 3 (May/June 1998), pages 1-19. ISSN: 1067-8719. Executive Summary: "Creating documents in any form isn't much use if you can't deliver them to people. Style sheets are a key component in document delivery. While they have a long history, a new generation of style sheet technology is just starting to come into play in Intranet and publishing environments. This survey covers the issues that underlie the style sheet problem, some [of] the technologies that are striving for success, and the criteria that are important in deciding which of these to use. . . You can trace the trend towards separating form and content in publishing applications to the early days of computer publishing in the 70s. Even before adventurous souls started using SGML there were proprietary 'generic code' applications and implicit style sheet approaches in use. Today we are all familiar with style sheets whether or not we actually make much use of them -- and of course most of us do not use them correctly! Early SGML applications of course had to do something about formatting. Since there wasn't a standard mechanism in place there were two options: create your own way of applying formatting characteristics to SGML, or incorporate formatting commands directly in the SGML source. The latter approach was unfortunate because it subverted the separation of form and content and made the resulting SGML much less portable, but since there were no standard solutions it is easy to see why this practice had some appeal. In this issue Jared Sorensen provides an overview of the options and expert advice on what you should do. Jared is involved in W3C activity but is speaking from his own experience in using style sheets for Web publishing."

"You can trace the trend towards separating form and content in publishing applications to the early days of computer publishing in the 70's. Even before adventurous souls started using SGML, there were proprietary 'generic code' applications and implicit style sheet approaches in use. Early SGML applications had to do something about formatting Since there wasn't a standard mechanism in place, there were two options: create your own way of applying formatting characteristics to SGML, or incorporate formatting commands directly into the SGML source. The latter approach was unfortunate because it subverted the separation of form and content and made the resulting SGML much less portable; but since there were no standard solutions, it is easy to see why this practice had some appeal. [. . .] The good news is that the W3C is now applying a considerable amount of energy to this problem. Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) level 2 is now a W3C recommendation, and there is a lot of activity surrounding XSL, a style language being designed to work with XML."

[September 16, 1998] "ERP Systems Tap XML for Data Sharing." By Brian Hannon. In PC Week [Online] (September 11, 1998), pages 1, 16. "ERP [Enterprise Resource Planning] vendors are embracing XML as a way to lighten system workloads and simplify data sharing between enterprise applications. Enterprise resource planning heavyweights PeopleSoft Inc., Oracle Corp. and SAP AG plan to incorporate Extensible Markup Language syntax into products to help companies lower the cost and labor involved in exchanging data with business partners. Separately, third-party software vendors are pushing XML to enable data exchange over the Web between disparate financial systems from developers such as Baan Co. and Oracle Corp."

[September 16, 1998] "Industry Take: XML Is Ex-Cell-Ent." By Charles Babcock. In Inter@ctive Week (September 15, 1998). "Neither Web servers nor the Java programming language nor application servers are enough to construct sites on the Web. What's still needed is a standard way of transferring data between these Net systems and companies' pre-Net computer systems - without constantly writing custom code to translate between them, experts say. That's why the eXtensible Markup Language (XML), sometimes referred to as 'HTML on steroids,' is emerging as the Swiss army knife of future World Wide Web applications. . ."

[September 14, 1998] "XML: Document and Information Management." By Todd Freter (Sun Microsystems, Inc.) In [Sun Series] Technology and Research (September 8, 1998). Part 4 in a serialized article on XML by Todd Freter. Excerpt: "An important role for XML is in managing not only documents but also the information components on which documents are based. Document management as a technology and a discipline has traditionally augmented the capabilities of a computer's file system. By enabling users to characterize their documents, which are usually stored in files, document management systems enable users to store, retrieve, and use their documents more easily and powerfully than they can do within the file system itself. XML and its parent technology, SGML (Standard Generalized Markup Language), provide the foundation for managing not only documents but also the information components of which the documents are composed. This is due to some notable characteristics of XML data." [local archive copy]

[September 14, 1998] "Waiting for Full XML Benefits." By James C. Luh . In InternetWorld Volume 4, Issue 29 (September 14, 1998), pages 21, 23. [Web Development. TECH ABC]. "Although the introduction of eXtensible Markup Language (XML) 1.0 in February opened a world of possibilities for data storage and exchange on the Web, the full benefits of the language won't arrive until some ancillary specifications are ironed out. Unlike HTML, XML is not functional as a language in and of itself; instead, developers use XML to define other languages. In this respect, HTML is versatile but ultimately suitable only for a limited range of documents. XML, on the other hand, lets developers create document type definitions (DTDs) that describe specialized HTML-like languages."

[September 12, 1998] "XML Data Storage Plans Debated." By Jeff Walsh. In InfoWorld Volume 20, Issue 37 (September 11, 1998), page 8. ['XML Squabbles Rise as Format Matures'] "As more developers move toward using the Extensible Markup Language (XML) to store and transmit data, how this XML data should be stored is raising questions. XML developers are looking for a more flexible storage system, rather than the traditional relational databases touted by Oracle, Sybase, and Informix. One Web software vendor said this is just an old war with a new battle cry."

[September 12, 1998] "Will IE 5.0 Get Native XML Support?" By Jeff Walsh. In InfoWorld Volume 20, Issue 37 (September 11, 1998). page 8. ['XML Squabbles Rise as Format Matures'] "The battle between Microsoft and the rest of the industry over how to render HTML data in Web browsers is now being extended to the Extensible Markup Language (XML). According to Microsoft officials, there are three ways to display XML in browsers: as XML data islands in the HTML page, XML intermixed with HTML, and stand-alone XML documents. At present, Microsoft has committed to the first two implementations in Internet Explorer 5.0, but it still has not said whether stand-alone XML will be supported -- causing some concern among developers. Netscape has already committed to displaying native XML documents in Navigator and Communicator 5.0 browsers."

[September 11, 1998] "Bringing XML into the World of Objects. Using Schemata in Software Development." By Matthew Fuchs and Murray Maloney [Veo Systems]. Slides from the presentation at XML Developers' Day, August 21, 1998. "Veo has been developing CBL, a library of XML components for common business transactions to become the basis for electronic commerce. Building something as complex as CBL, and getting it right, requires a tight iterative loop between specifying CBL components on the one hand and testing them in actual software on the other. We needed to drastically reduce the cycle time for each iteration to have a hope of delivering a product within the same millenium we started in. We chose to develop an object-oriented schema language, the Business Interface Description Language (bidl) to do this. . ." Veo will present further details on the schema language at the Chicago conference(s) in November 1998, and plans to submit the design to the W3C.

[September 10, 1998] "Plenty of Headroom Left for Perl. A special column on the second annual Perl conference." By Cameron Laird and Kathryn Soraiz. In SunWorld Volume 12, Number 9 (September 1998). "Three acronyms dominate the news from the recent O'Reilly Perl conference: JPL, XML, and LDAP. If you couldn't make it to San Jose last month, find out what you missed right here. . . As successful as JPL and PerLDAP look to be, they'll remain subjects for specialists. The Extensible Markup Language (XML), though, hits squarely in the developer mass market. XML is (roughly) an extension to the HyperText Markup Language (HTML) poised to be even more indispensable than the latter. When that happens, Wall wants Perl to be the language of choice for implementing XML applications. XML is certainly a technology ideal for scripting, and Perl is already one of the leaders in correctly implementing an XML interface. Demonstrations during the week gave early adopters an overview of how Perl and XML work together. Also, Wall confirmed that Perl 5.006 is on track to fully support Unicode. Unicode is the technical standard which will make it possible for computer programs to work with any human language as handily as they now process English." See also the conference entry, "1998 O'Reilly Perl Conference."

[September 10, 1998] "XML: A Cross-Platform Tool For E-Commerce." By Kevin Reichard. In Performance Computing (September 1998) UNIX/Windows NT Integration. "It's tough to cut through the mélange of 'standards' being foisted on the Internet community and figure out which ones to keep and which ones to ignore. But there's one emerging standard that Webmasters and sys admins who want to improve their Web-site performance using some advanced applications should note: the Extensible Markup Language (XML), which will play a large part in the development of the World Wide Web as we approach the millennium. XML significantly advances how information is organized on the Internet."

[September 10, 1998] "Clash of Software Titans. Oracle8i Aimed at Outmaneuvering Windows Everywhere." By Paul Krill. In InfoWorld Volume 20, Issue 35 (August 31, 1998), pages 1, 22. "Oracle will launch a frontal assault on Microsoft's Windows Everywhere strategy in September when it announces Oracle8i, a new version of its database that will serve as the foundation for Oracle's distributed computing architecture. Oracle8i will focus on Internet commerce and Internet communications, as well as Java, Extensible Markup Language (XML), and the management of nonrelational data, such as text and images."

[September 09, 1998] "XML Gets A Much-Needed Boost." By John Evan Frook. In InternetWeek (September 7, 1998), page 9. "XML got a kick start last week when SAP AG said it would embrace the standard while providing a road map for deploying server-side applications that use XML for organizing, presenting and automating information. SAP said it will use IBM's VisualAge for Java development tool for implementing business-to-business data interchange in interactive intranet applications." Similarly: "SAP Gives XML A Boost." See also the SAP press release, "SAP Embraces XML and Reaches New Dimension of Openness With the SAP Business Framework."

[September 08, 1998] "Vendor Support Moves IP Telephony Standard." By Laura Kujubu and Stephen Lawson. In InfoWorld [Electric] (September 8, 1998). Posted at 8:02 AM PT. According to Jim Dalton, CEO and president of TransNexus in Atlanta, "the main benefits of OSP include it confidentiality of information via Secure Sockets Layer encryption; secure, mutual authentication of communicating parties through public and private key cryptography methods; nonrepudiation of all communications through digital signature technology, so that, for example, a receiving party has verification that another party used their network; and information exchange via Extensible Markup Language. . . Other key players such as Lucent Technologies and Northern Telecom expressed interest and support of IP telephony standards in general but are still evaluating OSP, company representatives said. But others such as Ascend Communications, GTE, AT&T, and Internet Telephony Exchange Carrier (ITXC) - although not part of the formal OSP announcement made this month - expressed their support. Sprint and MCI WorldCom were unavailable for comment." See the database entry, "Open Settlement Protocol (OSP) - ETSI/TIPHON."

[September 07, 1998] "An Indexing Model for Structured Documents to Support Queries on Content, Structure and Attributes." By Tuong Dao. Pages 88-97 (with 18 references) in Proceedings of the IEEE International Forum on Research and Technology Advances in Digital Libraries - ADL 1998, IEEE Computer Society Press, 1998. "The complex internal structure of documents can be described and captured by documentation representation standards such as SGML and SGML related standards like HTML and XML. The hierarchical structure of documents and the attributes of documents as well as attributes of document components at all levels of the document hierarchy can be encoded with markup tags. In traditional text database systems, only queries on content are supported. The rich structural information contained in documents and the attributes of document components are not captured in these systems, and queries on structure and attributes are not supported. We propose a text model, a query language and an indexing scheme which can support queries on content, structure, and attributes of documents as well as attributes of text elements within documents. This model is schema-independent, and query evaluation time is at worst linear." See the main bibliography entry for the complete abstract and other information.

[September 07, 1998] "Beyond HTML: Parsing XML in IE4 with JScript." By Michael Floyd. In Web Techniques Magazine Volume 3, Issue 8 (August 1998). "Last month I mentioned that several XML parsers are beginning to appear around the Net. Most of these parsers are written in C++ or Java, and will likely be used by programmers to create the next generation of XML tools and applications. They often incorporate a command-line interface, and in most cases are poorly documented. This month I'll look at the API for the MSXML parser, and in the process show how you can pass an XML document to the parser and get back the document's structure."

[September 01, 1998] "SAP Opens up to Java tools, XML, Groupware." In Computerworld (September 01, 1998). "SAP said that starting next year, it will embrace the Extensible Markup Language (XML) as a format for data interchange across its SAP Business Framework. The framework is a component architecture that describes the technical R/3 architecture as well as its underlying business logic."

[August 31, 1998] "Cement Shoes for XML?" Private essay collection. By Simon St.Laurent. August 31, 1998. ". . . explores some reasons why client-side XML support, at least in the dominant browsers, may be slow in coming. . . the result of several weeks of frustration brought on by reading articles about how slow and/or broken the XML development efforts in the current browsers appear to be." Conclusion: "Developers and others who stand to benefit from XML are going to have to band together to get browser vendors to support display of XML documents, or develop competing solutions and promote them against the massive installed base of the older browsers. Netscape's open development process is one option for contributing to the development of a browser that can natively understand and render XML; creating another browser is another. Pressuring Microsoft is difficult, as their process is closed and they are the company that probably has the most to lose from open file formats." [local archive copy]

[August 30, 1998] "Reuse of Linked Documents through Virtual Document Prescriptions." By Anne-Marie Vercoustre and François Paradis [INRIA (France) and CSIRO (Australia)]. Pages 499-512 (with 24 references) in Electronic Publishing, Artistic Imaging, and Digital Typography. Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Electronic Publishing (EP '98), Held Jointly with the 4th International Conference on Raster Imaging and Digital Typography, RIDT '98). Saint Malo, France, March 30 - April 3, 1998. Edited by Roger D. Hersch, Jacques André, and Heather Brown. New York/Berlin/Heidelberg: Springer-Verlag, 1998. "Particularly promising is the proposal for a new standard, XML, which could bring the power of SGML to the Web while keeping the simplicity of HTML. We present a system and a language that allow reusing of information from various sources, including databases and SGML-like documents, by combining it dynamically to produce a virtual document. The language uses a tree like structure for the representation of the information objects as well as link objects. The paper focuses on the selection and the traversal of XML links to extract information from linked pages. The strength of our approach is to be an SGML-compliant solution, which makes it ready to take full advantage of XML for reusing information from the Web as soon as it is widely used." Slides are available online. [bibliography entry] See also: "A Descriptive Language for Information Object Reuse through Virtual Documents," (Vercoustre and Paradis, 4th International Conference on Object-Oriented Information Systems = OOIS '97, Brisbane, Australia, November 1997) and "A Virtual Document Approach for Reusing SGML/XML Information Objects," by François Paradis, Anne-Marie Vercoustre, and Brendan Hills; Paper presented at the SGML/XML Asia Pacific, Sydney, Australia, 22-24 September, 1997.

[August 30, 1998] "The XML Files." By Alfie Kirkpatrick. In The Computer Bulletin [British Computer Society] Volume 10, Part 3 (May 1998), pages 27-29. "XML is being hailed as the answer to information management through a standard way of defining the content of documents. But is it too late for companiesalready awash with word processor files and information gathered from the Web? Alfie Kirkpatrick looks into the language - and the future of information management. Anyone reading any of the many articles now appearing on XML (Extensible Markup Language) might be forgiven for thinking that XML will solve all our data and information management problems in one fell swoop. However, it is important to understand when and where XML will be useful - and also to appreciate that although it is a simple technology it cannot be used for effective information management without a corresponding organisational change." [local archive copy]

[August 29, 1998]. "Perl and XML." By Tim Bray. From the recent Perl conference. Tim Bray has made his conference presentation available online from the Textuality Web site, together with some other supporting XML-Perl materials.

[August 29, 1998]. "InDelv WYSIWYG XML/XSL Editor", by Rob Brown. Rob Brown presented information on InDelv's development effort in at the XML Developers' Conference in Montréal, August 21, 1998. The PowerPoint slides from Rob Brown's presentation are available online.

[August 29, 1998]. "XXX - eXpandable XML eXploitation." At the recent XML Developers' Conference in Montréal, Steve Withall gave a this presentation which described a number of design ideas for flexible, expandable applications that manipulate and otherwise exploit XML documents. The details of the Java 'XML Testbed' application used to demonstrate these ideas are now documented online, and the software is available from the W3C web server.

[August 29, 1998] "Entities: What are They Good For?" By Norman Walsh. In the XML.com article collection (August 28, 1998). What are entities in XML documents and how do I use them? After you're comfortable with XML markup, it's time to tackle entities. The term entity in the XML Recommendation is used for several related, but slightly different things. There are three things that might loosely be called entities in XML, and we'll take a detailed look at each of them. . ."

[August 29, 1998] "The Debut of XML:Geek. Pointy Heads on Pointy Brackets" By Peter Murray-Rust. In the XML.com article collection (August 28, 1998). Peter Murray-Rust is author of the JUMBO XML parser and co-manager the XML developer's mailing list (XML-DEV). XML:Geek asks 'how can I do something fundamentally new with XML? and where can I get the tools and components to help?'. I believe that XML will generate the same sort of worldwide community as was spawned in 1993 and 1994 and last longer. It'll be based on freeware, using existing programs and allowing your own to be used and modified. It'll have the same ethos as GNU, Perl, tcl, Python, LaTeX, Linux and many more. A place where geeks read lists, create communal cores and kernels and bolt new and exciting things onto them. These free XML systems will certainly be co-distributed with Linux, LaTeX, Perl and others."

[August 29, 1998] "Developers Driving XML in Montreal." By Liora Alschuler and Lisa Rein. In the XML.com article collection (August 28, 1998). The authors provide a report on the XML Developers' Conference, August 20 - 21, 1998, Le Centre Sheraton Hotel, Montréal, Québec, Canada. Note that several of the conference speakers have now provided presentation slides and other materials online; see the expanded/annotated program listing.

[August 29, 1998] "Quark Enters Standards Fray." By Chris Jones. In (August 28, 1998) 2:10pm PDT. "Quark's ambitious play to acquire Adobe Systems captured Wall Street's attention Tuesday. But the desktop publishing giant is quietly making inroads into what may be a far more strategic realm. Earlier this month, Quark joined the World Wide Web Consortium, and last week, company representatives attended their first meeting of the consortium working group. The Colorado-based company has began to help shape extensible markup language (XML), the standard that could dictate the future of text and graphics layout on the Web. 'The Web is at a transition stage, and XML is an important next step to what's possible,' said Mark Lemmons, the business unit manager for QuarkImmedia, a multimedia design tool. 'The Web's not about layout, but XML represents the next step toward a better world where structure of data is separate from its representation'." [see the following entry]

[August 29, 1998] "Quark & Adobe: A Tale of Two Companies." By [Seybold Publications Staff; edited by Patricia S. Evans]. In The Bulletin: Seybold News & Views on Electronic Publishing Volume 3, Number 49 (August 28, 1998). "Late Tuesday evening, news broke that on August 18, Quark CEO Fred Ebrahimi had sent a letter to Adobe's John Warnock and Charles Geschke in which Quark expressed interest in acquiring Adobe in a cash-for-stock deal at a 'premium to today's market price.' In addition, the letter noted that the proposed business combination presented certain regulatory issues, which Quark was prepared to solve by divesting 'Adobe's K-2 and PageMaker products and, to the extent required . . . Adobe's FrameMaker.' [see preceding entry]

[August 29, 1998] "Web-based EDI Systems Help Corporations Slash Costs, Bringing them Closer to Their Partners." By Albert Pang. In Internet Computing (August 28, 1998) [Business to Business]. See XML to Help Bring EDI into the E-commerce Mainstream."

[August 25, 1998] "As Intel-led group sideswipes standards body, Thomson and Microsoft roll spec of their own - Debate rages over how to bring data to TV." By Junko Yoshida. In EETimes Issue 1022 (August 24, 1998). Excerpt: "The debate over how to bring data and Internet technologies to digital television will bubble up this week, as a key industry group reconvenes here to discuss a set of proposals that has come under fire. . . Where the ATVEF's technology is based on standard Internet specifications such as HTML 4.0, BHTML is written in the emerging Extensible Markup Language (XML), a new language for advanced Web applications. BHTML scales back HTML elements and attributes by using parts of HTML 3.2, while it integrates synchronization functionality. The biggest difference between the two lies in the use of the Java software technology. BHTML is designed to be tightly integrated with the Application Execution Engine, or Java Virtual Machine, and with the Java framework." See the database entry, "Broadcast Hypertext Markup Language (BHTML)."

[August 25, 1998] "DCDs to Help in Building Three-tier Web XML Apps ." By Jeff Walsh. In InfoWorld Volume 20, Issue 34 (August 24, 1998), page 50. "Microsoft and IBM have submitted a proposal to the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) for describing the structure and content of Extensible Markup Language (XML) data. The submission of Document Content Descriptions (DCDs) was acknowledged by the W3C, which will next form a working group to flesh out the protocol. DCDs provide similar functionality to Document Type Definitions (DTDs), which the XML world initially inherited from its Standard Generalized Markup Language roots. But DCDs further support other XML-friendly standards such as Resource Description Framework, XML-Data and XML Namespaces. DCDs are also written in an XML syntax, unlike DTDs. This enables a common markup language for both the DCD and the XML schema it represents, but also the same parser can be used for both the DCD and the XML data." See the database entry: Document Content Description for XML (DCD).

[August 25, 1998] "Microsoft, DataChannel Develop Java-based XML Parser." By Brian Hannon. In PC Week [Online] August 24, 1998 12:12 pm ET. "Microsoft Corp. and DataChannel Inc. have unveiled an XML parser written in Java. Announced last week at the XML Developers Conference in Montreal, a beta version of the parser will be available on DataChannel's Web site beginning August 31, 1998. The parser, which is compliant with XML (Extensible Markup Langauge) 1.0 and supports DTD (Document Type Definition) validation and the current version of namespaces, enables users to access various data sources such as mainframes and databases using XML."

[August 25, 1998] "A Markup You'll Enjoy. XML is the Future of Web Page Development." By Jack Valko. In Special to ABCNEWS.com.

[August 22, 1998] "Server-Side XML: Taming the Tower of Babel." White paper from Object Design. Fall, 1998. Extract: "Most of the attention XML has received focuses on client-side document management, but where XML can make the most dramatic impact on applica-tion development is when it is applied to the broader problem of all application data, and on the server side. The server side is where data consumers and data providers all come together - each talking a different language. The result is a middle tier that begins to look like a 'Tower of Babel.' XML - the universal format for data interchange - can tame this chaos by acting as the object model for distributed data. Server-side XML can solve one of the most expensive problems of developing enterprise applications: data integration in the middle tier. Integration and data sharing in the middle tier is elegantly addressed by XML's universality and versatility, which present unique management requirements. An appropriate data management system conveniently and efficiently delivers XML data to the applications for simpler development and end-user perfor-mance. Object Design's ObjectStore database, with its native storage of XML data objects and its unique ability to distribute across the middle tier, is ideally suited to manage server-side XML and be the underlying technology for a data integration solution - one that Object Design is committed to building. While XML is good for document data, XML is sophisticated and can be applied to the broader job of being a universal format for application data - i.e., any data that is consumed by a process - with far more motivating results. XML is flexible enough to be used for the exchange of any type of data - including e-commerce, network configuration and stock ticker information - or any data that is shared between application servers. Because XML is hierarchical, it is designed to represent hierar-chically structured data as well as a C++ or Java class can, but without locking developers into a programming language. And also unlike C++, readable tags travel with the data so application servers do not need custom code to parse and interpret shared data. XML is a robust and effective format for application data and its neutrality makes it a common denominator for all applications. This qualifies XML as an interchange format that can be applied to any system integration or business-to- business project. With a universal data format, the development of commu-nication code is simplified and proprietary modules can be replaced with general-purpose functions making application development faster and cheaper." [local archive copy]

[August 22, 1998] "Vendors Announce XML Tools. Standard Moves Forward." By Jeff Walsh. In InfoWorld [Electric] Volume 20, Issue 34 (August 25, 1998), page 8 [Posted August 20, at 4:53 PM PT]. "The Web is well on its way to an XML facelift with recent news from Microsoft, DataChannel, Inso, and the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). Microsoft and DataChannel announced a new Java-based XML parser that the companies co-developed. The parser, which is 100 percent pure Java, runs on the server to avoid slower, client-side virtual machines. It can be combined with DataChannel's RIO product to enable Java programmers to concentrate on programming instead of business logic such as display and navigation. . . Inso on Monday [980824] will deliver the promise of XML-based Web content management and publishing with the release of DynaBase 3.0. The product uses Web standards when available and its own technology where the W3C standard is not quite ready yet. Ron Lee, Webmaster for A. H. Belo's Dallas Morning News, in Dallas, is using DynaBase to serve a special baseball section of the newspaper. He plans to use DynaBase to publish the entire newspaper in October."

[August 21, 1998] "XML-Based Initiative for E-Commerce Begins." By [Seybold Publications Staff; edited by Patricia S. Evans]. In The Bulletin: Seybold News & Views on Electronic Publishing Volume 3, Numbers 46-47 (August 19, 1998). ". . .The eCo Framework members will try to create a common framework that spans a multitude of commerce-related DTDs, including the Catalog Information Specification, Channel Definition Format (CDF), Common Business Library (CBL), Electronic Data Interchange (EDI), Internet Content Exchange (ICE), Open Buying on the Internet (OBI), Open Financial Exchange (OFX) and the Open Trading Protocol (OTP). . . Based on the naming of the group, we expect the architecture of this new framework to be based on CommerceNet's eCo Framework. The development of a common framework dovetails with CommerceNet's plans to run a central registry of commerce-related DTDs."

[August 21, 1998] "W3C Issues XSL Spec." By [Seybold Publications Staff; edited by Patricia S. Evans]. In The Bulletin: Seybold News & Views on Electronic Publishing Volume 3, Numbers 46-47 (August 19, 1998). "The W3C yesterday issued the first Working Draft of the Extensible Style Language (XSL) specification for creating virtual XML documents and presenting these documents on screen, in print, and across all media. Like the currently implemented Cascading Style Sheet (CSS) specification, XSL separates presentation from content, allowing a single source file to take on different characteristics depending on the display."

[August 21, 1998] "Enigma Adds Features to Insight Version 4.1." By [Seybold Publications Staff; edited by Patricia S. Evans]. In The Bulletin: Seybold News & Views on Electronic Publishing Volume 3, Numbers 46-47 (August 19, 1998). "Enigma has added access controls and dynamic updates to Insight version 4.1 to make it more competitive with Folio. Enigma is beginning to look like a serious challenger to Folio, Dataware and Inso's DynaText and DynaWeb products. This latest release shows that the company not only understands the market but is also able to develop a product that surpasses the competition in some respects."

[August 21, 1998] "W3C boosts XML with Namespace Spec." By Andy Eddy. In Network World Volume 15, Number 33 (August 17, 1998), page 11. "The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) recently revised its draft specification for defining a namespace under Extensible Markup Language (XML). The combination of namespaces and XML promises to improve data handling and foster the creation of versatile Web pages. The namespace concept provides for the use of unique prefixes in a Web page's code that combine with tags from each particular source. Each prefix alerts an application to descriptive metadata, located elsewhere in the page code, which provides a location for referencing each source's respective tag set. . ."

[August 20, 1998] "XML Jump-Starts Web Transactions." By Richard Karpinski. In InternetWeek (August 19, [24] 1998), page 17. "Momentum behind the Extensible Markup Language continues to build as new tools emerge for XML-based forms and data management, as well as a proposed addition to the core language itself. XML's influence continues to spread to practically all corners of the enterprise, but the latest developments are particularly designed for E-commerce applications. For instance, Internet forms company UWI.com this week unveiled the Extensible Forms Description Language, an XML-based protocol for creating, viewing and filing complex business forms on the Web." For more on XFDL, see Extensible Forms Description Language (XFDL).

[August 20, 1998] "News Wire Services Heading for XML. Where Does News Come From?" By Tim Bray. In XML.Com article collection (August 12, 1998). "For years, the NAA and IPTC have been working on the News Industry Text Format, and at the start they very sensibly chose SGML as the appropriate format. . . As you might expect, XML is starting to look very useful to these people. At a series of NAA/IPTC meetings which wound up recently in Portland, Oregon, the NITF DTD was, with surprising ease, rebuilt and made XML conformant. . ." [See: "Newspaper Association of America (NAA) - Classified Ads Format" and "News Industry Text Format (NITF)."]

[August 20, 1998] "RDF Made Easy." By John Cowan. Revised version, August 19, 1998. 'This document reflects the W3C Working Draft Resource Description Framework (RDF) Model and Syntax: W3C Working Draft 20 July 1998.'

[August 20, 1998] "XML Marries Databases." By Charles Babcock. In Inter@ctive Week (August 17, 1998). "A proposed extension to the Web's HyperText Markup Language is starting to be viewed as a possible medium of database information exchange as well as sophisticated electronic document exchange. The World Wide Web Consortium (www.w3c.org) has been reviewing a proposal from IBM Corp. and Microsoft Corp. along with other submissions on how to upgrade the HyperText Markup Language (HTML). While good for text publishing, HTML's tags can't recognize what type of data they are dealing with, nor can they translate different data types into a common format. Enter the eXtensible Markup Language (XML). Actually, it's not a language, but rather a proposed specification that lets two parties design and use a sophisticated document language between them, said Rob Veitch, director of business development at Sybase Inc. (www.sybase.com). With XML, two insurance companies, for instance, could compose claim forms and have them work the same way for shared customers."

[August 20, 1998] "The Newest Web Style." In Wired News (August 18, 1998) 12:45pm PDT. "Busy Web developers love the uniform control of Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) as they whip up Web sites. Instead of setting the color, text, and other page appearance information in the code for each page, style sheets let them set it all at once. A newly minted, higher-level language called the Extensible Style Language, or XSL, will further extend this power over the display and behavior of pages. The World Wide Web Consortium released Tuesday the first public "working draft" of XSL 1.0."

[August 20, 1998] "Pushing Standards." By [XML.com staff] (August 12, 1998). "August 10th saw the launch of a new Web site that will probably be of considerable interest . . . the Web Standards Project has been created by a group of big-league Web site designers who have run out of patience with doing different versions of their work to fit ever growing incompatibilities between browsers and standards."

[August 20, 1998] "W3C issues public draft of XSL 1.0." By Brian Hannon. In PC Week Online (August 20, 1998) 12:44 am ET. "The World Wide Web Consortium on Tuesday released the first public working draft of the Extensible Stylesheet Language. XSL is a presentation specification for XML (Extensible Markup Language) documents and is akin to CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) for HTML."

[August 20, 1998] "ODI Adds XML Support to Object Manager. Company Moves to Streamline E-Commerce by Supporting Tagging Language." By Mark Hammond. In PC Week [Online] Volume 15, Number 33 (August 17, 1998), pages 53-54. Object Design's ObjectStore 5.1 serves as an XML repository for Object Manager 2.0 applications. [The XML Object Manager "is an easy-to-use tool that creates XML-based web applications without having to write any C++, Java or perl. It is based on ObjectStore which provides a complete data management solution for server-side XML."] See: the XML Resource Page on ODI's web site.

[August 20, 1998] "VML Gives 2-D New Dimension. Office 2000 Feature Supports Markup of Vector Graphics." By Herb Bethony. In PC Week Volume 15, Number 33 (August 17, 1998), page 49. See also in this issue of PC Week: "Office 2000 Beta Components Show Polish," pages 43, 49. ". . .In addition to saving a document in its binary format, we could specify HTML as the default file format and, via XML (Extensible Markup Language), CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) and VML (Vector Markup Language), preserve a document's formatting. . ."

[August 17, 1998] "XML Advances to Easier Publishing. Developments Include Forms Support. [Ever-Expanding Extra-Useful XML.]" By Brian Hannon. In PC Week [Online] Volume 15, Number 33 (August 17, 1998), page 14. "Several enhancements to XML are making it easier to publish and manage documents online -- even as many users are just discovering XML's benefits. The latest advances include a Canadian company's new XFDL (Extensible Forms Description Language) for online form and electronic commerce support, a new document structuring method, and an upgrade to Inso Corporation's Web publishing system that offers full Extensible Markup Language support. Such enhancements are inspiring developers to work hard just to keep pace with the changing specification. 'I think everybody on the [World Wide Web Consortium XML] committee would agree that whatever our original orientation was, we're flabbergasted by some of the things people are doing with [XML],' said Tim Bray, an independent consultant in Vancouver, British Columbia, and a member of the W3C XML working group. Bray said the group is even delaying publishing an XML 2.0 specification to let users catch up to Version 1.0." For more on XFDL, see Extensible Forms Description Language (XFDL).

[August 17, 1998] "Delivering Medical Records, Securely. Boston startup uses XML, encryption for confidential data." By Regina Kwon. In Internet World Volume 4, Issue 26 (August 10, 1998) [Web Development], pages 23, 25. "New England Medical Center (NEMC) spends about $1 million per year on printing and film, and another million dollars each year on moving and storing those records and images. . . Part of what's preventing the creation of a useful, accessible system of patient records is the lack of standardization . . . The emergence of the Internet and object standards, such as the eXtensible Markup Language (XML), is changing all that. 'There's a lot of interest in the health care community now in using XML as an interchange format,' said Borden, whose Synapse software uses XML and Internet protocols to simplify access to diagnostic images, such as MRIs and CAT scans. 'Systems to allow different hospitals to exchange information don't exist today,' and because of concerns about quality and security, people are reluctant to turn to the public Internet'."

[August 17, 1998] "Spec Changes Affect Office XML Efforts." By James C. Luh. In Internet World Volume 4, Issue 26 (August 10, 1998), page 5. "Microsoft may have to substantially readjust some of its development efforts to adapt to changes the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) has made to a specification pivotal to the use of XML (eXtensible Markup Language), but it is unclear how much these changes will impact Microsoft release schedules and standards support."

[August 17, 1998] "The Resource Description Framework." By James C. Luh. In Internet World Volume 4, Issue 26 (August 10, 1998) [TECH ABC], pages 23-24. "The Web has grown to millions of hosts, and its content is becoming ever richer. But sadly, it's only becoming more and more difficult to make sense of that content. The Resource Description Framework (RDF), a metadata specification being developed by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), aims to reverse that trend. Though the RDF is still a working draft, many already think it could be the most important Internet innovation since the Web itself. As the W3C puts it, the RDF could move the Web from being simply machine-readable to being machine-understandable." See: Resource Description Framework (RDF).

[August 17, 1998] "XML Promises to Transform Government's Use of the Web." By Florence Olsen. In Government Computer News Volume 17, Number 25 (August 10, 1998), pages 1, 78. "[XML] is one of the rare technologies that all the big players, who tend to disagree on most everything else, are in favor of,' said Charles F. Goldfarb, the Standard Generalized Markup Language's chief inventor. 'XML is mass-market SGML.' Goldfarb said he thinks XML will fundamentally change the ponderous nature of data processing and storage. 'The vast majority of XML documents are going to be generated instantly from databases, read by other programs and then destroyed,' he said." [local archive copy]

[August 17, 1998] "UWI.Com's XFDL to Enable Creating, Viewing Forms on Net." By Jessica Davis. In InfoWorld (August 15, 1998) [Posted at 5:55 AM PT]. "UWI.com on Monday will announce Extensible Forms Description Language (XFDL), a new language that will make it possible to create, view, and fill in complex business forms and legal contracts on the Internet and intranets. UWI.com, based in Victoria, British Columbia, can be reached at http://www.uwi.com. For more on XFDL, see Extensible Forms Description Language (XFDL).

[August 13, 1998] "Lurching Toward Babel: HTML, CSS and XML." By Ilkka.Korpela@helsinki.fi [Helsinki University of Technology, Espoo, Finland]. In IEEE Computer Volume 31, Number 7 (July 1998) [Internet Watch], pages 103-106. Abstract: "The author discusses HTML (Hypertext Markup Language), CSS (Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) and XML (Extensible Markup Language). Many designers advocate the use of CSS together with XML as a replacement for HTML." From the conclusion: "The Web needs a Renaissance. It must return to its classical roots. One of its classical roots is HTML as a simple, scalable, document format that can be used for information exchange on virtually any platform. Coming back to this model means a return to the original principles of HTML and very carefully extending the language in the spirit of those principles. It will take time before we all realize that the original HTML proposals are still much stronger than the latest XML/CSS developments. If you have been wondering whether you should hurry to catch the train and start learning XML and CSS, stop wondering. There is no need to run to the station. The XML/CSS train is leaving, but it's headed into a land of confusion. Hold tight. There is still a lot of good work to be done with that simple, scalable document format we call HTML." [local archive copy]

[August 12, 1998] "Group Out to Set A New Standard." By Chris Oakes. In Wired News (August 10, 1998) 9:20am PDT. "A new grassroots group of Web developers is out to send a clear message to browser companies: Fix your software so our Web pages work right with everyone's browser. The Web Standards Project announced its formation Monday. The group plans to decry the lack of uniform browser support for important Web technologies and is forming its agenda of developer and vendor education." See: Web Standards Project (WSP).

[August 12, 1998] "XML to Help Bring EDI into the E-commerce Mainstream." By John Pallatto. In Internet Computing (August 12, 1998). "Extensible Markup Language (XML) could help speed the shift of electronic data interchange (EDI) from proprietary systems that currently predominate to Web-based systems that are less costly to set up and maintain, according to an industry advisory group. The XML/EDI Group has proposed industry standards for using XML to bring EDI into the mainstream of Web-based electronic commerce . . . The language and XML data repositories would allow business-to-business transactions, such as orders for parts and supplies among manufacturing enterprises, to be conducted securely over the Web.

[August 11, 1998] "Searching for the Holy Grail, XML Style. The Goal of Universal Data Exchange Has Proved to be a Long Quest - Will XML Come Through?" By Jason J. Meserve. In Application Development Trends [Development SOlutions for Corporate Software Managers] Volume 5, Number 8 (August 1998) [Internet Tools & Technologies], pages 55-62. "Visionary developers see real promise here [in XML for searching]. However, the use of XML in search engines only scratches the surface of the specification's flexibility. Database, publishing, document management, application integration and even middleware vendors are now looking at ways of using XML to make the exchange of data between applications and entities easier. XML adds intelligence to otherwise unintelligible, unstructured data. . . Even as it is hailed as the Holy Grail of Web technology, XML is still in its infancy. However, it is growing quickly. The general consensus among those interviewed for this article is that we will begin to see mainstream adoption of XML technology in the next 12 to 18 months as tools and user perception matures." [local archive copy]

[August 07, 1998] "New Working Group to Devise Vector Graphics Standard." By Brian Hannon. In PC Week Online (August 6, 1998 5:39 pm ET). "VML, a new application of XML, is being combined with two other nascent languages to create a standard for textually defining vector graphics. Currently a submission before the World Wide Web Consortium, the Virtual (sic!) [Vector] Markup Language will be united with developing specifications PGML (Precision Graphics Markup Language) and Web Schematics, according to Josef Dietl, the W3C's marketing manager for Europe. Dietl said the new Scalable Vector Graphics Working Group plans to combine the three languages into one standard. The working group, whose members were recently confirmed, will hold its first meeting within the next few months. Autodesk Inc., Hewlett-Packard Co. and Microsoft Corp. will have representatives on the panel." Published also (with corrections) as "VML Hybrids Help Build 3-D Graphics for Web," PC Week Volume 15, Number 33 (August 17, 1998), page 32. See: W3C Graphics Activity.

[August 07, 1998] "Enterprise Management Summit stakes out the future." By Paula Musich. In PC Week Online (August 5, 1998 12:12 pm ET). "The Desktop Management Task Force today at the Enterprise Management Summit will take the next step in creating a standard specification for transporting CIM (Common Information Model) management data over the Web. Technical leaders here will release a specification to the full DMTF membership for using XML encoding and the ubiquitous HTTP as the standard transport mechanism for CIM or WBEM (Web-Based Enterprise Management) data. The specification is expected to be completed in September, and initial products that support the emerging standard could be ready as early as December, according to one source familiar with the effort. By choosing XML and HTTP protocols, the DMTF will allow vendors to quickly create standard management tools using familiar Web technology; provide a common method to transport management data; and eliminate the bandwidth burden associated with older SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol) polling mechanisms."

[August 07, 1998] "Standard Nears For Dynamic Web Pages. While the W3C works on a DOM standard, Microsoft, Netscape push own proposals." By James C. Luh. In InternetWorld (July 27, 1998) [Web Development News], pages 27, 31. "The W3C's new Document Object Model specification is almost ready for prime time, but it's not clear when it will be supported by the major browsers. With the release last week of a new working draft of the Document Object Model (DOM) specification, the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) is a step closer to establishing a standard way for programs to access and update Web documents. Until now, such interactivity has been possible only through proprietary 'dynamic HTML' technologies from Microsoft and Netscape. DOM's future in the browser world is unclear. While both of the major browser manufacturers have contributed to the DOM working group, neither has offered a clear timetable for implementing DOM. . . 'No matter when or how much the major Web browsers support DOM,' [Lauren] Wood said, 'the W3C's work on DOM and on XML will help expand the Web beyond the current model of machines serving pages to human viewers. The Web will increasingly be used for things like application-to-application communication. It's going to be likely that people are going to start using XML and DOM for things that people never see,' Wood said." [local archive copy]

[August 07, 1998] "IBM Readies XML Support, Other Features for DB2. [ = IBM Ready to Throw Kitchen Sink into DB2.]" By Mark Hammond. In PC Week Online (July 21, 1998) and PC Week 15/30 (July 27, 1998), page 16. "Support for XML, considered a key to more efficient Web commerce, is among the features that IBM is looking to incorporate into its DB2 Universal Database in upgrades due later this year and beyond. It is also one in an array of technologies that IBM (IBM) is working on to bolster its database and business intelligence offerings."

[August 06, 1998] "Relational DBMSes Trail Objects in XML Race." By Polly Sprenger. In LanTimes Online (August 4, 1998). "If object databases were Cinderella, then eXtensible Markup Language could legitimately be called their fairy godmother. After years of not quite reaching the mainstream, the object database is finding itself the belle of the ball as relational databases fall short of XML's need for a repository that can support complex objects. The recent love affair with XML for creating data-driven Web-based applications could be hugely lucrative for object database vendors because XML needs those databases to realize its full potential. . . With several new products announced last month, object database vendors have easily beaten industry leaders to the punch. POET Software Corporation's Content Management Suite was the first release and was announced at Web Design and Development, a recent trade conference in San Francisco. The product uses POET's Object Server 5.0 database as an object repository and facilitates the transportation of XML objects among various clients and applications."

[August 06, 1998] "XML Headlines. The Journal's Latest Web Effort." By James E. Gaskin. In Inter@ctive Week (August 3, 1998). Summary: "The Wall Street Journal Interactive Edition (www.wsj.com) also is a success when it comes to implementing the latest Web publishing tools. The two-year-old Interactive Edition is posted using a complex system based on JavaScript utilities, PERL scripts, Standard Generalized Markup Language (SGML) and a highly customized version of Microsoft Corp.'s Word 6.0. To this technology soup, the Interactive Edition recently added the new eXtensible Markup Language (XML). The Interactive Edition's combination of technologies, particularly XML, gives the online editors unsurpassed flexibility and enables the publication's readers to download the day's top business stories to ever more portable devices, including 3Com Corp.'s PalmPilot."

[August 06, 1998] "Behind the X-Files -- XML technology inches forward with new standard set." By Jackie Poole. In VARBusiness Issue 1416 (August 03, 1998) [Section: Technology - Internet]. "Instead of using HTML to display the data, it's time to start thinking about using Extensible Markup Language (XML) tags. This will allow for better management of the content, updating and data transfer. The data will be self-revealing. XML tags provide more information about a piece of data than HTML tags. . ."

[August 06, 1998] "Opening Keynotes SGML/XML Europe 98." By Dianne Kennedy. In XML Files: The XML Magazine Issue 6 (July 7, 1998). Summaries for the opening keynote presentations at SGML/XML Europe '98, by: Norman Scharpf ("The Reach of SGML"); Charles Goldfarb ("Let Data be Free"); Adam Bosworth ("XML: Not just for Documents"); George Cacioppo ("Web Must Address Customer Needs"); Jon Bosak ("Give the User Ownership").

[August 06, 1998] "SGML/XML Europe: Wednesday Keynotes." By Dianne Kennedy. In XML Files: The XML Magazine Issue 6 (July 7, 1998). Summaries for the Wednesday keynote presentations at SGML/XML Europe '98, by Jean Paoli ("New Architecture for Web applications") and Benjamin Fienman ("XML, NetScape and OpenSource").

[August 06, 1998] "[SGML/XML Europe] Closing Keynote by Tim Bray. 'XML is Rock'n Roll'." By Dianne Kennedy. In XML Files: The XML Magazine Issue 6 (July 7, 1998).

[August 06, 1998] "Book Review: XML for Dummies." By Dianne Kennedy. In XML Files: The XML Magazine Issue 6 (July 7, 1998). Review of the book by Ed Tittel, Norbert Mikula, and Ramesh Chandak. Summary: "Overall, I found XML for Dummies to be a good addition to my reference library. . . the good discussion of how to read the XML specification and the excellent XML application DTDs makes this a book worth buying, no matter what your background is."

[August 06, 1998] "1998 Brings Two New GCA Conferences in the USA." By Dianne Kennedy. In XML Files: The XML Magazine Issue 6 (July 7, 1998). Presents an overview of the XML '98 Conference and the Markup Technologies Conference, in Chicago.

[August 05, 1998] "XML/EDI Group Proposes E-Commerce Repository." By [Seybold Publications Staff; edited by Patricia S. Evans]. In The Bulletin: Seybold News & Views on Electronic Publishing Volume 3, Number 43 (July 29, 1998). Summary: "The XML/EDI group has developed a set of guidelines for defining industry-specific rules for uses of XML in business transactions. The group has posted a draft document at www.xmledi.com . . . The repositories are intended to act as global libraries and enable businesses and government agencies to make their message formats available to trading partners." See also the press release "New XML Electronic Commerce Repository Proposal Announced" and the "XML/EDI Repository Working Group."

[August 05, 1998] "W3C Releases a New Draft of the Namespaces in XML Specification." By [Seybold Publications Staff; edited by Patricia S. Evans]. In The Bulletin: Seybold News & Views on Electronic Publishing Volume 3, Number 44 (August 05, 1998) [Newsstand]. Summary: "[the] specification intended to set standard mechanisms for mixing and matching XML fragments from disparate document types. The draft specifies a new attribute-based syntax for declaring and qualifying an XML namespace. Unlike the previous draft, this release sets explicit means of "scoping" a namespace so that it applies only to certain portions of a document and declares default scoping rules. The draft also specifies namespace partitions and expanded element and attribute names." See the dedicated section: Namespaces in XML.

[August 05, 1998] "Microsoft's Notepad Gives Preview of XML." By Jeff Walsh. In InfoWorld Volume 20, Issue 31 (August 3, 1998), page 50. "Microsoft recently unveiled a new prototyping application for use with the Extensible Markup Language (XML). Microsoft XML Notepad is a free download from the company's Web site, and enables users to graphically view XML data trees. The application uses a familiar Explorer interface to display the tree structure." See the Beta 1 [July 22, 1998] release notes for details; see also the section XML Document Editing, DTD Editing, Stylesheet Editing, Formatting, Browsing, and Delivery Tools.

[August 05, 1998] "Interleaf Tool Creates Valid XML Data in Microsoft Word. [Interleaf BladeRunner Dices XML Data.]" By Jeff Walsh. In InfoWorld Volume 20, Issue 30 (July 27, 1998), page 49. "With the introduction of BladeRunner, Interleaf is bringing the creation of valid Extensible Markup Language (XML) data to a broad user base by enabling Microsoft Word to validate a Word template against a document type definition (DTD). To Microsoft Word users, the process will seem to be just entering data into a template, but a wizard in the program will then be able to validate the entered data against a DTD and ensure all required fields are entered. This way, the XML data is not only well-formed, but also valid. In its broadest terms, BladeRunner is a content management system targeted at business to business communication and one-to-one marketing, according to Interleaf."

[August 05, 1998] "Automated Purchasing and Supplier Data Integration with XML. [Solving the Problem with webMethods B2B Integration Server, WIDL, and XML.]" In [Microsoft] XML Scenarios, July 28, 1998. "In this scenario, XML is used to define an extensible query mechanism and to standardize the descriptions of the catalog elements that are returned by the query. XML also makes it possible to retrieve very precise results. After catalog items have been selected, XML provides the mechanism for specifying all the parameters in the purchase order. XML is also used as the basis for webMethods' Web Interface Definition Language (WIDL). A WIDL is a specification that (in this case) describes which portions of data are to extracted and manipulated by the webMethods' Integration Server." See the introduction to this section of Microsoft's XML site, which features a "collection of articles that describe how industry leaders are using XML-based applications today to increase sales and productivity, improve customer satisfaction, and lower costs. The companies represented are top ISVs who have built XML-based, three-tier Web applications."

[August 05, 1998] "Happy Days Are Here Again: Posting XML to the Server." By Charles Heinemann [Microsoft]. In Extreme XML, Posted July 17, 1998. Tutorial example: "I figured I could mark that list up in XML and store it on the server. I would, however, need an easy way to update the list from the client (allowing for the addition of in-laws, uncles who've recently crawled out of the woodwork, and for the editing of any known relatives who change status). So, I constructed a user interface out of HTML, through which I could enter the data concerning a certain relative. I could then package that data as an XML fragment and post it to the server. Once on the server, the data could be parsed and used to update the XML file on the server. . . With my new Web application, I created an XML document containing information on over 40 potential subscribers." [Extreme XML is a monthly column on using the Extensible Markup Language (XML) format to deliver data on Web sites. The column assumes basic familiarity with programming terms and scripting.] (local archive copy)

[August 03, 1998] "Business to Get XML Repository." By Jeff Walsh and Matthew Nelson. In InfoWorld Volume 20, Issue 31 (August 3, 1998), page 5. Summary: "The XML/EDI Group has announced it is developing a repository for business transactions based on the Extensible Markup Language (XML). The repository would store the tag sets, document type definitions (DTDs), Extensible Stylesheet Language templates, and other schema needed for effective business-to-business communication, according to Bruce Peat, chairman of the XML/EDI Group. The XML/EDI Group is also forming a working group to organize the development of the repository. Peat noted that although representatives from Microsoft, Netscape, IBM, and other large software companies are listed as being on the working group, the group is not yet officially endorsed by any of those companies." See also the press release "New XML Electronic Commerce Repository Proposal Announced" and the "XML/EDI Repository Working Group."

[August 03, 1998] "Initial Experiences of an XLink Implementation." By Leslie Carr [Multimedia Research Group, University of Southampton]. "The aim of this work has been to produce a collection of classes that support XLink processing, identifying and resolving the data that is pointed at by the XLink locators, and allowing application-defined semantics to be brought to bear on those combinations of data. The result has been the uk.ac.soton.xlink package, consisting of the XLink, XAnchor, XLinkCollection and XLinkUtilities classes, along with some modifications and extensions to the com.ibm.xml.xpointer package." See also the author's note, and the XLink main entry.

[July 28, 1998] "DOM's Potential Shines." By Richard Karpinski. In InternetWeek (July 27, 1998), pages 1, 49. "As the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) prepares to release the DOM next month as a proposed standard, a new light is being shone on its ability to complement not just HTML but also the Extensible Markup Language. Vigorous attention also is being given to its potential to spur further use of XML for data-centric computing, E-commerce and application interoperability." See the main database entry: Document Object Model (XML) [Level 1].

[July 28, 1998] "E-Com's Rosetta Stone. Group of IT Vendors Forging Supply Chain Language." By Jim Kerstetter. In PC Week (July 27, 1998), pages 1, 18, 20. "RosettaNet bills itself as the group that will create the 'lingua franca' of high tech -- the key to making sure that everyone is speaking the same e-commerce language. For an interchange format, RosettaNet has adopted a single format for the exchange of data through XML. Within two years, RosettaNet developers hope to define everything in the computer industry's supply chain -- from the technical specifications of the components in a laptop computer to spare parts and the size of the boxes in which products are shipped. So far, four RosettaNet projects have been completed: 1) Catalog Information, which defines the data fields for general product information; 2) Software Technical Specification, which defines the technical attributes of software and licensing agreements; 3) the Memory Technical Specification, which defines memory products and their technical attributes; and 4) the Laptop Specification, which defines the attributes of a laptop. The entire RosettaNet project is expected to be handed over to an established standards body, such as CommerceNet, by the middle of 2000, where definitions for new technologies can be added as needed." [adapted]

[July 28, 1998] "Links That Are More Valuable Than the Information They Link?" By Bob DuCharme. In XML.com article series (July 25, 1998). "As XML opens up new possibilities for using information on the Web, its companion XLink specification is expanding ideas about what we can do with links. XLink will let us create links among documents that we can't edit. It will let us create links between more than two points. It will let us structure our links, allowing greater control over increasingly complex links. What will we do with all these new capabilities? For one thing, we'll be able to treat collections of these links as independent databases of information that lead to new categories of products for sale."

[July 28, 1998] "Handling Binary Data in XML Documents." By Lisa Rein. In XML.com article series (July 24, 1998). "Handling binary data in XML documents is a challenge. A developer of a medical multimedia system was faced with this challenge of integrating XML with bitmapped images such as X-rays. This article looks at different ways to include binary data in XML documents. [. . .] Conclusion: For now, XML developers will have to explore creative workarounds for supporting binary data in XML documents. There isn't an ideal solution for large binary data files today. In the future, optimized APIs and standardized coding practices for MIME and XML-based compound documents may begin to make things easier."

[July 28, 1998] "Oracle upgrades data tool." By Randy Weston. In CNet News.Com (July 23, 1998, 10:45 a.m. PT). "Oracle is streching its data repository to handle all elements of application development within a corporation . . . Oracle is also developing Java and Common Object Request Broker Architecture (CORBA) application programming interfaces and using eXtensible Markup Language standards (XML) so that Oracle, its partners, and its customers can access data in the repository using a standard language and customize the repository contents and API to meet specific needs."

[July 27, 1998] "XML is Open, Available, and Important for E-Commerce." By Dale Dowdie. In Network World (July 27, 1998), page 36.

[July 27, 1998] "Netscape Works Out Kinks in Mozilla." By Michael Moeller. In PC Week Online (July 24, 1998). "NGLayout [the rendering engine] was to be a ground-up rewrite of Communicator 4.x's HTML, XML and document rendering features. Instead, Netscape has urged developers to work on ways to enhance the current rendering engine under an ongoing project, code-named Mariner. It will support the World Wide Web Consortium's Document Object Model specification and will improve how the engine handles table and text layouts." See more at: XML in Mozilla.

[July 27, 1998] "Chromeffects May Speed Net Multimedia ." By John Gartner. In CMPNet Technology News (July 22, 1998). "Microsoft announced [...] Chromeffects technology for delivering low-bandwidth interactive content. . . Chromeffects uses Extensible Markup Language (XML) tags to describe ads or 3-D graphics, to instruct the client PC how to animate objects locally, rather than sending a fully rendered object over the Internet, Microsoft said. The add-on technology to Windows 98 is scheduled to ship to system OEMs, integrators, and hardware resellers by the end of the month."

[July 27, 1998] "Wholesale Shifts To The Web." By Tim Wilson. In CMPNet Technology News [Technology News] (July 21, 1998; 5:18 p.m. ET). "Marshall Industries, a $1.5-billion electronics distributor has nearly doubled its revenue since it began a wholesale shift toward e-commerce four years ago. Marshall, the fourth-largest company of its kind in the United States, sells components on behalf of about 150 suppliers -- and a big chunk of those sales are taking place online. [XML Connections:] Separately, Marshall has developed Extensible Markup Language connections with about 100 suppliers. If a user requests information on a product in the Marshall catalog, the system will go out to a supplier's site, access a data sheet, and present the information transparently via the Marshall site."

[July 27, 1998] "[XMI] Standard To Push Commerce." By James E. Gaskin. In Inter@ctive Week (July 24, 1998). "IBM Corp., Oracle Corp., Unisys Corp. and other industry leaders are proposing a standard that may give businesses more ways to conduct electronic transactions over the Web. Based on the eXtensible Markup Language (XML), a format for exchanging electronic data, the new XML Metadata Interchange (XMI) defines a formula for exchanging metadata, or data about the rules for handling document types based on earlier standards. XMI will give developers a way to bring consistency and compatibility to applications by including details about the requested business-to-business transactions." See the database entry: Open Management Group (OMG) and XML Metadata Interchange Format (XMI).

[July 12, 1998] "Beyond HTML: Extreme Markup." By Michael Floyd. In Web Techniques Magazine Volume 3, Issue 7 (July 1998), pages 40-41. Abstract: "As a restricted form of SGML, XML makes life much simpler for SGML authors and tool developers, while making existing SGML documents accessible from the Web. Consider that SGML documents still outnumber HTML documents many times over. The idea behind XML is that it decouples markup syntax from presentation semantics. Combining XML with a style-sheet language like XSL allows one to overcome HTML's primitive page-layout features. Web designers have come up with clever methods to overcome many of these problems, but they often slow download time and clutter the document with unnecessary markup. This is also the reason one hasn't seen good Web page layout tools-there's no easy or reliable way to reproduce these effects in different browsers. By separating document markup from visual presentation, XML tools can now be developed that overcome HTML's inadequate page layout."

[August 12, 1998] "XML for Beginners. [New Mogul Playground.]" By Lisa Voldeng [Volberding?] In Upside Today (July 23, 1998). "XML is specifically designed to make it easy to use the beneficial features of SGML on the Web. It provides a standard format to describe different types of data--for example, an appointment record, a purchase order or a database record--so that the information can be decoded, manipulated and displayed, consistently and correctly. Basically, XML provides a file format for representing data, a schema for describing data structure, and a mechanism for complementing and annotating HTML with semantic information. XML extends HTML by simplifying SGML."

[July 21, 1998] "Microsoft Looks at 3-D Multimedia. Company builds Chrome technology to usurp another standard -- VRML." By Bob Trott and Jeff Walsh. In InfoWorld [Product Reviews] (July 20, 1998), pages 55-56. "In an attempt to simplify 3-D authoring capabilities, Chrome will use Extensible Markup Language (XML), HTML, Vector Markup Language (VML), and Microsoft's DirectX technologies to build multimedia and 2-D and 3-D Web-based applications, said Carr and Chrome Product Manager Leslie Evans during a recent demo of the technology. Key will be Chrome's use of XML tags as a DirectX interface. . . The VRML Consortium has created a task group to work with Microsoft on the VRML-Chrome relationship. . ." See: "Microsoft Announces Chromeffects Software Development Kit. Next-Generation Interactive Media Toolkit to Spark a New Genre Of Tools, Applications and Interactive Media Content."

[July 21, 1998] "Moss to Cover New Web Data Model." By Robin Schreier Hohman. In Network World Volume 15, Number 29 (July 20, 1998) [Intranet Applications], page 31. Ex-Tivoli Systems,Inc. Chief Frank Moss thinks the Java/DCOM/Corba stuff is too complicated for the Web . . . His first new venture is called Bow Street Software, under Strategic Software Ventures LLC. . . "Moss said Bow Street's first mission will be to find a way to aggregate data into a live shared data object that can be dynamically updated in real time. The way to do that, Moss said, starts with Extensible Markup Language (XML). Moss wants Bow Street to use XML to build an infrastructure in between corporate data and the Web that gives IT departments fuller control over the data sharing process."

[July 20, 1998] "Breaking Free Of EDI Bonds. B2B Server Links Apps Over the Net." By Jim Rapoza. In PC Week (July 20, 1998), pages 23, 43. "Webmethods Inc.'s B2B Integration Server 1.2 works as a middleman for the software vendor's Web automation technology, making it possible for companies to link their business applications to a partner's over the Internet. . . the B2B Integration Server allows companies to connect over the Internet using integration applets created with webMethods' WIDL (Web Interface Definition Language). WIDL is an application of XML (Extensible Markup Language) for integrating business applications with Web-based ones. The B2B Integration Server's ability to link business applications without the high overhead associated with conventional EDI (electronic data interchange) systems makes it worth evaluating by any company doing Internet-based business-to-business commerce."

[July 20, 1998] "Near & Far Designer 3.0 Simplifies DTD File Construction." By Jeff Senna. In InfoWorld Volume 20, Issue 29 [XML/SGML development software] (July 20, 1998), page 63. "This graphical Windows tool makes it a snap to quickly create complex Extensible Markup Language (XML) and Standard Generalized Markup Language (SGML) Document Type Definition (DTD) files."

[July 20, 1998] "Paris 1998: Man the Angle Brackets! [Trip Report.]" By Liora Alschuler amd Mark Walter. [First published] in Seybold Report on Internet Publishing 2/11 (July 1998) pages 11-14. "In contrast to the SGML/XML Developer Conference last Fall, the May [1998] SGML/XML Europe event did not focus on up-and-coming Web applications. Instead, the undercurrent was the political agenda that drove publishers to generic markup in the first place: the need to publish in multiple forms, and the desire to store documents in a medium that is not controlled by the vendors of our publishing tools." The central section of this trip report covers XML editors, and is presented in the online document "Reviewing Structured Editors - Part Deux." See also part one.

[July 20, 1998] "SGML: Changing to Accommodate XML." By Bob DuCharme. In <TAG>: The SGML Newsletter 11/7 (July 1998), pages 1-3. Bob DuCharme overviews the SGML revisions in the WebSGML Adaptations Annex (Annex K) that are relevant to the phrase "for interoperability" in the XML 1.0 specification. In section "1.2 Terminology" the phrase "for interoperability" is glossed as "A non-binding recommendation included to increase the chances that XML documents can be processed by the existing installed base of SGML processors which predate the WebSGML Adaptations Annex to ISO 8879." In particular, DuCharme elaborates upon the terms and concepts type-valid, fully-declared, fully-tagged, integrally-stored, reference-free, and external reference-free. Ducharme also summarizes other changes to SGML in Annex K which make WebSGML documents more compatible with XML documents (optional quantities and capacities, preservation of white space, multiple attribute list declarations for the same element, pre-defined entities, empty tags of the shape <empty/>, revisions to SHORTTAG. The SGML declaration itself (hardcoded in case ofthe XML) can now be given in WebSGML documents inside a declaration using a system or public identifier.

[July 20, 1998] "Latin Ergo SGML? [Editorial]." By Brian Travis. In <TAG>: The SGML Newsletter 11/7 (July 1998), pages 1, 3. Travis compares SGML to Latin, insofar as Latin, a "dead language," is also healthy as a legacy language. "To someone who asks me if they should use SGML or XML for their document management system, I find it difficult to recommend SGML, except in some very distinct cases: 1) They need to interface with someone else's SGML; 2) They need a particular tool that is not now XML-enabled; 3) Their company is already using SGML in another implementation. [. . . SGML ] is still a great technology for describing the structure of your information, and there are many companies that use SGML to do so. Just don't teach it to your kids."

[July 20, 1998] "Why XML Is More Exciting Than SGML: Part II. Or, 'How I Stopped Worrying and Learned to Love XML'." By Dale C. Waldt. In <TAG>: The SGML Newsletter 11/7 (July 1998), pages 4-6. "Summary: This is the second part of a two-part article on my personal opinions as to why XML is sexier than SGML. This article describes a system that utilizes XML for interchange between commercial software over the Web. It was created by a single programmer in our labs in a matter of a few weeks. This prototype was created to illustrate the potential of several tools and is not an indication of any applications, product offerings, or promises from any party mentioned in this article. The prototype was first viewed publicly at the GCA XML conference in Seattle, Washington, in March of 1998."

[July 20, 1998] "Banta Continues Cross-Media Push." By [Seybold Publications Staff; edited by Patricia S. Evans]. In The Bulletin: Seybold News & Views on Electronic Publishing Volume 3, Number 41 (July 15, 1998). Summary: "Banta's Integrated Media division continues to push the envelope in cross-media publishing systems. Its latest system, Centrus, a robust information management system for catalogers and retailers, is one of the first XML content-management systems. It is an example of the type of enterprise-level systems we expect to see emerge in the next few years."

[July 20, 1998] "Microsoft Sees Nothing to SMIL About." By [Seybold Publications Staff; edited by Patricia S. Evans]. In The Bulletin: Seybold News & Views on Electronic Publishing Volume 3, Number 40 (July 8, 1998). Summary: "The Synchronized Multimedia Integration Language (SMIL) is a technology built in the Extensible Markup Language (XML) that enables synchronization of audio and video clips online without having to use complicated scripting tools. Microsoft says it reconsidered its support of SMIL because, in its view, it overlaps existing standards, such as CSS2, HTML 4.0 and the DOM (Document Object Model). SMIL is viewed as "immature" by Microsoft, according to a spokesperson for the company."

[July 18, 1998] "XML document authoring software. Vervet delivers basics, but omits many features." By Jeff Senna. In InfoWorld [Product Reviews] (July 20, 1998), page 63. "XML Pro has only the most basic of XML editing capabilities. It lacks Document Type Definition (DTD) editing and the capability to create element declaration statements (also referred to as internal DTDs). Still, creating XML documents within XML Pro is simple. Using the Element and Attribute wizards, I was able to quickly create each of the elements for my test document in a short amount of time."

[July 18, 1998] "A Practical Approach towards Active Hyperlinked Documents." By Eckhart Köppen and Gustaf Neumann [Information Systems and Software Techniques, University of Essen]. Presented at the 7th World Wide Web Conference in Brisbane, Australia. Abstract: "This paper presents an architectural implementation for web-based, active documents. Although several approaches for distributed, active documents exist already, we decided to establish a new model which provides more flexibility and interoperability without giving up formality. The model is based mainly on the Extensible Markup Language (XML) and makes use of the Document Object Model, Cascading Style Sheets and the Intrinsic Event Model, which are all open standards defined by the W3 Consortium." See also possibly: http://www7.conf.au/ or the longer version. [local archive copy]

[July 18, 1998] "Mark-up language wins praise." By Paul Festa. In CNET NEWS.COM News (July 15, 1998), 6:40 a.m. PT. "XML appears to be a long way from widespread use on the Internet. But for corporate intranets and server-based applications, the technology offers immediate and compelling benefits, panelists at the Internet World conference here said yesterday."

[July 18, 1998] "Calico Buys XML, Push Technology." By [InfoWorld Staff]. In InfoWorld Volume 20, Issue 28 (July 13, 1998). "Front-office software vendor Calico Technology last month bought interactive marketing software developer FirstFloor Software to leverage FirstFloor's Extensible Markup Language (XML) and push technology expertise for future products."

[July 18, 1998] "Converting an SGML DTD to XML." By Norman Walsh [ArborText]. In XML.com [XML Q&A] (July 08, 1998). Walsh itemizes the steps in SGML-to-XML DTD conversion in a couple categories: "Many of these changes are straightforward and, for a large number of SGML DTDs, they will be fairly easy to accomplish. . . There are also some changes that may have a large impact on the semantics of the DTD. Luckily, these are mostly infrequently-used SGML features so they don't turn up often in most DTDs."

[July 18, 1998] "Hyping the Common Information Model." By Bruce Boardman. In Volume 9, Number 12 [Workshops] (July 01, 1998) pages 93-95. "Other developments that are needed before CIM becomes a usable standard are APIs, common expressions, security and common transport. In the area of transport much is still unknown, but indications are that the DMTF is considering using XML (Extensible Markup Language). This would mean a mapping of all CIM schema to XML tags, which promises to make application access to CIM data easier for developers."

[July 18, 1998] "W3C Accepts Netscape's Submission." By Richard Karpinski. In CMP TechWeb News (July 06, 1998), 7:19 p.m. ET. "The Netscape submission, dubbed 'action sheets,' provides a mechanism to separate script-based event handling from the structure of HTML and XML documents. A side benefit is that it also enables the packaging of reusable actions, which can be easily accessed by Web pages and even cached on the client for quick reuse." - Conceptually, action sheets are similar to style sheets: style sheets attach presentational properties to elements in structured documents, and action sheets attach behavior to elements in structured documents. By doing so, action sheets share some of the benefits of style sheets: they can, for example, improve markup and ease site maintenance [W3C Comment]. See: "Action Sheets: A Modular Way of Defining Behavior for XML and HTML." References: NOTE-AS-19980619, World Wide Web Consortium Note 19-June-1998.

[July 18, 1998] "Software Aims to Bridge EDI/XML Traffic." By Ellen Messmer. In Network World Volume 15, Number 28 (July 13, 1998), page 6.

[July 18, 1998] "Hot New Web Technology." By Andy Edy. In Network World Volume 15, Number 28 (July 13, 1998), page 40.

[July 17, 1998] "XML: The Universal Publishing Format. [XML & JAVA: Portable Data, Portable Programs.]" By Jon Bosak (Sun Microsystems). Presentation delivered as a Keynote Address in the opening session of the Paris conference. This presentation by the Chair of the W3C XML Working Group represents a major documentary milestone, and serves as a complete example of "an XML document in use" as well. See the slide set local version (HTML); XML source; the PostScript version; the complete .ZIP archive. The compressed archive also contains DSSSL style sheets, CATALOG file, DTD, and other resources used in processing.

[July 17, 1998] "CommerceNet to Use XML Web Site for Registry." By Nancy Weil. In InfoWorld Electric (July 16, 1998), Posted at 9:30 AM PT. "A Web site dedicated to Extensible Markup Language (XML) has been acquired by a global Internet-commerce consortium that intends to use the site as the core of a registry service to ensure interoperability and information exchange among developers. XML Exchange (http://www.xmlx.com), which was launched 10 weeks ago, will now be run by CommerceNet, a non-profit I-commerce industry group with more than 500 worldwide members, CommerceNet announced. The Web site was acquired for an undisclosed sum from XMLSolutions, a Washington consulting company." [local archive copy] See also the press release: "CommerceNet Acquires XML Exchange From XMLSolutions. Foundation for Global eRegistry Service Vital to XML-based Electronic Commerce."

[July 17, 1998] "XML Gains Web Site Ally." By Nancy Weil. In Network World Volume 15, Number 29 (July 20, 1998), page 8. Brief article on the acquisition of XML Exchange by CommerceNet. See above.

[July 17, 1998] "XML Pro Takes Web Pages Beyond HTML. XML Pro's hierarchical interface lets Web page authors easily create and edit XML documents." By Herb Bethoney. In PC Week [also Online] Volume 15, Number 28 (July 13, 1998), pages 23, 35.

[July 17, 1998] "IBM Unveils Enhanced Tools." By Jon Cornetto. In InfoWorld [Client/Server] Volume 20, Issue 28 (July 13, 1998) page 29. "The company unveiled its new TeamConnection Enterprise Server, Generator, Smalltalk, and Pacbase versions last week. Highlights include enhanced Java interoperability and Extensible Markup Language (XML) support. These tools will support Enterprise JavaBeans and other component models."

[July 16, 1998] "Suite Makeovers. XML Is Poised to Bring Applications and the Web Closer Together." By Sebastian Rupley. In PC Magazine Volume 17, Number 14 (August 1998) [Trends], page 30.

[July 14, 1998] "Microsoft Spearheads Protocol Push." By Jeff Walsh. In InfoWorld [Distributed Computing] Volume 20, Issue 28 (July 13, 1998) pages 1, 24. "Microsoft is quietly working on an early implementation of a new protocol to build distributed computing applications that span the Web. The Simple Object Access Protocol, or SOAP, enables Remote Procedure Calls (RPCs) to be sent as Extensible Markup Language (XML) syntax across the Web's HTTP architecture. . . At present, other companies are shipping products that enable RPC over XML, such as UserLand Software's Frontier 5.1 Web content management system, DataChannel's WebBroker technology, and WebMethods' B2B Integration Server. None would talk directly about SOAP, but all liked the idea of a single standard." See also: PCWeek 15/30 (July 27, 1998), page 28: "SOAP Cleans Component Mess."

[July 14, 1998] "CommerceNet Buys Into XML. Consortium will use repository site to promote e-commerce." By Brian Hannon. In PC Week [also Online] Volume 15, Number 28 (July 13, 1998), page 10. "A consortium of technology companies is betting on XML to help pave the way toward the next generation of electronic commerce applications. CommerceNet, a 500-company organization dedicated to standards in online policy and technology, will announce this week the purchase of XML Exchange, a free Web-based repository and discussion group for sharing Extensible Markup Language DTDs (Document Type Definitions). DTDs describe XML tags and document formats."

[July 14, 1998] "An Introduction to XML." By Sundar Narasimhan. In ZDNet InternetUser Garage (July 02, 1998).

[July 14, 1998] "Tomorrow's IT May Hinge on XML Today." By Michael Vizard. In InfoWorld Volume 20, Issue 27 (July 6, 1998), page 5. "Once in a very great while we find ourselves on the cusp of a major shift in computing technology. [. . .] Right now, any IT shop willing to take a fresh look at its long-term enterprise computing strategy should be actively exploring the emerging Extensible Markup Language (XML) standard. Why should you care? Here's why. 1) XML has the potential to end the browser wars by giving developers the ability to create content once anddistribute it anywhere; 2) XML can provide the kind of data-neutral file format needed to foster Internet-commerce activity across diverse industries; 3) XML can halt the escalating war over transaction processing architectures by providing a bridge that spans both Enterprise JavaBeans and NT component models; 4) XML should be able to significantly speed Web performance by providing Web servers with a far more efficient way of exchanging data across the Internet."

[July 14, 1998] "Project Garlic adds spice to IBM's DB2." By Paul Krill. In InfoWorld Volume 20, Issue 27 (July 6, 1998), pages 1, 16. "IBM is working on a plan to retrofit its DB2 Universal Database RDBMS with the capability to manage XML, HTML, and other text documents, in a research effort called Project Garlic. Project Garlic is being conducted primarily at IBM's Almaden Research Center in San Jose."

[July 14, 1998] "Web Site Managers Get Help From UserLand's Frontier 5.1." By Jeff Walsh. In InfoWorld Volume 20, Issue 27 (July 6, 1998). "With the release of Frontier 5.1, UserLand Software is delivering a lot of new features in its Web site content-management system, including one that it had avoided for quite some time -- a price tag. . . . The product can now store and parse Extensible Markup Language (XML) data, as well as pass Remote Procedure Calls (RPCs) using XML to enable networked, distributed computing over HTTP, according to UserLand officials."

[July 20, 1998] "Source Code Giveaway Proves To Be A Hit For Netscape." By Connie Guglielmo. In Inter@ctive Week (July 13, 1998). "Since Netscape Communications Corp. began its source code giveaway March 31, Web developers have downloaded more than 250 thousand copies of the client technology - a number that has taken even Netscape by surprise."

[July 13, 1998] "XML Stakes Out Web Future. Right Through HTML's Heart." By Joshua Piven. In Computer Technology Review Volume XVIII Number 6 (June 1998), pages 1, 44-45. [ISSN: 0278-9647].

[July 13, 1998] "XML and Internet Internationalization." By Tony Graham. In Multilingual Computing and Technology Volume 9, Issue 4 (June 1998), pages 32-33. [ISSN: 1065-7657.] Summary: "Technical details of character set issues for this upcoming Web markup language."

[July 13, 1998] "IBM bets on XML. After putting its money on Java, Big Blue is upping the ante with an ambitious XML initiative." By Ted Smalley Bowen and Ed Scannell. In InfoWorld [Special News Report] Volume 20, Issue 27 (July 6, 1998), pages 1, 16. "IBM is marshaling its vast resources around the Extensible Markup Language (XML) in an attempt to leverage the technology's potential across its product line. Although most of this work still resides in IBM's research facilities, the critical role XML will play in IBM's enterprise computing strategy will be made apparent through a series of initiatives that the company is expected to outline beginning this summer."

[July 13, 1998] "W3C Envisions HTML as Modular XML Tags." By Jeff Walsh. In InfoWorld Electric (July 1, 1998) 3:17 PM PT. See similarly below, "Forecast."

[July 13, 1998] "W3C Offers XML Forecast. Association Predicts HTML Will Become XML Application." By Jeff Walsh. In InfoWorld Volume 20, Issue 27 (July 6, 1998), page 16. "The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) sees the next generation of HTML as being a modular set of Extensible Markup Language (XML) tags. Whereas HTML 4.0 is technically one mass of tags, making HTML a suite of modular tag sets will make the language easier to manage."

[July 01, 1998] "The Document Object Model." By Bob DuCharme. In <TAG> The SGML Newsletter 11/6 (June 1998) pages 7-8. Setting the stage for introducing the W3C's 'Document Object Model' activity: "SGML has always had a lot in common with the object-oriented approach to modeling data: a) both address the problem of representing data that won't fit neatly into tables of fixed-width fields that make up a relationsl database; b) both define object classes (or in SGML's case, element types) by specifying what kinds of data and what members of other defined object classes make up the members of each newly-defined class; c) both let you define attributes as categories of information that you can assign to each object . . ." See the Document Object Model FAQ for an overview.

[July 01, 1998] "DataChannel's Dave Pool Talks About Shaping the Role of XML to Suit Different Needs." [Interview with Dave Pool] By Michael Vizard and Jeff Walsh. In InfoWorld Volume 20, Issue 26 (June 29, 1998), page 73. "While Microsoft and other companies talk loudly and often about the importance of the Extensible Markup Language, or XML, DataChannel is actually delivering product and shaping the role of XML in the enterprise. The Bellevue, Wash.-based company, which is a stone's throw from the Microsoft campus, is currently shipping its DataChannel Rio server, which provides content routing and authentication for XML data within an intranet. The product's 'Save to the Web' functionality mirrors the Web Distributed Authoring and Versioning (WebDAV) protocol functionality still waiting to be standardized, and brings it to users today, with the pledge to migrate to the standard when available. And the company's WebBroker specification, which enables Web-based distributed computing, has been acknowledged by the World Wide Web Consortium. InfoWorld Executive News Editor Michael Vizard and Senior Writer Jeff Walsh recently spoke with DataChannel CEO and President Dave Pool about the current state of XML and what lies ahead. . ."

[July 01, 1998] "ODI Boosts XML Access." By Paul Krill. In InfoWorld Volume 20, Issue 26 (June 29, 1998), page 24. "Object Design Inc. (ODI) is readying a middleware solution to streamline access to Extensible Markup Language (XML)-tagged data. ODI's XML Document Object Manager is deployed on top of a midtier application server or Web server to maintain documents in cache, rather than having to re-create the document for each client request. This reduces traffic on back-end database servers, according to ODI officials." From the Web site description: "The Document Object Manager turns ObjectStore into an easy-to-use XML repository complete with an XML document reader, and an HTML API. This tool makes it possible to create XML-based web applications without having to worry about designing and developing the database infrastructure."

[July 01, 1998] "Security Issues Arise Regarding XML. Developers and Users Question Authentication and Encryption." By Jeff Walsh. In InfoWorld Volume 20, Issue 26 (June 29, 1998), pages 69, 74. ". . . some concerns have been raised by developers and end-users about what other security problems may exist. XML itself is not directly related to security, because it is just a data format for documents. But the way it is being positioned has caused some to question if additional measures will be necessary. For example, end-users will directly be able to control their Web experience by pulling the information out of an XML document that most interests them. In the same document, though, information that user should not see might be present, and the server will need to know whether the user should get specific data." See also by Jeff Walsh: "XML May Cause Security Risk. Increasing concerns over XML content delivery has analysts worried," PC World, June 26, 1998 12:10 p.m. PT

[June 30, 1998] "Create XML Code Automatically With XML Pro." [Software review] By Edward Grossman. In Windows Sources (July 1998), pages 64, 66. "Helping to bring XML authoring to the masses is Vervet Logic's XML Pro, a visual XML-authoring tool that doesn't force users to hand code. We tested a beta version under Windows NT 4. . . XML Pro supports DTD validation, checking that an XML document is structured appropriately against a specific DTD . . . XML Pro, even with its limitations, makes for an intuitive entry into the world of XML for those not familiar with the new language."

[June 30, 1998] "Multimedia With a SMIL." By Mark Gibbs. In Network World [Intranet Handbook 3/6] Volume 15, Number 26 (June 29, 1998), page 10. "SMIL's future looks bright." See Synchronized Multimedia Integration Language (SMIL).

[June 30, 1998] "XML: A Java Alternative -- Technologies Now Seen As Complementary." By Darryl K. Taft and Wylie Wong. In Computer Reseller News (June 29, 1998). "Although Java and Extensible Markup Language (XML) have, in the past, been pitted in somewhat competitive roles in the Web environment, the technologies are increasingly viewed as complementary. . ."

[June 25, 1998] "The Internet Interface of the CompHealth Credentialing Project." By: Jerome B. Soller, Ph.D., James E. Clingenpeel, Patrick W. Hayes Jr., Mark Muday, Redge Cook, M.B.A., Ellen Mousseau, William H. Brady, M.D., M.P.H., M.B.A., Dora Hart, M.B.A., and Susan H. Collier, M.H.A. IBM White Paper. Abstract: "Regulatory agencies require healthcare organizations to collect information on practitioner credentials. The collection and subsequent verification of credentials data allows healthcare insurance plans, hospitals, and other organizations to make hiring and contracting decisions for individual healthcare professionals. Since the process of collecting and verifying these data is time and resource intensive, many healthcare organizations have chosen to outsource these services to Credentials Verification Organizations (CVO). CompHealth is a CVO, which has created a set of credentialing software packages to further increase its efficiency, accuracy, and responsiveness. This paper discusses CompHealth's Apply.Net software, which allows practitioners to directly enter their credentials data via the Internet. The Internet interface was written in Java, and its components were based upon the Java component model (Java Beans). The development of these Java components leveraged the IBM Network Computing Framework. Project requirements and current limitations of the Java programming language necessitated a thin client design and a dynamic representation of user interface content through the Extensible Markup Language (XML). Through the use of these technologies, CompHealth expects to provide their clients a significant reduction in the time to collect credentials data and verify those credentials." Also in PDF format.

[June 25, 1998] "Aspects of implementing and harmonizing healthcare communication standards." By J. Dudeck [Institute of Medical Informatics, Justus-Liebig-University, Giessen, Germany]. In International Journal of Medical Informatics Volume 48, Number 1-3 (February 1998), pages 163-171. ". . . the movement to a new interchange format can be initiated by standards development organizations. The application of SGML/XML as an interchange format for communication standards offers a much greater flexibility and adaptability to user needs than the currently used interchange formats."

[June 25, 1998] "WebDAV to Ease Web Authoring. Protocol to aid collaborative development is under review." By Brian Hannon. In PC Week Volume 15, Number 25 (June 22, 1998), page 8. Introduction: "An emerging Web protocol that offers collaborative Web development is gaining strong support from authoring tool groups and vendors. WebDAV (Web Distributed Authoring and Versioning) uses Extensible Markup Language to provide interoperability between a variety of content and development tools." See the database entry: WEBDAV (Extensions for Distributed Authoring and Versioning on the World Wide Web.

[June 25, 1998] "Writing it Right Once. [Commentary]" By Bethany Schroeder. In HealthWeek Volume 3, Number 13 (June 22, 1998), page 18. ISSN: 1088-436X. Excerpt: "Every nurse I've ever known has wondered why we don't have a standardized way of documenting services in health care. . . Today we have a solution to the problem: Extensible Markup Language. [. . .] it's a subset of one of the oldest standards in the publishing industry, which means that established developers, educators, and producers of the product already exist. And because the technology is an open standard, no one can own it, and anyone can use it and develop products."

[June 25, 1998] "Mathematics On the Web." By Rockford J. Ross [Computer Science Department, Montana State University]. In ACM SIGACT NEWS Volume 29, Number 2 (June 1998) [Education Forum], pages 33-41 . Review of MathML from the ACM Special Interest Group on Algorithms and Computation Theory. "So there you have it. MathML is sure to be in your future if you do any kind of writing in computer science." - 1) Don't invest your time in a non MathML-based system; 2) Keep generating your mathematics in LaTeX. High quality translators of LaTeX mathematics to MathML (and vice versa) are sure to appear soon.

[June 24, 1998] "XML is More Exciting Than SGML. Part 1." By Dale Waldt [Research Institute of America Group]. In <TAG> The SGML Newsletter 11/6 (June 1998) pages 1-4. "The truth is that the really compelling reasons for using SGML did not exist for the mainstream until very recently with the wide acceptance of the Web and the dramatic price decreases and functionality increases for document processing tools. . . If I were starting from scratch to convert our information resources, I would obviously go straight to XML and bypass all the nonessential pieces of SGML that were left out of XML." [Waldt introduces his 2-part article as beginning with 'some highly subjective revisionist observations about XML and why it should prove to be important and more widely adopted than SGML'.]

[June 24, 1998] "Vignette StoryServer 4.0 Gets Personal." By [Seybold Publications Staff; edited by Patricia S. Evans]. In The Bulletin: Seybold News & Views on Electronic Publishing Volume 3, Number 38 (June 24, 1998). Summary: "While Vignette would like to claim that StoryServer 4.0 is a new class of content management software, it really provides an entrée to a new base of customers---the suits who run the sales and marketing departments. Vignette is clearly moving beyond E-commerce as the mere processing of transactions. Automating the proactive customization of a user's experience adds an additional dimension to the online experience, one that sales and marketing folks understand very well." See also: "Vignette Corporation Unveils STORYSERVER 4 for Internet Relationship Management."

[June 24, 1998] "W3C Explores Standards for Easier Web-site Authoring ." By Jeff Walsh. In InfoWorld Volume 20, Issue 25 (June 22, 1998), pages 57, 62. "Portable users, such as those on personal digital assistants, are now gaining Web access and wanting quick text versions of sites while developers take advantage of more bandwidth by creating robust graphics-rich sites . . . 'You can't expect people to make versions of sites just for some device. Conversion and negotiation are the better way to go,' Lilley said. 'Separation of form and content -- a major advantage of the Extensible Markup Language (XML) -- will help further a wider array of end-user options,' developers said."

[June 23, 1998] "Preview of XML Support in IE 5." By Tim Bray. From Xml.com. June 22, 1998. Excerpts from this review of Microsoft Internet Explorer version 5: "Some parts of this are much more cooked than others; Microsoft was up-front about this fact . . There is also a strong commitment to do fully conformant XML per the 1.0 recommendation; there are places in the beta where this is still shaky, and Microsoft plans to find and fix them. IE5 seems to be a step in several useful directions. The XML support in particular seems to be moving in the right direction; it is everyone's responsibility to keep pressure, not just on Microsoft, but on all technology makers, to make sure this keeps happening."

[June 23, 1998] "XML and Vector Graphics." By Lisa Rein. From Xml.com. June 22, 1998. "The work has begun to define a new vector-based graphic format for the Web at the W3C. We'll look at the advantages of a vector graphics format. Then we'll look into each submission and its relationship to XML. We'll also take a brief look at binary vector-formats. Finally, we'll compare the top two submissions: PGML and VML."

[June 23, 1998] "What XML Means to You." By David S. Linthicum. In Computer Shopper (July 01, 1998). "You'd have to be living in a cave not to see all the hype surrounding Extensible Markup Language (XML). XML is poised to break into most Web-driven organizations with dozens of vendors ready to sell their XML-enabled wares. So what does XML mean to you? To answer that question, you need to arm yourself with information, understand your requirements, and figure out when, or when not, to make a move."

[June 23, 1998] "Trends: [MS] Office 2000 Courts the Web. Microsoft wants the next version of Office to improve 'round-tripping' between applications and the Web." By . In PC Magazine Online (June 22, 1998). "Advancing HTML editing further, Office documents stored in HTML will enable more precise 'round-tripping' to and from Web documents and tables, by implementing Extensible Markup Language (XML) technology to preserve all the Office-specific formatting in a document or table. For example, you could import from the Web a table of stock prices with all formatting intact, via XML tags found in the Web document. 'We've built HTML/XML publishing directly into the Office applications, so you can save things in HTML format or you can roll things back from a Web page that have been stored in XML format,' says Microsoft's Ballmer."

[June 22, 1998] "XML Opens Object Tools to Web. XMI implementation will allow programming development via Web browser." By Antone Gonsalves. In PC Week [Online] Volume 15, Number 25 (June 22, 1998), page 8. "Looking for even more ways to use XML in the enterprise? It will soon be popping up in development tools and component repositories. IBM is on the leading edge of a group of vendors bringing Extensible Markup Language into the realm of component repositories and object-oriented application development tools. The company is integrating the technology into the next upgrade of its VisualAge TeamConnection Enterprise Server 3.0, scheduled for release next week, said officials of the Armonk, N.Y., company. . . IBM has jumped ahead of the pack in its use of XML in TeamConnection 3.0"

[June 22, 1998] "XML Builds Momentum as Repository Standard." By Paul Krill. In InfoWorld Volume 20, Issue 25 (June 22, 1998), page 6. Also in InfoWorld Electric. "The Extensible Markup Language (XML) will become the standard mechanism for interoperability between data-warehouse and tool repositories, based on plans by vendors such as Microsoft, IBM, and Oracle. These companies and others, such as Unisys, are examining XML as a way to standardize data entries for inclusion in repositories. [. . .] This month IBM, Unisys, Oracle, and Platinum Technology submitted to the OMG the XML Meta Data Interchange Format (XMI) proposal for XML communications between development tools, applications, and repositories." Also on "Common Warehouse Model [which] expands XMI to include meta-data interchange between warehouse repositories and tools." See the database entry: Open Management Group (OMG) and XML Metadata Interchange Format (XMI).

[June 21, 1998] "RDF Made (Fairly) Easy." By John Cowan. First posted 20-June-1998. "The document "attempts to explain RDF from the simple cases to the general cases rather than the other way around. After reading this document, you should know how to encode metadata in XML in a way that complies with RDF. This document is structured rather like a newspaper article, with the most important material first. Consequently, you can stop reading it at any time, and hopefully you will still understand something about using RTF." See also the author's note introducing the paper. [local archive copy]

[June 21, 1998] "Two-faced Coins Catching On." By Jeff Walsh. In InfoWorld Volume 20, Issue 25 (June 22, 1998), page 6. Also in InfoWorld Electric (June 19, 1998) Posted at 4:56 PM PT. "A new programming paradigm called Coins is gaining momentum with developers as a way to deliver JavaBeans using the Extensible Markup Language (XML) without the need for Java serialization. Coins have two faces: an XML element in persistent form and a JavaBean instance in run-time form." See the web site http://www.jxml.com, and documentation: "XML-Based Components: Coins." By Bill la Forge.

[June 21, 1998] "Microsoft's Vision for XML." By Adam Bosworth [General Manager, Microsoft Corporation]. The full text of the opening Keynote Address of Adam Bosworth at the SGML/XML Europe '98 conference. The presentation slides are also now available online. Bosworth's presentation develops the argument that XML is the key building block for an open, simple, and flexible Web architecture which will allow "all applications on all machines on all platforms to interact."

[June 21, 1998] "XML: The Universal Publishing Format." Alias: "XML & JAVA: Portable Data, Portable Programs." By Jon Bosak [Sun Microsystems, W3C XML WG Chair]. Slides (provisional) from Bosak's opening Keynote Address delivered at the SGML/XML Europe '98 conference.

[June 17, 1998] "What's New in IE 5.0?" By [Tim Bray and Seybold Publications Staff; edited by Patricia S. Evans]. In The Bulletin: Seybold News & Views on Electronic Publishing Volume 3, Number 37 (June 17, 1998). Excerpt: "Tim Bray, got a walk-through of IE 5.0. Below he highlights some of its new features, especially those relating to XML. . . From the XML point of view, the interesting thing about scriptlets is that they have a nice self-identifying little XML header, which seems like a good idea and is something that Microsoft should submit to the W3C, sooner rather than later. . . The C++ processor in IE 5 has been brought up (Microsoft says) to conformance with the XML 1.0 recommendation. Microsoft has put an immense amount of work into performance and robustness of the XML software; one of the driving factors is that it sees a big role for XML in server-side applications, where everything is stressed to the max and needs to run for days at a time. [. . .] Our take: IE 5.0 seems to take a step in several useful directions. The XML support in particular seems to be moving in the right direction. As for all the other browser bells and whistles, its future depends in small part on the W3C process, and in large part on how the browser market share battle plays out."

[June 17, 1998] "How Much Is That in Balboas? Accessing the Typed Value of XML Elements via Visual Basic." By Charles Heinemann. In Extreme XML [Column] (June 15, 1998). ". . . For the demo, the intern was creating his own XML file, consisting of currency exchange information. Hence his interest in the Canadian dollar. The first step to using data types within an XML document is to declare the data-type namespace. This is done in the beginning of the document: <?xml version='1.0'?><?xml:namespace ns="urn:uuid:C2F41010-65B3-11d1-A29F-00AA00C14882/" prefix="dt"?> . . ."

[June 17, 1998] "Getting Deep Into Metadata." By Nate Zelnick. In [WebDeveloper] The XML Files (June 15, 1998). "[explores] the ways that XML is being extended so that structured data can be passed around the Web from machine to machine in a completely automatic fashion. That technology, called the Resource Description Framework (or RDF) has been a draft specification at the World Wide Web Consortium since February. . ."

[June 16, 1998] "XML Could Extend Groupware. Developers Look for Easier Ways to Connect Notes, Groupwise, Exchange." By Brian Hannon and Christy Walker. In PC Week Volume 14, Number 24 (June 15, 1998), pages 71, 75. Excerpt: "The burgeoning XML protocol promises to give groupware products new integration and interoperability capabilities by providing a standard method for accessing metadata and enabling exchange between disparate applications. An Irish developer, Digitome Ltd., last month released a DTD called NFF (Notes Flat File), one of the first DTDs for groupware. Lotus, the Cambridge, Mass., subsidiary of IBM, has said that the Domino 5.0 server and the Domino Designer 5.0 application development client, both due to ship by year's end, will support XML at some level. For GroupWise users, the groupware's support for XML will likely result in extensions within data and the ability to place messages together in new ways . . . Moody's Investor's Service is interested in employing XML in groupware, possibly through Digitome's NFF [said Bob DuCharme]."

[June 16, 1998] "A Promise of Better Data Exchange. XML Enriches the E-commerce Experience, Increases Web Data Usefulness." By Brian Hannon. In PC Week Volume 14, Number 24 (June 15, 1998), page 126. Excerpt: "News Corp., the Wall Street Journal Interactive Edition and Kaiser Permanente of Ohio are among a handful of companies taking the lead in leveraging XML to increase the productivity of their Web sites as well as to execute data exchange over the Internet. [ . . .] The Wall Street Journal Interactive Edition, at www.wsj.com, turned to XML to provide a richer experience on its Web site. The paper originally posted its stories on the Web in XML's parent language, SGML; now it posts stories that are 98 percent XML."

[June 16, 1998] "W3C Steps Into Microsoft - RealNetworks Fight." By John Borland. In CMPNet TechWeb News (June 15, 1998) "The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) approved Monday its Synchronized Multimedia Integration Language (SMIL) as an official recommendation, hoping to create a standard platform for interactive video, audio, and text steams online. But the group's campaign for Webwide multimedia compatibility lacks a critical piece of support. . ."

[June 16, 1998] "webMethods ships B2B Integration Server." By Brian Hannon. In PC Week Online (June 15, 1998). "B2B provides a Web link between business partners by using XML (Extensible Markup Language) to integrate data from various sources into Excel spreadsheets and applications built with Java, JavaScript, C, C++, Visual Basic and ActiveX. The Java server uses an XML-based Remote Procedure Call written in the company's Web Interface Definition Language."

[June 15, 1998] "Marc Andreessen Says Directories, XML Will Drive Netscape Into the I-commerce Limelight." Interview with Marc Andreessen (Netscape Executive Vice President for Products). By Michael Vizard, Dana Gardner and Matthew Nelson. In InfoWorld Volume 20, Issue 24 (June 15, 1998), pages 77-78; also in InfoWorld Electric. Excerpt: ". . . And the XML working group in the W3C [World Wide Web Consortium] has -- because the Navigator source code is available -- decided Navigator should be the delivery vehicle for the reference implementation of XML. So they're putting the reference implementation of XML out of the working group into the Navigator source code themselves. . ."

[June 15, 1998] "XML weaves itself into a variety of products ." By Jeff Walsh and Dana Gardner. In InfoWorld Volume 20, Issue 24 (June 15, 1998). "The Extensible Markup Language (XML) is finding its way into various products, ranging from structured content creation to knowledge management."

[June 13, 1998] "New Spec Leverages XML For App Development." By Richard Karpinski. In CMPNet TechWeb News (June 12, 1998) 12:21 p.m. ET. "Thursday [June 11, 1998], a group of vendors led by IBM, Unisys, and Oracle submitted to the Object Management Group a proposal to use XML to share application data, regardless of the tool, programming language, or repository, in collaborative development environments. The submission aims to integrate XML with two other Object Management Group technologies -- Unified Modeling Language (UML) and Meta Object Facility (MOF) -- to form the basis for an information interchange." See the database entry.

[June 13, 1998] "Oracle Looking at XML for Warehouse Repository Plan." By Paul Krill. In InfoWorld Electric (June 12, 1998) 6:54 PM PT. Excerpt: "Oracle is eyeing Extensible Markup Language (XML), a standard mechanism for Internet searches, as a backbone of its upcoming meta data repository strategy. XML currently is being studied in Oracle's labs as a mechanism for meta data exchange in Oracle-based data warehouses, according to an Oracle source. But the company has acknowledged plans to begin briefing analysts about its meta data repository plan by the end of the month. The meta data plan would provide a way to build a directory of information about the origin of data in warehouses. Microsoft is pondering a similar, competitive effort in the data warehouse arena."

[June 13, 1998] "XML Reality Must Include Openness. [Opinion]." By Bradley F. Shimmin. In LAN Times Online (June 13, 1998) [SOFTSCENE]. ". . .you may not have heard that XML's very foundation -- its ability to support ad hoc document formats -- could handicap its ability to satisfy customers when it comes to openness and interoperability. . .[but] XML doesn't need a powerhouse standards body or clearinghouse, nor does it need a DTD standards body to manage DTDs within specific industries. It simply needs manufacturers and organizations to step up within specific industries to create, maintain, and deploy compatible DTDs."

[June 13, 1998] "XML Expands Web App Possibilities. This versatile new technology will play an important role in Web-based applications." By Steven P. Klingler. In LAN Times Online (June 13, 1998) [MANAGER'S TOOLKIT: Web development] Excerpt: "Anyone familiar with HTML should be able to understand and create XML documents without much difficulty. Both are human-language document formats based on SGML. Fortunately, development tools and code libraries are available, both commercially and freely from the Internet, that handle standard tasks such as parsing XML documents and organizing their data into a tree structure that your own program code can use. XML development will be aided by three extensions that the W3C XML Working Group is fashioning. XLink (XML Linking Language) will provide the capability of including links between objects in an XML document. XPointer (XML Pointer Language) supports addressing into the internal structure of XML documents. And Namespaces in XML provides a simple method for qualifying certain names used in XML documents by associating them with namespaces."

[June 13, 1998] "New glue for Web Apps. Development heats up as XML standard promotes up-to-date, context-rich data." By Joe Paone. In LAN Times Online (June 13, 1998) [Development] Excerpt: "Proponents of the technology claim that legacy applications, databases, and HTML-based applications can use it to talk to and understand each other, by taking relevant content and turning it into XML-based metadata (data about data). T his structure will make data easier to call on and work with, and in turn could enable a richer variety of browser-based applications than the strictly HTML-based applications employed today. On its own, glue is of no use; it has to be applied to something. Therefore, developers and users must figure out what to do with XML, deciding what information should take advantage of XML transport, how to package it in a standard way, and how ambitious their projects will be."

[June 13, 1998] "Electronic Forms Enter World of Objects." By Christy Walker. In PC Week (May 29, 1998) 2:54 PM PDT. JetForm Corp. will roll out a new electronic forms strategy this [May/June 1998] that embraces objects and the Web with the release of FormFlow 98 and FormFlow 99. The forms also are tied more closely to the Web through their support for the XML (Extensible Markup Language) architecture.

[June 13, 1998] "SAP Joins Ranks of Vendors Including XML." By Stannie Holt. In InfoWorld Volume 20, Issue 24 (June 15, 1998), page 6; also InfoWorld Electric (June 12, 1998) 4:38 PM PT. "XML, or Extensible Markup Language, is piquing the interest of many companies in the Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) field, including SAP, one of the largest. XML promises fast, convenient integration and smoother data flow between applications, which could be a boon to Internet commerce and the supply chain, as well as smarter Web browsers that can handle business processes themselves instead of running back to the server for answers. There are three main reasons SAP feels XML will be a boon to the ERP field: First, XML provides an open platform for business-to-business communication over the Internet . . . Next, XML can bring more "business intelligence" to the Web client that more and more ERP vendors are offering. . . Third, it could automate the workflow, especially in complex manufacturing processes."

[June 13, 1998] "Surf Your Spreadsheet. New XML-integration features in upcoming productivity suites could change the way you think about applications." By Sebastian Rupley. In PC Magazine Online (June 12, 1998). "Lotus and Microsoft are gearing up to deliver their next-generation productivity suites, and this time around, a new form of integration with the Web--based on Extensible Markup Language, or XML -- is poised to take applications such as spreadsheets and databases in new directions."

[June 12, 1998] "XML Developers' Day." By Bob DuCharme. In <TAG> The SGML Newsletter 11/5 (May 1998) pages 5-7. The author reports in detail on the XML Developers' Day held on Friday, March 27, 1997 in Seattle, Washington. Featured highlights include presentations by David Megginson on SAX; Naohiko Uramoto on IBM for Java; Steph Tryphonas of Microstar on SGML/XML DTD maintenance; Larry Wall on XML and Perl; Scott Parnell on "Raven" (Java-based XML editor from Xerox); Henry Thompson on the XED XML editor; Norm Walsh of ArborText on XML Styler; Guha on XML in Netscape Navigator 5.0. Compare also "Structured Editors: What We Saw is What You Might Get. [Product Roundup: A Fresh Crop of Structured Editors. Trip Report]", by Liora Alschuler; Alschuler reports on four of the editing tools demonstrated at the Seattle XML Conference.

[June 12, 1998] "The Rocky Road to Unicode." By Dave Peterson. In <TAG> The SGML Newsletter 11/5 (May 1998) pages 7-8. Dave Peterson discusses the special problems raised by the fact that there is frequently more than one way to represent the same abstract character in Unicode (for example, "ö" (e.g., using 16-bit and 32-bit representation). Some languages use a base character having several stacked diacritics, where differential ordering of the combinations would create different bit patterns for the "same" distinct (abstract) character, from XML's perspective. Where a Unicode-compliant piece of software ought to be able to equate equivalent representations, ISO/IEC 10646 "does not address the issue." A question remains as to whether the XML specification will address this issue, and what the consequences will be for designers and users of XML applications/implementations if the issue is not formally addressed.

[June 12, 1998] "Don't Use .xml File Extensions [Editorial]." By Brian Travis. In <TAG> The SGML Newsletter 11/5 (May 1998) pages 1, 12. Having observed the increased frequency of Net files with the filename extension .xml, the author reminds <TAG> readers that XML is a metalanguage and not a language, and says: "using '.xml' as an extension doesn't tell us what kind of a file it is . . ." See the database section XML Media/MIME Types for 'File extension(s): .xml' and related discussion.

[June 12, 1998] "XML: The Universal Publishing Format." Alias: "XML & JAVA: Portable Data, Portable Programs." By Jon Bosak. Keynote address at SGML/XML Europe '98. Paris, 19 May 1998. Slides from the presentation.

[June 12, 1998] "The Smarter Classified." By Lisa Rein. In Wired News (June 12, 1998) '5:01am'. "A Newspaper Association of America (NAA) task force is developing a classified ad standard for online newspapers which, if successful, will bring structure and formatting to common types of classifieds appearing on the Web. See the database entry Newspaper Association of America (NAA) - Classified Ads Format for other details.

[June 12, 1998] "XML Gets a Boost from Powerful Allies." By Antone Gonsalves. In PC Week Online (June 11, 1998) 8:01 AM PT. Excerpt: "A group of major software vendors today proposed that the Open Management Group adopt XML as the standard for exchanging programming data over the Internet. The proposal, submitted in outline form at an Orlando, Fla., meeting of the standards body, targets Extensible Markup Language as the cornerstone of an open information interchange model. Under the proposal, XML would be used as the standard for exchanging data between tools, applications and repositories-a major benefit within team development environments. [. . .] The companies will submit an official version of the proposed XML Metadata Interchange Format specification during the Open Management Group's July meeting in Helsinki."

[June 09, 1998] "XML: A Godsend for Publishers?" By Bill Roberts. In Internet World Volume 4, Issue 20 (June 1, 1998), pages 23, 26. "Markup language can help sites manage many documents in a variety of formats. XML is on its way to becoming a de facto Internet standard, analysts say. . . Converting 5,000 printed pages into a Web-based medical information service that lets subscribers search among 100,000 individual entries, not entire pages they have to scan, sounds like HTML hell. Not for F.A. Davis Co., a Philadelphia publisher of medical reference books, which is about to launch a Web-based service with its flagship references, Taber's Cyclopedic Medical Dictionary and Davis' Drug Guide for Nurses. The company will convert all that content to HTML on the fly from a repository where thousands of pages are kept in the eXtensible Markup Language (XML) and its precursor, the Standard Generalized Markup Language (SGML). The back-end search engine will key to the XML tags."

[June 09, 1998] "XML Seen as Key to Boosting Electronic Data Interchange." By Elizabeth Gardner. In Internet World Volume 4, Issue 20 (June 1, 1998), page 14. "A plan for marrying tagging language and EDI data-sharing standard expected this month . . . The next version of Microsoft Office is expected to be XML-enabled, and other widely used small-business applications may not be far behind. With XML/EDI, a small company could generate a single document and transmit it through the Web without having to translate it."

[June 09, 1998] "W3C Mulls Graphics Proposal." By James C. Luh. In Internet World Volume 4, Issue 21 (June 8, 1998), page 23. "Microsoft, Macromedia, Autodesk, Hewlett-Packard, and Visio said they have submitted a proposal to the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) for a new graphics format [VML] based on XML (the eXtensible Markup Language)."

[June 09, 1998] "SoftQuad Uses XML for Dynamic Web Development." By Jeff Walsh. In InfoWorld Volume 20, Issue 23 (June 8, 1998), page 63. ". . .The new HotMetal Power Pack enables better application development using the server product. It allows for creating and testing of dynamic Web applications delivered by the server. The applications are created using SoftQuad's XML-based HotMetal Markup Language, or HMML."

[June 09, 1998] "XML: Not Just for the Web Anymore." By Jeff Walsh. In InfoWorld Volume 20, Issue 23 (June 8, 1998), page 66. "The Graphical Communication Association Research Institute (GCA) and the Data Interchange Standards Association (DISA) are looking to build libraries of Document Type Definitions (DTDs), Java applets, template scripts, forms, and object definitions to allow businesses to process these message components." See the GCA press release for details.

[June 09, 1998] "Towards a Web Object Model." By Frank Manola [Object Services and Consulting, Inc. - OBJS]. OBJS Technical Report. Date: 10 February 1998. Summary: "A number of ongoing activities are attempting to merge aspects of object models with those of the World Wide Web. This paper describes a number of these activities, with particular emphasis on those which focus on providing enhanced facilities for representing metadata for describing Web (and other) resources." [local archive copy]

[June 07, 1998] "Helping the Web Grow Up." By Chris Oakes. In Wired News (June 08, 1998). "The components that technologies like WebBroker seek to connect are small binary programs that perform a specific task and can open themselves to other components and applications. Backers of Web computing believe that much of what is networked via the Web and intranets can be turned into usable components, if they already aren't. When interacting via the Web, components offer some intriguing possibilities. One example is the [aforementioned] Spanish-language spell-checker. Encountering a document in Spanish, your word processor would automatically locate, install, and employ a remote Spanish spell-checking dictionary that it found on the Web."

[June 07, 1998] "[About XML] What Is... XML?" By Brian Kelly [UKOLN, University of Bath]. In Ariadne [Web Version] Issue 15 (May 1998). [ISSN: 1361-3200.] The article presents screen shots for 1) "Rendering an XML Document in Mozilla" [from http://www.mintert.com/xml/mozilla/]; 2) "Rendering an XML Document in A Web Browser" [from hypermedic.com]; 3) "Use of MML to Represent A Mathematical Formula"; 4) "Using Java applets known as Displets to render XML elements" [from unibo.it].

[June 07, 1998] "RDF Tools Briefing Sheet." By Brian Kelly. "The RDF Tools Briefing Sheet was written to accompany the eLib/UKOLN seminar on What is RDF? Seminar which was held at the Stakis Hotel, Bath on Friday 8th May 1998." Available in PDF, Word97, and HTML format.

[June 07, 1998] "XML Parsers." By Dave Winer. In Frontier DavNet The author wants XML parser performance benchmarking: "We need an independent and objective rating service that tests each of the XML parsers as they become available. We should also have standardized performance testing as we do with other kinds of software. Assuming a parser is correct, how fast is it compared to other parsers?"

[June 07, 1998] "The World of XML Tools." By Lisa Rein. In IC Online [IEEE Internet Computing]. June 1998.

[June 07, 1998] "An Introduction to the Resource Description Framework." By Eric Miller [Online Computer Library Center, Inc.] In D-Lib Magazine (May 1998). [ISSN 1082-9873] Abstract: "The Resource Description Framework (RDF) is an infrastructure that enables the encoding, exchange and reuse of structured metadata. RDF is an application of XML that imposes needed structural constraints to provide unambiguous methods of expressing semantics. RDF additionally provides a means for publishing both human-readable and machine-processable vocabularies designed to encourage the reuse and extension of metadata semantics among disparate information communities. The structural constraints RDF imposes to support the consistent encoding and exchange of standardized metadata provides for the interchangeability of separate packages of metadata defined by different resource description communities."

[June 07, 1998] "Structured Graph Format: XML Metadata for Describing Web Site Structure." By Olivier Liechti, Mark J. Sifer and Tadao Ichikawa [ISL, Hiroshima University]. Presented at 7th International World Wide Web Conference. Abstract: "To improve searching, filtering and processing of information on the Web, a common effort is made in the direction of Metadata, defined as 'machine understandable information about Web resources or other things'. In particular, the eXtensible Markup Language (XML) aims at providing a common syntax to emerging Metadata formats. With this idea, we propose the Structured Graph Format (SGF), an XML compliant markup language based on structured graphs, for capturing Web sites' structure. We also present SGMapper, a client-side tool, which aims to facilitate navigation in large Web sites by generating highly interactive site maps using SGF Metadata." Published in Computer Networks and ISDN Systems Volume 30, Number 1-7 (April 1998), pages 11-21, = Proceedings of the Seventh International World Wide Web Conference, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, April 14-18, 1998. [See now the main database entry, Structured Graph Format; 980831].

[June 07, 1998] "XML and the Desperate Tcl Hacker." By Steve Ball [Plume Project, Australian National University]. Presented at 7th International World Wide Web Conference. Abstract: "A stated design goal of XML is that the language should be simple enough that it is easy to write programs to process XML documents. More informally, it has been said that XML documents should be able to be handled using scripting languages, such as Perl, and by the typical 'Desperate Perl Hacker' (DPH). Tcl hackers are just as desperate as Perl hackers, so I have developed support for XML documents using the Tcl scripting language. To provide support for XML documents a Tcl package has been developed, imaginatively called 'TclXML'. This package includes a validating parser, as well as a facility to programmatically generate XML document text from a Tcl script. TclXML is suitable for a variety of applications, and along with Tcl itself it is highly embeddable, for example into an existing (legacy) application." See TclXML - A Tcl parser for XML documents and DTDs.

[June 07, 1998] "An Extensible Rendering Engine for XML and HTML." By Paolo Ciancarini, Alfredo Rizzi and Fabio Vitali [Department of Computer Science, University of Bologna]. Presented at The 7th International World Wide Web Conference. Abstract: "XML has been proposed in order to bring to the Web a markup language free of the shortcomings of HTML, in particular the inextensibility of the set of valid elements (tags). Stylesheet languages have been proposed for XML, in order to provide precise and sophisticated typographical control over the appearance of text-based data. We have developed a rendering engine for HTML and XML documents, providing rudimentary support for typography, but allowing easy extensions (displets) for any kind of data, including non-textual ones, such as math, charts, graphs, etc. Some extensions have already been developed: here we present the one for supporting Z, a notation for formal specifications of software systems."

[June 07, 1998] "Template Resolution in XML/HTML." By Anders Kristensen [Hewlett-Packard Laboratories, Bristol, U.K.] Presented at The 7th International World Wide Web Conference. Abstract: "This paper describes a framework for applying templates to applications and documents on the Web. The primary motivation is the need of Web application developers to separate program logic from presentation logic. A template is a prototypical document or part thereof. It consists of content in the target language, HTML, XML, or plain text, plus markup specifying variable parts of the document. The Template Markup Language (TML) is an application of XML which defines a generic and flexible set of template markup elements. TRiX (Template Resolution in XML/HTML) is a framework for processing TML. It excels in being highly extensible - both in the types of values variables can take, variables being URLs, and in the set of template elements recognized."

[June 04, 1998] "XML: It's the Future of HTML." By Todd Freter. [Sun Microsystems, Program Manager, Global Engineering and Information Services]. This article constitutes part 3 in a planned four-part serial presentation on XML. ". . . a series about XML, its promises, and its challenges . . ." Excerpt: "Those who watch the XML (Extensible Markup Language) phenomenon have noted its rapid and impressive advances. . . XML is gaining what the marketers call 'mindshare' at an amazing rate. Web futurists are satisfied that XML is The Next Thing. But what about all of the HTML data that constitutes the web? Ever since the web itself was The Next Thing, HTML has been the target format for content developers around the world. If you master HTML, you can reach a worldwide audience. . . no one can realistically expect the volumes of active, useful HTML pages to become irrelevant overnight. In fact, HTML has an important role to play in the brave new world of XML. But what is that role?" [Cf., the W3C NOTE entitled "XML in HTML Meeting Report."] See also part 2, "Beyond Text and Graphics. XML Makes Web Pages Function Like Applications", and Part 1, "XML: Mastering Information on the Web" in the article series by Freter. [part 3, local archive copy]

[June 04, 1998] "New Specs Are In the Works For Web Data." By Brian Hannon. In PC Week Volume 15, Number 22 (June 1, 1998), pages 33, 41. [on RDF and Nameapaces]: "Resource Description Framework, the latest set of standards for making Web data more manageable, is working its way through the World Wide Web Consortium [. . .] Namespaces enable developers to place a prefix in an XML tag that points to an existing XML schema's HTTP location and gives the tag the schema's properties. By referencing existing XML schemas, namespaces provide RDF with a necessary measure of standardization."

[June 04, 1998] "XML: Is it Still Too Soon to Tell?" By Andrea Dudrow. In MacWeek Volume 12, Issue 22 (June 4, 1998). "Since the World Wide Web Consortium recommended Extensible Markup Language as a standard early this year, many vendors in the enterprise Web publishing community have found ways to incorporate the emerging technology into high-end development systems. However, others said they are waiting for broader industry acceptance."

[June 04, 1998] "Rendering XML Documents Using XSL." By Sean McGrath. In Dr. Dobb's Journal Volume 23 Number 7 (July 1998) pages 82-85. [ISSN: 1044-789X] "Responsibility for rendering XML belongs to the eXtensible Style Language (XSL) Standard. Sean presents an overview of XSL and illustrates how it can be used with MSXSL, Microsoft's XSL implementation. Additional resources include xsl.txt (listings).

[June 03, 1998] "Why RDF?" - By Tim Bray (Textuality). "RDF stands for Resource Description Framework. This note describes why it exists and why you might want to use it."

[June 03, 1998] "Netscape, Microsoft Give Sneak Peeks in Europe." By [Seybold Publications Staff, edited by Patricia S. Evans]. In The Bulletin: Seybold News & Views on Electronic Publishing Volume 3, Number 34 (May 27, 1998). Excerpt: "Microsoft and Netscape used their keynote presentations at SGML/XML Europe, held last week in Paris, to unveil software both firms have running in the labs back in the United States. Microsoft's Jean Paoli gave the audience a sneak peek at Office '98, which is due out in beta form this summer. The significance of this release is that users will be able to set 'save as HTML' as the default file format for Word, PowerPoint and Excel, and not have to treat Web authoring as a post-authoring utility. . . Following Paoli, Netscape's publishing evangelist Benjamin Feinman treated the crowd to the first public demonstration in Europe of Mozilla 5, the much-anticipated forthcoming browser from Netscape."

[June 03, 1998] "Vendors Tout VML Graphics." By Jeff Walsh. In InfoWorld Volume 20, Issue 22 (June 1, 1998) page 9. "Industry heavyweights last week backed a new Vector Markup Language (VML) proposal for high-quality, editable 2-D Web vector graphics. The proposal to the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) was submitted by Autodesk, Hewlett-Packard, Macromedia, Microsoft, and Visio." - See the Vector Markup Language (VML) entry.

[June 02, 1998] "Your Data as Online Commodity." By Lisa Rein and James Glave. In Wired News [Technology] Excerpt: ". . . both ends must agree on a common protocol and management model. . . The solution to both of these requirements, the Information Content & Exchange protocol (ICE), will use the eXtensible Markup Language to provide businesses with a standardized method for exchanging users' personal information, preferences, and other types of data related to online business. The protocol is also designed to automate the process of negotiating the terms and conditions of syndication for this information. Before ICE is able to accomplish any of this, however, it will need to be integrated with other, existing Web protocols. . ." See also the database entry for Information and Content Exchange (ICE).

[June 02, 1998] "The Need For Standard Markup Languages." By Jason Levitt. In Information Week [Labs] (May 25, 1998), page 73. Excerpt: "XML is not a programming language. It's a general-purpose language for defining other markup languages. Once you've created your new markup language, which you define with a Document Type Definition, you can proceed to write applications that can create and understand XML documents written using that DTD. [. . .] What's needed here is a standard set of DTDs for EDI applications everyone can use so that XML documents can be easily read and processed by EDI applications. Such domain-specific data interchange markup languages are the basis of the current XML movement. There are many proposals being considered to standardize data interchange between applications. . . There will likely be a lot of 'standard' markup languages based on XML, and vendors already have called for a central clearinghouse to track and manage them. The group is expected to be announced within the next two months and will likely be managed by the W3C." See the parent article by J. Levitt.

[June 02, 1998] "Rules and Web-Object Systems." By David Carlson. In Object Magazine Volume 8, Number 4 (June 1998) 16-17. "The emerging generation of rule engines is adopting a more object-oriented approach to specifying rule patterns." Note previous articles by Carlson on XML in Object Magazine, including: "[The XML Revolution.] Document Objects With Style. An XML Document is a Composite Structure of Node Objects," by David Carlson. In Object Magazine (February 1998) 14-15.

[June 02, 1998] "Xerox Subsidiary Releases Hyperbolic Tree Technology for Licensing. InXight User Interface Adds XML to 3-D Web." By Bernard Cole. In Electronic Engineering Times (June 01, 1998). Excerpt: "Xerox Corporation's subsidiary InXight Software Inc. is continuing its drive to make Xerox' Focus+Context user interface the industry standard for visualizing complex information on PCs, databases and the World Wide Web. In its latest move, InXight has released a powerful new version of its Hyperbolic Tree component technology for licensing to developers. The upgrade incorporates the Extensible Markup Language (XML) - the follow-on and complement to the Web's Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) format - and defines a Document Type Definition (DTD) that will let developers customize the user interface for any application that requires visualizing, organizing and navigating through large amounts of information." [local archive copy]

[June 01, 1998] "XML Bridges the Gap. Emerging standard helps integrate Web sites, legacy systems. [XML Comes of Age.]" By Jeff Senna. In InfoWorld [Test Center] Volume 20, Issue 22 (June 1, 1998) 88-90. "In-depth analysis of the Extensible Markup Language. IT takes the Extensible Markup Language more seriously as a remedy for moving data. . . [XML] has been touted as the cure-all for everything that's wrong with the Web. With all the hype that is surrounding this new technology, confusion is understandable. But, unlike the broken promises of technologies long forgotten, XML may very well deliver. When used as an automation tool, XML can transform a variety of manual processes -- such as managing vast amounts of dynamic content -- into automated functions. [. . .] One thing is clear: XML and its offspring will surely play a dramatic role in how we'll develop, consume, and communicate over the Internet. It's been over two years in the making -- but XML's time has come."

[June 01, 1998] "The XML Files. A roundup of InfoWorld's coverage of the Extensible Markup Language." In InfoWorld June 01, 1998.

[June 01, 1998] "W3C Gives A Nod to DataChannel's WebBroker." By Jeff Walsh. In InfoWorld Volume 20, Issue 21 (May 25, 1998) page 80.

[May 29, 1998] SGML & XML Content Models. By Pekka Kilpeläinen. Published as a Technical Report of the Department of Computer Science, University of Helsinki, Report C-1998-12. May, 1998. Extent: 16 pages, 17 references. [Partial] Abstract: "The SGML and XML standards use a variation of regular expressions called content models for modeling the markup structures of document elements. SGML content models may include so called and groups, which are excluded from XML. An and group, which is a sequence of subexpressions separated by an &-operator, denotes the sequential catenation of its subexpressions in any possible order. If one wants to shift from SGML to XML in document production, one has to translate SGML content models to corresponding XML content models. The allowed content models in both SGML and XML are restricted by a requirement of determinism, which means that a parser recognizing document element contents has to be able to decide without lookahead, which content model token to match with the current input token, while processing the document from left to right. It is known that not all SGML content models can be expressed as an equivalent XML content model. It is also known that transforming an SGML content model into an equivalent XML content model may cause an exponential growth in the length of the content model. We discuss methods of eliminating and groups and analyze the circumstances where they can be applied. . ." See the online abstract or the full text, available in Postscript format, [local archive copy].

[May 29, 1998] "Let's Go to the Tape: Q&A with a Microsoft XML Guru." By Charles Heinemann. Microsoft Sitebuilder article in the column Extreme XML. Posted May 11, 1998. An interview with Adam Denning, Microsoft's group program manager for XML. Credo: 'We firmly believe that XML as a universal text-based language for structured data will fundamentally change the Web, and our involvement in it from the beginning has reflected this.'

[May 29, 1998] "Help, My Web Page Needs a Makeover." By Charles Heinemann. Microsoft Sitebuilder article in the column Extreme XML. Posted April 13, 1998. Illustrates the interactivity of a home page 'before' and 'after' conversion to XML.

[May 28, 1998] "When Will the XML Market Take Off?" By Adina Levin. [From CAP Ventures] in XML.com feature articles collection. April 22, 1998. Introduction: "[an] issue [which] has been coming up a lot in our discussions with clients: Is the 'XML market' poised to take off? When is XML going to launch itself onto the 110-degree portion of the 'hockey stick curve'? Will the hype harm the 'XML market'? The questions, the hype, and the skepticism about the 'XML market' are all based on a faulty assumption. There's no such thing as an XML market. . ."

[May 28, 1998] "XML Adds Tagging Capabilities to Poet Database." By Mark Hammond. In PC Week Volume 15, Number 20 (May 18, 1998) page 60. Excerpt: "Seeking a technology that can catapult object-oriented databases into the mainstream, Poet Software Corp. is turning to XML and the Web. The developer will ship Content Management Suite, software bundled with its object-oriented database and designed to manage and manipulate data in Extensible Markup Language and SGML (Standard Generalized Markup Language) formats. Content Management Suite enables storage, manipulation and navigation of tagged XML and SGML content as well as data in more traditional HTML, text, graphic, audio and video formats. . ."

[May 28, 1998] "Making UML Models Exchangeable over the Internet with XML: UXF Approach." By Junichi Suzuki and Yoshikazu Yamamoto. Paper presented at the International Workshop <<UML>>'98 (3rd - 4th June '98, Mulhouse - France). Extent: 10 pages, 19 references. Available in Word97, PDF, and Postscript formats. See the UXF entry. Abstract: "As Unified Modeling Language (UML) provides most of the concepts and notations that are essential for documenting object-oriented models, it has been widely accepted in the software engineering area. However, UML does not have an explicit format for exchanging its models intentionally. The ability to exchange the models is quite important, because it is likely that a development team resides in separate places on the network environment, and because most current development tools don't provide the interconnectivity of the model information. This paper addresses this problem and proposes UXF (UML eXchange Format), which is an exchange format for UML models, based on XML (Extensible Markup Language). It is a format powerful enough to express, publish, access and exchange UML models and a natural extension from the existing Internet environment. It serves as a communication vehicle for developers, and as a well-structured data format for development tools. UXF shows an important step in sharing and exchanging the model information, and indicates a future direction of the interconnectivity between UML compliant tools." [local archive copy]

[May 28, 1998] "A New Dawn." By Glyn Moody. In New Scientist (May 30, 1998). Excerpt: ". . . a second revolution is under way -- only this time it's being planned. A new Net language, called the Extensible Markup Language (XML), promises to make the Web smarter by including machine-readable information about the structure and content of Web pages. Search engines, then, will be able to home in on just one meaning of a word. But that's not all. XML opens the door to new languages that will allow musical notation and mathematical and chemical symbols to be sent across the Web as easily as text. Documents written in these languages will be interactive in ways we can only dream about today." [local archive copy]

[May 28, 1998] "The Web Learns to Read." By W. Wayt Gibbs. In Scientific American [Cyber View] (June 1998). Excerpt: "Extensible Markup Language (XML), like HTML, is surprisingly easy for humans to read and write, considering that it was developed by an international group of 60 engineers. But XML is much more flexible than HTML; anyone can create words for the language. More than that, devices that can understand XML (within a few years, probably almost all the machines hooked to the Internet) will be able to do more intelligent things than simply display the information on Web pages. XML gives computers the ability to comprehend, in some sense, what they read on the Web.Perhaps the most impressive demonstration so far of XML's flexibility is MusicML, a simple set of labels for notes, beats and rests that allows compositions to be stored as text but displayed by XML-enabled Web browsers as sheet music. With a little more programming, the browsers could probably play MusicML on synthesized instruments as well. After all, now that the Web can read data, it may as well learn to read music."[local archive copy]

[May 28, 1998] "The Making Of A Markup Language." By Jason Levitt. In Information Week (May 25, 1998), pages 70-80. "Though few tools or applications now support XML, emerging standards will eventually usher in a new era of Web automation and interoperability. . . There are good reasons for that. XML, which is really just a language for creating other markup languages, makes it easy to create structured documents, easily readable by humans, with tags that describe the content of the document. These documents can be exchanged easily and understood by properly written applications."

[May 27, 1998] "SGML, Not XML, Popular At SGML Europe." By [Seybold Publications Staff, edited by Patricia S. Evans]. In The Bulletin: Seybold News & Views on Electronic Publishing Volume 3, Number 33 (May 20, 1998). This article is a (substantive) report on the SGML/XML Europe '98 conference, which begins: "SGML Europe opened this morning in Paris with a packed house of nearly 1,000 people attending the opening keynotes. The exhibit floor featured dozens of suppliers, nearly all of them veteran SGML suppliers. There was scant evidence of the new wave of Web-oriented XML software developers that we have seen at other events.[. . .] The exhibit floor featured dozens of suppliers, nearly all of them veteran SGML suppliers."

[May 27, 1998] "A Proposal for the Representation of XML DTDs as XML documents." By Simon St. Laurent. Date: 19 May 1998. Abstract: "Extensible Markup Language (XML) currently uses notation inherited from the Standard Generalized Markup Language (SGML) for its Document Type Definitions (DTDs). While this achieves compatibility with SGML, it makes it impossible to extend the capacities of a DTD beyond those provided in SGML, and requires developers to understand two different syntaxes for documents and DTDs. This proposal offers an XML document representation for DTDs, which could either map directly to SGML DTDs or provide additional capabilities, making XML itself, in effect, extensible." [local archive copy, 980527]

[May 27, 1998] "XML Offers Data Cure. Health Care Turns to IT to Manage Patient Information." By Brian Hannon. In PC Week Volume 15, Number 20 (May 18, 1998) pages 29, 36. Excerpt: "Vendors have a prescription for the health care industry's paperwork problem: XML. Using a federal grant from the National Institute Of Standards and Technology (NIST), Extensible Markup Language transaction server developer Sequoia Software Corp. is working on an XML-based prototype for an electronic Master Patient Index."

[May 27, 1998] "Namespaces Put the Extensibility into XML." By Brian Hannon. In PC Week Volume 15, Number 20 (May 18, 1998) pages 29, 36. "An XML add-on technology could ease and quicken design of Extensible Markup Language documents by enabling the use of tags based on multiple and existing schemas." See the local database entry: Namespaces in XML.

[May 27, 1998] "VDB Builds XML Virtual Databases." By Brian Hannon. In PC Week Volume 15, Number 20 (May 18, 1998) page 36. "Junglee Corp.'s new virtual database technology enables simplified, direct queries on the Web by linking relational data using XML." See: the Junglee XML technology page and the Junglee XML position paper, "Virtual Database Technology, XML, and the Evolution of the Web." Also: the Junglee Corporation database entry.

[May 27, 1998] "Why XML?" By Simon St. Laurent. Abstract: "This essay provides a high-level view of XML's advantages for web developers and others. It includes a brief explanation of what XML is, along with descriptions of the key factors that differentiate XML from competing systems."

[May 27, 1998] "W3C Mulls XML Technology." By Richard Karpinski. In InternetWeek (May 18, 1998) page 8. "The World Wide Web Consortium last week accepted a submission that could foster new Web-based distributed computing leveraging the Extensible Markup Language. The W3C recognized a submission called WebBroker, by developer DataChannel Inc., which uses XML to enable application-to-application data exchange across the Web."

[May 15, 1998] "Structured Editors: What We Saw is What You Might Get. [Product Roundup: A Fresh Crop of Structured Editors. Trip Report.]" By Liora Alschuler. [First published] in Seybold Report on Internet Publishing 2/9 (May 1998) pages 1, 8-12. Alschuler reports on four of the editing tools demonstrated at the Seattle XML Conference (March 23 - 27, 1998). Xerox showed a prototype of an editing tool ("Raven"), developed internally at Xerox to support technical publishing in a distributed computing environment. Henry S. Thompson of the University of Edinburgh Language Technology Group demonstrated XED, an XML-based text editor optimized for rapid keyboarding. SoftQuad showed the beginnings of an XML editing tool based upon HoTMetaL code, called XMetaL. Interfeaf announced support for a new editing application built on Interleaf 6 ("BladeRunner"), featuring integration with Microstar's Near & Far Designer (a DTD editing tool). XML support in products from Adobe and Microsoft is (apparently) nominal at this time, and not focused upon structured editing tasks per se. As clarified by Microsoft's Matthew Price, Office 98 will not use XML as a principal 'file format', but will support saving documents in HTML. As explained in an SRIP note ("Correction: Microsoft Never Changed its Tune", page 2) there will not be support yet for XML in MS Office "to provide round-trip editing of HTML documents" as was previously thought by some.

[May 15, 1998] "Adobe, Macromedia Vie for Leadership in Vector Graphics. The Web Could Really Use a Standard: Is There Room for Both PGML and Flash?" By Matt McKenzie and Mark Walter. In Seybold Report on Internet Publishing 2/9 (May 1998) pages 21-24. The authors review two recent technology proposals for delivering vector graphics on the Web: Flash and PGML (Precision Graphics Markup Language). They explain why vector graphics have certain advantages over raster graphics in the Web context, and explain some of the particular advantages of PGML's use of XML encoding (e.g., direct searchability, manipulation by the client, exposure to the DOM). The Flash specification from Macromedia has now been published, making it more open to scrutiny; in some cases, its native binary format might result in smaller graphics files that may be rendered more quickly than PGML. The authors conclude that "both the open Flash and PGML announcements are good news for Web publishers." See details on Precision Graphics Markup Language (PGML) in the dedicated database entry. A version of this article is available on the XML.com Web site: "Adobe's PGML Proposal is Built on PDF and XML."

[May 15, 1998] "The ICE-Capades Continue. Publishers Join Advisory Council, Inso Delivers Product Support." By Victor Votsch. In Seybold Report on Internet Publishing 2/9 (May 1998), pages 24-25 The author discusses recent developments surrounding the Information and Content Exchange (ICE) consortium and its advisory council. A version of this article is available online from XML.com: "The ICE-Capades Continue."

[May 15, 1998] "Making Your Site Accessible: A Practice that Benefits Everyone." By Liora Alschuler. In Seybold Report on Internet Publishing 2/9 (May 1998) 1, 17-20. The author surveys the central issues in Web accessibility, and includes a brief section "But what about XML?" (reference to HyTime/SGML architectural forms as a mechanism for adding critical information to structured documents). She references the W3C's Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI), the Yuri Rubinsky Insight Foundation, and other initiatives which have been responsive to the need to design documents with the physical disabilities of humans in mind. She argues that "accessible design is, by necessity, media-independent design"; here the traditional/classical goals of "descriptive markup" are harmonious with concerns for accessible document design.

[May 15, 1998] "XML: Structuring Data for the Web: An Introduction." By Ken Sall. In The Web Developer's Virtual Library (May 03, 1998). Summary: "What's wrong with the Web and how can the new XML technology fix it? This XML introduction is geared toward newcomers who have heard the buzz, but don't know what all the fuss is about. The article briefly surveys a number of new Web technologies such as XLL, XSL, RDF, DOM, MathML, SMIL, PGML, and how they relate to XML. Benefits of XML are stressed, as are potential applications in diverse fields. A reference section provides links to key XML resources, as well as to collections of other introductory articles."

[May 15, 1998] "Designing for the Future with XML." By Jeffrey Veen. In HotWired WebMonkey (May 11, 1998). "XML will bring us a Web of incredible value, as long as we start planning to evolve now."

[May 15, 1998] "Namespaces Put 'Extensibility' in XML." By Brian Hannon. In PC Week [Online] (May 11, 1998) [12:13 pm ET]. "A new add-on technology could ease and quicken design of XML documents by enabling the use of tags based on multiple and existing schemas." See the database entry, Namespaces in XML.

[May 12, 1998] "Just One Question for Matt Turner." By Michael Sippey. In Stating the Obvious [News] (May 09, 1998). Matt Turner, Applications Development Group Manager at PC World Online, tells how an XML-based production system was built to support the creation of the online journal in a new way: ". . . With our consultant we held an in-house workshop where we created our Document Type Declaration (DTD): the structure of the XML tags we would use in our documents. And we also started talking to Vignette Corporation about using their StoryServer production system to manage and display our XML documents. [. . .] after a few very long days and weekends, we were able to launch the April 1998 online issue using our new XML system. The system we now use is not complete by any measure, but even so it has exceeded our expectations. The simple fact that the editors can quickly edit and tag documents (using an XML editor) has streamlined our production 100%. We are also finally able to produce our complicated articles (some have 17 sections made up of major heads, subsections, etc.) through templates that can be tailored to different parts of the site, or even redesigned overnight. . ."

[May 12, 1998] "Solutions for Web Delivery: XML, DHTML, PDF." By Tony McKinley. In KM [Knowledge Management] World Volume 7, Issue 6 (May 11, 1998) pages 32-33. [ISSN: 1060-894X.] Excerpts: "SGML was the right idea; XML is really feasible . . . not many companies or organizations went along with the idea [SGML], and not enough people saw sufficient payback to give SGML popular acceptance. With the W3C, Microsoft and Netscape support behind it now, XML should burst through to acceptance. It's an idea that makes enough sense to be widely accepted." [local archive copy]

[May 12, 1998] "A Tutorial in XML and XSL Authoring." By Richard Lander. A series of three tutorials, designed to help the student learn how to create XML documents.

[May 12, 1998] "OmniMark Tagets XML Tool To Big Sites." By Richard Karpinski. In InternetWeek (May 04, 1998), page 39. "Targeting large Web sites with information management challenges, OmniMark Technologies Corp. last week began shipping Konstructor, an XML-enabled development suite for database-driven sites. OmniMark is targeting Konstructor at high-end users who have outgrown their home-brewed publishing systems but find packaged site development suites too limiting."

[May 12, 1998] "XML Set To Change The Face Of E-Commerce." By Rik Drummond And Kay Spearman. In Network Computing (May 01, 1998). "Despite what you may have heard, the biggest inhibitor to electronic commerce today is neither security nor reliability; instead, it's the sharing of data betweenapplications. . . The solution to this dilemma may be XML (Extensible Markup Language). Developed by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), XML is a version of the ISO's SGML (Standard Generalized Markup Language) that has been simplified for use on the Web."

[May 11, 1998] "Talk About Evolution." By John Fontana. In InternetWeek (May 11, 1998). "XML, a smart version of HTML, is a meta-language that incorporates a series of tags that describe data within data, such as purchase or shipping orders, that can be machine read. Emerging protocols such as Open Buying on the Internet (OBI), Open Tracking Protocol (OTP) and eCoSystem can be embedded in XML messages."

[May 08, 1998] "[XML] Standalone Documents." By [XML Correspondent] Bob DuCharme. In <TAG>: The SGML Newsletter 11/4 (April 1998) 1-3. DuCharme presents a tutorial article on the "standalone document declaration" of XML, which may appear in the XML declaration. The rationale for the standalone document declaration is explained, using some simple examples. [Note: Some questions about the design of the standalone document declaration in XML 1.0 are referenced in a document excerpting XML-DEV posts.]

[May 08, 1998] "XML: Enabling Technology or Silver Bullet? [Editorial]." By Brian E Travis. In <TAG>: The SGML Newsletter 11/4 (April 1998) 1, 3. The author tells an interesting story about some students who came to learn about XML at a recent Documation Conference (bringing with them certain assumptions about what XML was): they stayed for the first hour of a tutorial, which ended with an introduction to the XML DTD and the role it plays in XML validity; some students disappeared during the break and didn`t return. This eposide, Travis says, "brings up an interesting issue, and shows that XML might have some of the same barriers to adoption that SGML has had. The main barrier is that darn DTD." The lesson, according to Travis: "Don't oversell. There has been a lot of hype about XML. Along with the hype comes the tendency to overpromise. . . Referring to XML as 'SGML without the tyranny of the DTD' can lead to problems for people who know what SGML is. For people who don't know what SGML. . . requires people to further investigate the real cost of implementing XML in their environment."

[May 08, 1998] Online transcripts are available for several presentations on XML given at the first XML Xposed Conference, held March 18, 1998. The chair of the conference was Brian Travis (Information Architects). See the main Web site for updates on upcoming XML Xposed events.

[May 08, 1998] "Letting go: the futures of XML and SGML." By Simon St.Laurent. Essay prepared in the context of an XML-L discussion. From the conclusion: "The critical importance of a gentle learning curve suggests that SGML, with its reputation of a steep learning curve, should keep its distance from XML, in public if not in standards meetings. . . SGML is the honored parent of XML. XML is still in early childhood, and will need assistance from the SGML community for some time to come. Despite that parent-child tie, however, I strongly hope that the SGML community will let XML grow up on its own, as it acquires friends and finds new sources of excitement. Letting go is often difficult, but keeping this prodigy too close may stifle it. Acknowledging its separate identity and helping it grow will, in the long run, be better for both parent and child."

[May 08, 1998] "XML. An Introduction." By John D Lewis. In OCLC Systems and Services [Journal] 14/1 (1998) 51-52. ISSN 1065-075X. Soon to be made available online: http://www.mcb.co.uk/oclc.htm.

[May 08, 1998] "Requirements for Interactive Access to HTML and XML Documents." By Rohit Khare (University of California, Irvine). Position Paper for the W3C Workshop on the Future of HTML, May 4-5, 1998. [local archive copy]

[May 08, 1998] "HTML as an XML Application. [alias 'HTML Futures']" By Joel Nava, Bruce Hunt, T.V. Raman. Paper presented at the W3C Workshop on the Future of HTML, May 4-5, 1998. "Adobe believes that the Future of HTML lies in retaining the bulk of the behavioral semantics of HTML, it's tagset and associated CSS standard while moving to a fully XML compliant syntax. In our view this should take a phased approach as the evolving future of HTML. . ."

[May 06, 1998] "XML - Extensible Markup Language." By Tim Bray. Transcript of an interview. Dr. Dobb's [Journal] TechNetcast 1998-04-24. Tim Bray (XML co-editor) was interviewed by Philippe Lourier. Transcript formats include audio/video, audio-only, and text (HTML). Editorial introduction: "XML adds a new dimension to web publishing by making possible the public distribution of documents of any type, not only HTML. In this new world, browsers dynamically extract information about the document's structure and markup tags from the XML metadata. XML brings the web closer to the original model envisioned by hypertext evangelists like Tim Bray."

[May 06, 1998] "Is There Room for PGML and Flash? [Insider Perspective]." By Mark Walter. In The Bulletin: Seybold News & Views on Electronic Publishing Volume 3, Number 31 (May 6, 1998). Introduction: "It's no secret that the Web sorely needs a reasonable format for displaying vector graphics. For a while, it looked as if CGM might get the support it needed to be that standard. Now it looks as though two very different contenders are vying for the privilege. Last month Adobe submitted to the World Wide Web Consortium a proposed Web graphics format based on PDF. Called Precision Graphics Markup Language (PGML), Adobe's proposal takes the semantics of PostScript and PDF and applies them to individual graphics, written in an XML syntax. Shortly afterward, in an attempt to boost market support for Flash as a de facto market standard, Macromedia published the specifications for Flash on its site (www.macromedia.com). . ." A more detailed look at PGML and Flash appears in the May issue of The Seybold Report on Internet Publishing.

[May 04, 1998] "Standards Body Vies for XML Lobbying Group." By Brian Hannon. In PC Week [Online] (May 04, 1998), page 20. Summary: "The Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards is in negotiations with DataChannel Inc. to take over management of the XML Active Content Technologies council." [See now: "DataChannel Transfers X-ACT Council to OASIS. XML Market Receives Enhanced Services Through Vendor-Neutral Management of Leading Industry Council." and Datachannel copy of news release. [local archive copy]

[May 04, 1998] "XML Holds Promise as EDI Replacement." By Jim Kerstetter. In PC Week [Online] (May 04, 1998), pages 1, 20. "A handful of electronic commerce startups, along with key VAN (value-added network) providers that offer electronic data interchange services, are working on ways to add Extensible Markup Language to their products and services." [local archive copy]

[May 04, 1998] "Metadata: The Matchmaker of the Web. Protocols aim to hook up programming-shy execs with E-commerce" By Stephanie Neil. In PC Week [Online] (May 04, 1998), pages 87, 92. "A pair of working standards aim to create these dynamic links: XML (Extensible Markup Language), a reusable metadata format that can apply specific vocabulary to define data, and the ICE (Information and Content Exchange) protocol, designed to facilitate data sharing between Web sites."

[May 04, 1998] "Web Designers Eye XML Data Compression." By Jeff Walsh. In InfoWorld [Electric] Volume 20, Issue 18 (May 4, 1998). Posted at 6:08 PM PT, April 30, 1998. Summary: "With Microsoft and others viewing the Extensible Markup Language (XML) as a way to enable richer client-side processing, many Web designers are concerned with how users will react to additional XML data being sent via the Internet, or if they will notice at all."

[May 01, 1998] "Data Proposal. Test XML Form Offered for Review." By [Staff]. In LA Times (Thursday, April 30, 1998).

[May 01, 1998] "Bringing the World to You First. A New Standard in the Computer Industry May Change the Real Estate Industry and Fortify the Agent's Personal Touch in Transactions." By [4thWorld Telecom]. Position Paper on the use of XML (OpenMLS).

[April 29, 1998] "Structuring Data with XML. Extensible Markup Language Lets Developers Describe Virtually Any Type of Data and Deliver it Across a Network. [The Net-Savvy Turn to XML.]" By William Robert Stanek. In PC Magazine [Online] [PC Tech] Volume 17, Number 10 (May 26, 1998) pages 229-238. Feature-length article. See also the associated XML Resource Guide. The 'Online' version: "Programming. XML in Depth: What it is, How it works, Why you should care." [local archive copy, XML sample files]

[April 29, 1998] "The XML Invasion. Extensible Markup Language Will Make the Web More Flexible and Structured." By Sebastian Rupley. In PC Magazine [Trends] Volume 17, Number 10 (May 26, 1998) page 30.

[April 29, 1998] "XML: An Introduction." By J. D. Lewis. In OCLC Systems & Services Volume 14, Number 1 (1998) pages 51-52. [ISSN 1065-075X.]

[April 29, 1998] "Poet Touts XML Data Management." By [InfoWorld Staff]. In InfoWorld Volume 20, Issue 17 (April 27, 1998) page 3. "Poet Software on May 5 plans to deliver its Extensible Markup Language (XML) data-management solution, Content Management Suite. Featuring the Poet object-oriented database, the product works in conjunction with a Web server, handling editing of XML-based data and acting as an XML repository. . ."

[April 28, 1998] "Towards a Truly Worldwide Web. How XML and Unicode are Making it Easier to Publish Multilingual Electronic Documents." By Stuart Culshaw. In Multilingual Communications and Technology [#19] Volume 9, Issue 3 (April 1998) pages 32-34. [ISSN: 1065-7657.] Summary: "Both XML and Unicode provide features that are essential to the future of multilingual document publishing on the Web. Although they do not solve all the problems, work continues at a furious pace on the remaining issues, and it won't be long before we can talk about a truly worldwide Web."

[April 28, 1998] "DM boosts shuttle fleet preparation. United Space Alliance launches best-of-breed solution." In KM World (April 27, 1998). "Beginning this month, USA plans to replace its existing document management systems with a new application called the WAVE (Work Authorization Document Authoring and Validation Environment). Industry protocols like standard generalized markup language (SGML) and extensible markup language (XML) will allow WAVE users to access and edit standardized documents stored in a single database. Adept is a member of a class of software products known as SGML editors. Documents in the database can be broken into component parts or 'document objects' that can be stored, accessed and edited separately, thus improving the efficiency of the editing process." [local archive copy]

[April 27, 1998] "Seeking a Better Web Graphics Experience. Adobe and Other Vendors Push Vector-Based Language as a W3C Standard." By Chris Nerney. In Network World Volume 15, Number 17 (April 27, 1998) pages 39, 41. Article on PGML.

[April 24, 1998] "New Specs to Give Web a Makeover." By Richard Karpinski. In InternetWeek [Electronic Commerce] (April 20, 1998) pages 23, 28. Summary: "The look and feel of Web sites may soon take a giant leap forward, thanks to a pair of initiatives leveraging the power of the Extensible Markup Language (XML) to add multimedia content to Web pages."

[April 24, 1998] "Purchasing App Gets Boost." By John Evan Frook. In InternetWeek [Electronic Commerce] (April 20, 1998) pages 23-24. Excerpt: "For Junglee Corp., XML is not just a hot new Web data format. It's a key technology that will let the Web database developer reach out to whole new markets. . .Junglee, whose agent technology scours Web content to aggregate related data, is extending that role to corporate supply-chain, purchasing and information-management applications using the newly christened Extensible Markup Language (XML) for structured Web data."

[April 22, 1998] "10646 and All That. Unicode, ISO 10646, and the Quest for a Universal Character Set." By Tony Graham. Slides (in HTML) from a tutorial presentation on Unicode, given at the Washington SGML Users Group, Washington, D.C., April [15], 1998. Discusses (also) the use of Unicode with SGML, XML, DSSSL, and XSL. See other papers online from Mulberry Technologies Inc.

[April 22, 1998] "Carrying the Torch for XML. Company with Long Experience in SGML Says its New Server is a Natural Extension." By David F. Carr. In InternetWorld Volume 4, Issue 15 (April 20, 1998) pages 25, 27. Excerpt: "Long before the buzz about XML arose, OmniMark was doing similar things with SGML. OmniMark will support... XML in a new version of its product, OmniMark Konstructor. . . Konstructor consolidates many of the Web features OmniMark has developed, such as support for the Netscape and Microsoft Web server APIs. The core product is a server running OmniMark's Programming Language. McFadden [OmniMark CEO] describes the OmniMark language as a commercial alternative to Perl that's designed for handling documents, tagged data, multimedia content, and hyperlinks. Konstructor adds database and network connectivity libraries and a load manager that juggles user requests between OmniMark servers. Neil Budde, editor of the Wall Street Journal Interactive Edition, said OmniMark helped the Journal create a highly adaptable publishing system."

[April 22, 1998] "ICE-Capades Continue." By [Seybold Staff]. In The Bulletin: Seybold News & Views on Electronic Publishing Volume 3, Number 29 (April 22, 1998). Patricia Evans, Editor. Excerpt: "The Information and Content Exchange consortium, led by Vignette, announced the formation of an advisory council. The council will review the requirements and specifications for the ICE protocol and suggest changes to the ICE Authoring Group. . . Inso, while not a member of the Authoring Group or the Advisory Council, announced what it claims to be the first ICE application. The DynaBase Command Line Interface (CLI) provides an API for content exchange between any machine on the Web and servers running the application." See also: "Inso API Works With Upcoming ICE Standard" in PCWeek and the ICE database entry: Information and Content Exchange (ICE).

[April 21, 1998] "Introducing XML.com." By Mark E, Walter, Jr. In The Seybold Report on Internet Publishing 2/8 (April 1998) page 2. Mark Walter, editor of The Seybold Report on Internet Publishing, describes and provides rationale for Seybold Publications' partnership in the creation of a Web site XML.com, together with the publisher O'Reilly & Associates Inc. "Seybold Publications has been covering SGML since the standard's inception in 1986, and generic markup since we began publishing in 1970. For all those years the primary groups concerned with generic markup have come from professional publishers and their suppliers - groups that are part of the core Seybold constituency. [. . .] That's why we teamed up with O'Reilly to create a new Web site (www.xml.com) devoted to XML education. We plan to continue to cover SGML and XML applications specific to publishing. But we also wanted to integrate that focus with developments coming from the larger business community."

[April 20, 1998] "XML Vendors Seek Tag Clearinghouse." By Brian Hannon. In PC Week [Online] Volume 15, Number 16 (April 20, 1998), page 20. Excerpt: "Vendors in support of XML are looking to establish a clearinghouse for standard tags, hoping to make it easier for corporations to format Web documents with a standard syntax. . . an organization is being established to offer a Web 'Library of Congress' of sorts that would manage an XML Dewey Decimal-type system. The as-yet-unnamed group, to be announced within two months, will serve as a resource for tag definitions, said officials at Netscape Communications Corp., in Mountain View, Calif., who were briefed on the concept. . ."

[April 19, 1998] "Mozilla Freeware Developers Get XML Ammunition from Netscape." By Dana Gardner. In InfoWorld Electric. Posted at 4:21 PM PT, Apr 17, 1998. Excerpt: "This week, Netscape added two more modules to the code available from the http://www.mozilla.org site. They include: (1) an XML parser, code-name Expat, developed by James Clark. . . (2) a 'technical preview' of a next-generation layout engine, formerly code-name Raptor. . ."

[April 17, 1998] "Beyond Text and Graphics. XML Makes Web Pages Function Like Applications." By Todd Freter. [Sun Microsystems, Program Manager, Global Engineering and Information Services]. This article constitutes part 2 in a planned four-part serial presentation on XML. ". . . a series about XML, its promises, and its challenges . . ." Excerpt: "XML is displacing the traditional 'web page' -- generally a static document, created with HTML. Most traditional web pages offer only slim interactivity and rely on an overworked server and CGI script. XML is promoting the concept of a 'weblication' (web application) that can work wonders on the web client without generating so much Internet traffic. . . this merging of application functionality with web pages, which is a first principle of XML, reflects the merging of application functionality with documents that the Macintosh operating environment popularized since 1984. The ability of web sites to do much more than simply deliver text and graphics is at the heart of XML's ascendancy. XML is clearly a key component of the Internet's evolution from a communication channel to a data processing platform." See also Part 1 in the article series by Freter.

[April 16, 1998] "One Man's Vision of the Web's Future." By James Glave. In Wired News April 15, 1998, 10:52 am. According to Tim Berners-Lee, the director of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), "the key to this lies behind the buzzword being tossed around everywhere at the conference -- XML. XML, or Extensible Markup Language, is a W3C standard being embraced by both Netscape and Microsoft for future versions of their browsers."

[April 16, 1998] "Berners-Lee Upbeat on XML." By Paul Montgomery. In PCWeeek Online April 15, 1998. ". . . at the organization's 7th International World Wide Web Conference. . . The head of the Internet's governing body sees Extensible Markup Language as having the potential to leap from the Web to more widespread application in everyday computing, as a universal file descriptor used in such disparate applications as word processing and back-end electronic commerce applications."

[April 16, 1998] "Allaire Capitalizes on XML for Cold Fusion." By Jeff Walsh. In InfoWorld Volume 20, Issue 15 (April 13, 1998), page 10. "Allaire is positioning its markup-based Cold Fusion Web application development product as a way to link Web applications to a variety of back-end legacy data using the Extensible Markup Language (XML).

[April 16, 1998] "New W3C-backed Protocol Ups Scalability." By Jeff Walsh. In InfoWorld Volume 20, Issue 15 (April 13, 1998), page 55. "The combination of the Extensible Markup Language (XML) and HTTP-NG, a smarter object-aware transport protocol, could become a standards-based way to distribute objects that deliver intelligence across both the protocol and application layers. . . The delivery of the XML-wrapped objects over HTTP-NG would provide the needed scalability with COM and CORBA because they play better on campuses than across the Internet."

[April 15, 1998] "Document Computing - Is This Our Business?" By Tim Bray. In The Gilbane Report on Open Information & Document Systems Volume 6, Number 1 (January/February 1998) 1-16. What is a "document" in the context of a networked world where pieces of information resident on different computers are combined "just in time" and "on the fly" to generate hignly interactive presentations of text and graphical content? Just what is a 'micro-document'? What then is document processing? In this feature article of the Jan/Feb 1998 Gilbane Report, XML co-editor Tim Bray interacts with the term "document computing" (encompassing "at least electronic publishing, word processing, document management, and information retrieval") as a means of getting to tbe bottom of these and related questions. Particularly "with the advent of XML," he says, "there are going to be a large number of electronic objects hurtling around the Net that are called documents but certainly don't 'feel like' documents." The bibliographic entry contains a more detailed overview of the article, including its editorial introduction.

[April 15, 1998] "Inso API Works With Upcoming ICE Standard." By Brian Hannon. In PC Week Online April 13, 1998, 10:16 AM PDT. See also: "Inso Previews Data Exchange API. Content Exchange Interface Uses XML to Link Servers." By Brian Hannon. In PC Week ]Online] Volume 15, Number 15 (April 13, 1998), page 10.

[April 15, 1998] "A Better Way To Create Slick Web Pages." By Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols. In [ZDNET Techwatch] April 14, 1998, 8:30 AM EST. "Considering XML's flexibility for different disciplines, fitness for important real-world applications, HTML-like familiarity, global ISO compliance, and link maneuverability, XML offers resellers a giant step forward in creating customized pages with universal appeal."

[April 15, 1998] "Common Ground for Data Exchange. XML Finds its Home in Middleware. Vendors Target Compatibility Issues." By Brian Hannon. In PC Week ]Online] Volume 15, Number 15 (April 13, 1998), page 133 "Several vendors are taking advantage of the emerging XML standard as a way to tie together distributed data sources. DataChannel Inc., webMethods Inc. and OmniMark Technologies Corp. are all developing ways to use Extensible Markup Language as middleware technology. . ."

[April 09, 1998] "Generation XML." By Chris Feola. NAA TechNews Volume 4, Number 2 (March/April 1998). - "No matter what the newspaper industry does, the computer industry developing these underlying technologies is jumping onto the XML bandwagon with both feet." See the database entry: Newspaper Association of America (NAA) - Classified Ads Format.

[April 09, 1998] "Into the Digital Future." By Andrew Bowser. NAA TechNews Volume 4, Number 2 (March/April 1998). - "By separating content from format, advanced editorial systems are automating the process of publishing in multiple channels. . . In addition, XML will make it simpler for a publisher to deliver targeted print products, as well as personalized content directly to a consumer's desktop. Finally, it promises a way for publishers to share information-a key issue as the online-classified battle heats up, with national aggregators taking on local newspapers . . . Associated Press [AP] is readying an SGML-format test feed allowing easier identification of content. AP plans to share the format with vendors later this year." See the database entry: Newspaper Association of America (NAA) - Classified Ads Format.

[April 09, 1998] "Ripping the Cover Off XML's Ball of Confusion." By Nate Zelnick. In InternetWorld Volume 4, Number 13 (April 6, 1998) [Web Development News] 23, 25.

[April 09, 1998] "Netscape Builds XML Parser Into New Version of Navigator." By Nate Zelnick. In InternetWorld Volume 4, Number 13 (April 6, 1998) 25.

[April 09, 1998] "Interconnected Storefronts Weave A Merchandising Web." By Richard Karpinski. In InternetWeek (April 06, 1998) [Virtual Corporation Supplement] pages S14-S15, S30. "[ICE] It's a model that has so much momentum behind it that a group of vendors and content-oriented sites is trying to define a technology standard to help drive it. Information and Content and Exchange (ICE) includes Vignette, Firefly, JavaSoft, Microsoft and several content-oriented companies such as c|net, Preview Travel and Tribune Media Services. The group is working to define an XML-based architecture for enabling server-to-server data exchange, including the buying, selling and sharing of content and user profiles between sites. . ."

[April 09, 1998] "Next Big Thing Behind the Scenes." By Tom Steinert - Threlkeld. In [ZDNet] InterActive Week Online April 7, 1998 7:02 AM PDT. "Every spring seems to herald the arrival of some tware technology. . . As this year dawns, an early candidate for hyping as the Next Big Thing is XML, the eXtensible Markup Language for Web documents."

[April 09, 1998] "XML: Web Card Catalog?" By [PC Magazine Staff]. In PC Magazine Online "Extensible Markup Language is targeted to transform the guts of the Web with new structure."

[April 09, 1998] "DataChannel Aims to Bridge Gap Between COM and CORBA." By Brian Hannon. In ZDNet News. April 2, 1998 12:18 PM PST. "WebBroker uses XML (Extensible Markup Language) as a vehicle for integrating disparate information written using Microsoft Corp.'s Component Object Model or the Object Management Group's Common Object Request Broker Architecture."

[April 09, 1998] "EDI Standards-Bearer Sees XML Writing on the Wall. Data Interchange Standards Association [DISA] is Investigating XML/EDI Backward Compatibility Issues." By Ellen Messmer. In Network World (April 06, 1998)[News] page 10. "Last week, the official EDI standards-bearer, the Data Interchange Standards Association (DISA), said traditional ANSI X12 EDI is likely to be replaced by a newer Web-oriented technology called Extensible Markup Language (XML)."

[April 09, 1998] "XML Document Management Tools Debut. New Web format creates richer electronic documents from multiple data sources." By Ellen Messmer. In Network World (April 06, 1998)[Intranet Applications] page 29. "The advantage of the World Wide Web Consortium's XML standard is its facility in assembling text and data from a variety of sources. That way, a user can create a complex electronic document that can still be easily searched or sent over the Internet, typically using HTTP."

[April 08, 1998] "XML: Enabling Next-Generation Web Applications." By [Microsoft Staff]. Microsoft White Paper. April 3, 1998. Abstract: "Extensible Markup Language (XML) provides a significant advance in how data is described and exchanged by Web-based applications using a simple, flexible standards-based format. Hypertext markup language (HTML) enables universal methods for viewing data; XML provides universal methods for working directly with data."

[April 07, 1998] "Extensible Markup Language. XML Gets Ready for Prime Time." By Jeff Walsh. In InfoWorld Electric (April 6, 1998). "Although auxiliary pieces of the Extensible Markup Language (XML) technology are still under development, early adopters and developers say XML itself is ready to be used as a data interchange format today. XML lets developers add rich structure to data in a neutral format that can be used by Web applications, servers, middleware, and end-users."

[April 07, 1998] "XML Makes Inroads Into The Enterprise -- HP, Cisco, others to use the language for supply-chain apps." By Gregory Dalton. In Information Week (March 30, 1998) page 30. "Enterprises are moving ahead with projects using the Extensible Markup Language, an emerging metalanguage that's expected to promote electronic business by making it easier for companies to exchange information among disparate systems. Hewlett-Packard, Cisco Systems, and 3Com are looking to use XML to lubricate their supply chains, while Wall Street Journal Interactive expects XML to improve the efficiency of data transmission between information providers and end users."

[April 07, 1998] "Corel Places Bets on Java, NCs." By Darryl Taft and Joe Wilcox. In Computer Reseller News (April 06, 1998). "Corel Corp. is rolling out OpenJ, its new development environment based on XML and Java, as it nears production of the first of its network computers...The Ottawa-based company describes its Corel OpenJ-available now from its Web site at www.corel.com-as a 'dynamic application assembly' technology that employs XML and JavaBeans to develop Java applications... [OpenJ uses an] XML derivative known as Application Description Markup Language (ADML). ADML is a document-type description of XML similar to HTML..."

[April 07, 1998] "CommerceNet Pilots XML-Based Catalogs." By Richard Karpinski. In InternetWeek [TechWeb News] (April 06, 1998).

[April 07, 1998] "Server Addresses Data Exchange." By Richard Karpinski. In InternetWeek [Electronic Commerce] (March 30, 1998), page 19. "Pioneering XML developer WebMethods last week unveiled a server that it says will solve many of the interoperability problems associated with electronic-commerce applications. The new B2B Integration Server uses the Extensible Markup Language and the vendor's own XML-based Web Interface Definition Language (WIDL) to automate the exchange of data between applications."

[April 07, 1998] "Vendors Plan to Extend XML's Reach." By Jeff Walsh. In InfoWorld Electric. Posted at 5:02 PM PT, April 3, 1998. Excerpt: "Web developers are finding that the Extensible Markup Language (XML) can offer them extensions to a lot of the essential tools -- such as Java, and the Perl and Frontier scripting languages -- that they have relied on to build rich Web sites. And vendors are now looking to exploit those benefits. Sun Microsystems is currently working on an Enterprise JavaBeans framework for XML, according to Alan Baratz, president of Sun's JavaSoft division. . ."

[April 07, 1998] "Web Site of the Week." By Rory J. Thompson. In TechWen News April 06, 1998. "To promote development, acceptance, and understanding of XML, three companies-O'Reilly & Associates, Songline Studios, and Seybold Publications-have teamed to create a Web site that serves as a key resource and nerve center for XML."

[April 06, 1998] "[XML: The Key to Bridging Java and the Web.] The Twain Shall Meet. Finding Convergence for Java and XML, Objects and Documents." By David Orchard. In Object Magazine 8/2 (April 1998) 60-65. [Enterprise Web Architecture] Abstract: "The worlds of Java objects and Web documents are converging, and XML is key to providing the final gateway between them. While there are two opposing schools of thought in this arena, XML provides a radical software change with benefits that outpace HTML, SGML, RTF, and provide an interchange format for OO developers." David Orchard is Senior Technical Architect, IBM Pacific Development Center. Note previous articles on XML in Object Magazine, including: "[The XML Revolution.] Document Objects With Style. An XML Document is a Composite Structure of Node Objects," by David Carlson. In Object Magazine (February 1998) 14-15.

[April 03, 1998] "SAX - The Simple API for XML." By David Megginson (Microstar Software Ltd). Handout from the presentation at XML Developers' Day, Seattle, WA, 27 March 1998. A Postscript version of this document is available as well. "SAX is a simple event-based programming interface for XML parsers: with SAX, you can write an application that works with many different XML parsers instead of tying your work to a specific one. The original SAX reference implementation is in Java, but work is either planned or underway to produce versions in several other programming languages including C++, Tcl, Python, and Perl. . ."

[April 03, 1998] "Netscape Opens Mozilla Code." By [Staff]. In The Bulletin: Seybold News & Views on Electronic Publishing Volume 3, Number 26 (April 1, 1998). Patricia Evans, Editor. Excerpt: "Mozilla also contains the surprise inclusion of XML functionality not expected until later this year. Showing the product to a group of developers at GCA's XML '98 conference last week in Seattle, R.V. Guha, a principal engineer at Netscape, affirmed Netscape's strong support for XML as a data and metadata syntax, and for XML as a rich form of document markup for the Web. . . Guha stressed that Netscape is now emphasizing the use of XML to describe documents, not just metadata, as it did last year. . ." Now online: Surprise! Netscape Puts XML Support in Mozilla. New version supports XML document markup as well as a data and metadata syntax." By Liora Alschuler and Mark Walter. Updated from The Bulletin: Seybold News and Views on Electronic Publishing, Vol. 3, No 26. See the bibliography entry for the article in The Seybold Report on Internet Publishing.

[April 03, 1998] XSL Tutorial - slides and examples. By Norman Walsh and Paul Grosso (ArborText, Inc.). Tutorial materials from the presentation given at the Seattle XML '98 Conference (March 24, 1998). The slides "were produced from a single SGML source document using a mixture of XSL and DSSSL." See the XSL document for other XSL resources.

[April 02, 1998] "New Web Language to Boost E-Com. XML Gets Microsoft, Sun, Oracle Backing, Could Displace Current Web Technology." By Ellen Messmer. In Network World Volume 15, Number 13 (March 30, 1998) page 6. [Note also the editorial in the Intranet supplement, by Executive Editor Beth Schultz: she admonishes Network World readers to learn about XML.]

[April 02, 1998] "Inso Buys Out Rival Synex For $2.5 Million." By [Staff]. In The Bulletin: Seybold News & Views on Electronic Publishing Volume 3, Number 25 (March 25, 1998). Excerpt: "Though Inso may continue to support Synex's OEMs for some time, Steven R. Vana-Paxhia, Inso's president and CEO, made it clear in an interview last week at Seybold Seminars New York that Inso acquired Synex's technology to deliver an end-user product, not to pursue OEM opportunities. Inso is particularly interested in using Synex technology to support interactive electronic technical manuals. Inso's own SGML viewer, DynaText, requires compiling the SGML material into DynaText format. In contrast, the Synex viewer operates on raw SGML-tagged documents. Among its more interesting capabilities are support for HyTime linking and client-side style sheets - two developments that anticipate the forthcoming XSL and XLL specifications being written by the W3C."

[April 01, 1998] "A Java Truce Could Lead to an XML War." By Michael Vizard. In InfoWorld Volume 20, Issue 13 (March 30, 1998), page 3. ". . . Java has enough momentum to carry it forward, and XML, as a context-rich, data-neutral file format, is probably the most important new technology development of the last two years. The key task for customers will be to throw their weight behind the developing World Wide Web Consortium specifications for XML in order to prevent any vendor from deploying de facto extensions that would undermine the real value of XML. . ."

[April 01, 1998] "Microsoft's Bosworth Marks XML Territory. [Microsoft Tunes Web Use of XML, Adam Bosworth Spearheads Effort.]" By Jeff Walsh. In InfoWorld [Electric] Volume 20, Issue 13 (March 30, 1998), page 58. Also posted March 25, 1998. "Adam Bosworth, general manager of the Internet Platform and Tools Division at Microsoft, is leading the company's XML efforts to bring the rich, structured data of XML to enable the next generation of flexible Web applications. He recently spoke with InfoWorld Reporter Jeff Walsh about where XML is today, what it can and can't do, and what work still needs to be done before it's ready for the masses."

[April 01, 1998] Don't Buy XML Stock -- Give It Time To Get Real." By Nate Zelnick . In InternetWorld Volume 4, Number 12 (March 30, 1998) page 20. "XML is hot, but it is far from done. There are several parts of the technology that are still being hotly debated within the World Wide Web Consortium. How these things grow will be crucial determinants in how XML will become useful. . . "

[April 01, 1998] "First Baby Steps on The Journey to Working XML. Extensible Stylesheet Language links XML elements to HTML formatting." By Wayne Bremser. In InternetWorld Volume 4, Number 12 (March 30, 1998) page 28.

[April 01, 1998] "The Blurring of the Line Between Pages and Applications." By Steven L. Telleen. In InternetWorld Volume 4, Number 12 (March 30, 1998) page 19. Excerpt: "Many processes that historically required complex programming to transform data will be handled with 'programmable' tags, much like the tags in HTML, but more flexible. HTML made the presentation of content independent from the hardware and operating-system platforms. XML now makes the structure of the content independent from its presentation."

[April 01, 1998] "XML-Driven User Interfaces: Toward True Platform-Independent User Interfaces." By Norbert H. Mikula and Randy Gordon. DataChannel White Paper.

[March 31, 1998] "XML Gains Momentum. Vendors Roll Out Tools, Applications to Support Language." By Brian Hannon. In PC Week Online Volume 15, Number 13 (March 30, 1998) 20. "With XML poised to break into IT departments, dozens of vendors announced Extensible Markup Language-based wares last week that streamline the management and distribution of information over the Web. At XML: The Conference, held here, DataChannel Inc., Interleaf Inc. and Microstar Software Ltd. announced new publishing tools, while Chrystal Software Inc. introduced XML-based content management."

[March 31, 1998] XML Files: The XML Magazine. Publication of Issue 04 (March 17, 1998). Edited by Dianne Kennedy, published by Norman Scharpf and GCA. Issue 04 of XML Files includes details on 'XML: The Conference' (Seattle), an article on XML-Data, a book review of Presenting XML, and other news.

[March 31, 1998] "Evolution of Web Data Formats." By Dan Connolly. [Slides] From the W3C Web site. Dan Connolly, World Wide Web Consortium Architecture Domain Lead, presented this closing keynote address at 'XML: The Conference' Wed March 25, 1998.

[March 31, 1998] "XML for Distributed Computing: WebBroker." By John Tigue (DataChannel). Slides from a presentation at 'XML: The Conference', Seattle, March 26th, 1998. See also the WebBroker DTDs, a posting from John Tigue describing his work, and a WebBroker reference page.

[March 31, 1998] "Bringing the File System into the File: Making Information More Accessible Through Object Stores." By Simon St.Laurent. ". . .on the possibilities of XML/HTTP-centered client-server architectures. . . "

[March 31, 1998] "Chrome-Plating Windows." By Chris Oakes. In Wired News [Technology News] (March 27, 1998). "[Microsoft's] Chrome is an interactive media technology that pulls together 3-D and 2-D graphic objects - animations, user-interface elements - to let you navigate and interact. . . Chrome leverages Windows' DirectX application programming interface - working with that underlying technology via scripts written in the extensible markup language (XML). Chrome's XML connection comes in describing and delivering Chrome's multimedia content, allowing dynamic manipulation via XML scripting. Using the markup language, programmers can code their 3-D content without having to write directly to the lower-level DirectX application programming interfaces in Windows. . ."

[March 31, 1998] "XML as Middleware May Simplify Inter-object Communication." By Jeff Walsh. In InfoWorld [Electric] Volume 20, Issue 13 (March 30, 1998), 1, 24. Posted at 4:46 AM PT, Mar 28, 1998. Excerpt: "The Extensible Markup Language (XML) protocol may ease the pain of the distributed computing war on the Internet by emerging as an independent middleware standard. Microsoft is expected to announce next month plans to use XML as a link for communication between the Component Object Model (COM) and CORBA. 'XML will become important across a broad range of protocols, including COM and CORBA,' said Adam Denning, group program manager for XML technologies at Microsoft. . ." [local archive copy]

[March 31, 1998] "XML Geeks Peek Inside Netscape 5.0." By James Glave. In Wired News March 30, 1998 7:45am..

[March 31, 1998] "Corel Blends Java and XML in new Open*J." By Brian Hannon. In PC Week Online Volume 15, Number 12 (March 25, 1998). Open*J, which was announced at the JavaOne conference in San Francisco, works on any device running a Java-enabled browser or Java virtual machine. It can be used to create applications with any word processor or Extensible Markup Language or text editor, employing XML as an Application Description Markup Language that 'glues' JavaBeans together, according to officials for the Ottawa-based company."

[March 30, 1998] "Netscape to Support XML 1.0 in Communicator 5.0." By Jeff Walsh. In InfoWorld Electric. Posted at 11:00 AM PT, March 30, 1998. [local archive copy] Note: Readers are advised to wait until "March 31st" and afterward to see what materializes on this front. The presentation by Ramanathan Guha at the conference was definitely a "heads up" message. The fact that the parser component is to be based upon James Clark's SP is certainly significant. . .

[March 30, 1998] "Xpand Your Site With XML. The XML Revolution Promises To Bring A New Approach To Creating Data-Aware Web Environments." By William Gee and John Gartner. In TechTools (March 25, 1998).

[March 26, 1998] "Corel's Open-J aims to ease app development." By Tom Diederich. In Computer World (March 26, 1998). Excerpt: "Corel Corp. yesterday unveiled a 'preview' version of Open-J. . . Open-J can be used to create powerful Web site applications by linking JavaBeans together. . . It uses Extensible Markup Language (XML) as an application description markup language to 'glue' JavaBeans together to create customized Internet-based applications."

[March 24, 1998] "Extensible Markup Language. Flexible XML Redefines the Web." By Rich Wiggins. In NewMedia Volume 8, Number 4 (March 24, 1998) [Technology Section]. Excerpt: "In a sense, XML represents a return to the Web's roots. HTML is one manifestation of the more venerable SGML (Standard Generalized Markup Language), a standard for defining the structure and content of a document. SGML has proved its usefulness since its origins in the 1970s; for instance, the U.S. military uses SGML to maintain weapon systems documentation that may last far longer than the word processors that were used to write it."

[March 24, 1998] XML: Enabling Application Interoperability. By J.P. Morgenthal of NC.Focus. March, 1998. "Abstract: The Internet has brought a new awareness of distributed computing outside of the Information Technology department walls. Web, electronic mail, publishing, and messaging are just the early harbingers of the tide of electronic business communications (EBC) requirements that are about to befall all departments of the corporation. The eXtensible Markup Language - XML - can provide users with the ability to implement systems that satisfy these EBC requirements, without getting mired in details of distributed computing technology." Distributed by GCA to attendees at the March 1998 XML Conference in Seattle. See now the Web site description.

[March 20, 1998] "XML Comes of Age in Business Applications." By Jeff Walsh. In InfoWorld Volume 20, Issue 11 (March 16, 1998) page 8.

[March 20, 1998] "20 Questions on XML." By Trisha Gorman. In CNET Builder.com (3/10/98). "Nearly everyone is talking about XML (Extensible Markup Language) these days. But few understand what it's really all about."

[March 19, 1998] "Perl Support for XML Developing. How to Make Perl The Language of Choice for XML." By Dale Dougherty. In The Perl Developer Update. [March 10, 1998] "O'Reilly & Associates hosted a recent Perl/XML summit to discuss ways that Perl can support the Extensible Markup Language (XML), a new language for defining document markup and data formats. . . Perl has been the language of choice for anyone doing serious text processing. Now efforts are underway to make Perl the language of choice for those doing 'structured' text processing using the Extensible Markup Language (XML)." [local archive copy]

[March 19, 1998] "The Power of Babel." By Mark Pesce. In Feedline. [Mark Pesce on XML and the Balkanization of the Web.]

[March 18, 1998] "Dynamic Navigation with DOM. Taking Advantage of the Document Object Model." By Mark McManus . In Web Techniques Magazine Volume 3, Issue 3 (March 1998). "When the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) introduced their working draft specification for the Document Object Model (DOM), it detailed how Web browsers should deal with HTML, CSS (Cascading Style Sheets), and XML documents. In particular, the specification describes how all document objects should be accessible programmatically. Ultimately, all Web developers benefit because the DOM provides a clearly defined structure to describe a Web page. Thus, tool developers can map internal object models, which means better tools for Web authors. Web authors get an additional benefit: Knowledge of your document structure makes building dynamic, interactive pages easier."

[March 18, 1998] "Perl Opens Arms to XML." By Lisa Rein. In Wired News. Posted March 17 1998. 5:03am, PST. Excerpt: "A recent summit of Perl programmers and the authors of the eXtensible Markup Language (XML) specification may have given XML the push it needs to catch on in the developer community and blossom on the Web. The group announced plans to modify Perl so it can be used as a tool to integrate XML with the terabytes of legacy data on the Web." See the database entry.

[March 18, 1998] "Panel: XML is No Panacea." By Alex Lash. In CNET News.com. March 13, 1998, 3:20 p.m. PT. The writer reports: "Conventional wisdom holds that the Web is a chaotic mess and that Extensible Markup Language -- XML -- has come to save the day, but a group discussion at Internet World today added a dose of reality about the technology's limits."

[March 16, 1998] "XML: Mastering Information on the Web." By Todd Freter [Sun Microsystems, Program Manager, Global Engineering and Information Services]. This article constitutes part 1 in a planned four-part serial presentation on XML. ". . . a series about XML, its promises, and its challenges . . . These articles are not intended to explain XML to you. There are excellent resources to do that already. . . Instead, these articles are about what XML means for people, for enterprises, and perhaps for the future of information itself. As a major developer of technology products that have enabled the internet's explosive growth, Sun Microsystems believes it is important to propagate open perspectives on open standards that make information more available and useful." See also the subsequent article (April 17, 1998). [local archive copy]

[March 16, 1998] "XML Keeps It Simple." By Scott Lajoie. In Network World Fusion. March 16, 1998.

[March 12, 1998] XML Storms Spring Internet World. Products Arrive Based on the WC3-Approved Specification." By Jeff Walsh and Lynda Radosevich. In InfoWorld Volume 20, Issue 10 (March 9, 1998), page 14. Also in InfoWorld Electric [News]. Summary: "XML will mark the spot at Internet World this week with XML-related announcements from SoftQuad, DataChannel, Xanthus, and WebMethods. SoftQuad will announce the Hotmetal Application Server, which eases the authoring of data-driven, dynamic Web sites by using familiar HTML syntax, as opposed to higher-end, programming-driven products. . ." [local archive copy]

[March 11, 1998] "Generation XML. Step Aside, HTML -- A More Data-Driven Option is On the Way." By Walter Crosby. In ComputerWorld [Emmerce. News.] Posted March 09, 1998. Excerpt: ". . . with XML, we should be able to build truly data-driven applications and make the data accessible to programs, viewers and even client/server programs. The key to this effort will be the careful definition of document type definitions (DTD), hopefully with some kind of industry-specific standardization. It is imperative that each industry start developing the standard DTD for the kinds of objects they will want to present online."

[March 11, 1998] "XML Means E-Retailers Must Speak the Same Lingo." By Sharon Machlis. In ComputerWorld Volume 32, Number 10 (March 9, 1998) pages 45, 48.

[March 11, 1998] "Rio Alpha Taps the Promise of XML for Better Intranets." By Jeff Senna. In InfoWorld [Data-distribution software] (March 9, 1998). See also "DataChannel Inc. Announces Availability of DataChannel RIO 3.0 Beta With 'Save To The Web' Technology."

[March 10, 1998] "Aeneid Corporation Demonstrates XML-Enabled Version of Internet Research Assistant. Research Platform Coupled With New Industry-Standard Transforms On-Line Information into Competitive Intelligence for Customers.". In TechMall (March 10, 1998).

[March 10, 1998] "XML Documents Are Objects! (or,) Killing OO Softly With XML." By Paul Pazandak. Posted to XML-DEV on March 10, 1998.

[March 09, 1998] "Get Your Data on Board: Creating XML Data Sources from Relational Databases." By Charles Heinemann [Microsoft]. In Extreme XML (March 9, 1998). "XML is valuable in that it is a universal data format that is text-based, is easily parsed, and enables interoperability. Once converted into an XML data source, the data within the Access-generated database can be easily accessed and manipulated by other applications and by HTML pages."

[March 09, 1998] "XML, Meet MLS. Software could revolutionize listing services." By Warren Lutz. Inman News Features (March 9, 1998). ". . . MLS software based on the XML standard. . . called OpenMLS, the new software is described as an MLS software application package that will be the new, sleeker alternative to current client server based software. . ."

[March 06, 1998] "Mathematical Markup Language." By Stephen Buswell. In InterChange [Quarterly newsletter of the International SGML Users' Group (ISUG)] 4/1 (January 1998) 21-23.

[March 05, 1998] "XML Now Has a Real <PRAYER>." By Kieron Murphy. In [WebMethods] developer.com (February 20, 1998). Excerpt: "A site devoted to uniting churches on the Internet has introduced an Extensible Markup Language (XML) system to allow its members to share information -- especially on religious discourse. The move is one of the first implementations by an independent site of the next-generation Web authoring language." See: [possibly] American Bible Society - forministry.com.

[March 05, 1998] "Developers See Promising Future for W3C-Approved XML." By Kieron Murphy. In [WebMethods] developer.com (February 10, 1998).

[March 05, 1998] "Math Equations are Now Web-Accessible." By Jeff Walsh . In InfoWorld (Volume 20, Issue 9 (March 2, 1998), page 22. See also the MathML database entry.

[March 04, 1998] "Group to Build Common Interface Using XML." By Jeffrey Schwartz. In InternetWeek [CMPnet] Posted Tuesday, March 3, 1998, 2:45 p.m. ET. Excerpt: "A small group of vendors tomorrow will announce plans to develop a universal method for extending business applications to use the XML standard . . . The XML Active Content Technologies Council (XACT), led by DataChannel Inc., is currently backed by more than a dozen vendors, including Anderson Consulting, NEC, Oracle, Sun and Sybase. DataChannel is also awaiting word from Microsoft, and plans call for approaching IBM and Netscape . . . XACT will try to come up with a common method for extending business applications using XML as a Web-based publish and subscribe format. . ." See the X-ACT - XML Active ContentTechnologies Council web site.

[March 03, 1998] "How a Couple of Detours For the Web Led To A Very Hot New Standard." By Nate Zelnick. In Internet World [Web Development] March 2, 1998". . .SGML had been ghettoized for about a decade because it was really complicated. The only people really using it were in government, academia, and a few super-high-end publishing environments, because the complexity was so daunting (and expensive) that everyone preferred to hack out a short-term solution. . ."

[March 03, 1998] "Authoring in Crisis - Where Next?" By Tim Bray. In The Gilbane Report Volume 5, Number 5 (November/December 1997) 1-16. [Abstract/summary pending. No promises here from Bray that XML with XSL/DSSSL is the only solution on the horizon, but this is a 'must-read' article if your head isn't clear on this topic, and if you want to clear it. Tim is not the first to declare that "WYSIWYG is Dead" in a major article subsection head; see in recent memory Conrad Taylor, "What Has WYSIWYG Done to Us? [WYSIWYG Desktop Publishing Has Duped Us]," in The Seybold Report on Publishing Systems, and Peter Goldie, "Using SGML to Create Complex Interactive Documents for Electronic Publishing," in IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication. Or: David Siegel, "The Web is Ruined and I Ruined It." "Crisis" may be too strong a term, but we all know there's a serious problem here for many business professionals.]

[March 03, 1998] "XML Sparks the Web." By Dan Kara. In Software Magazine [Section: IT Trends] (March 1998) page 14.

[February 28, 1998] "Xmlu.com Announces Details for XML Xposed." In <TAG> Volume 11, Number 2 (February 1998) 12. Events are planned for March 18, April 17, May 6, June 17, and July 14. See the XML Xposed web page.

[February 27 [29], 1998] "XML and Next Generation Web Publishing." By Tim Berners-Lee, Director, World Wide Web Consortium. (27 February, 1998). Seybold Conference, New York NY. Presentation slides. ". . . Why should I care about XML? Its totally general application to any structured information [and] Ability to mix and evolve schemata . . . "

[February 27 [29], 1998] "An XML Glossary." By Bob DuCharme. In <TAG> Volume 11, Number 2 (February 1998) 1-3. DuCharme, as <TAG>'s 'XML Correspondent', provides expanded definitions for some key terminology; definitions were reviewed by Dave Peterson. Some terms are new due to the recent ISO 8879 annexes, especially the WebSGML Adaptations Annex, ISO 8879 Annex K. Defined terms include: "character encoding, empty-element tag, fully-tagged, ISO 10646, name spaces, NESTC, PIC, PI target, type-valid, Unicode, UCS, UTF-8 and UTF-16, valid, validity constraint, well-formedness constraint, well-formed."

[February 25, 1998] "Sequoia to Unveil XML-Based Transaction Server." By Bob Trott. In InfoWorld Volume 20, Issue 8 (February 23, 1998) page 59. "Sequoia Software plans to unveil on Feb. 25 a transaction server based on the Extensible Markup Language (XML) which is designed to address interoperability problems in the health care industry." See more on the Sequoia web site.

[February 25, 1998] "Extensible Markup Language Attracts Publishers." By Mo Krochmal. In TechWeb News Posted 02/19/98, 5:33 p.m. EST. Excerpt: "Book publishers are looking at Extensible Markup Language (XML) as an easier way to transport information to the Internet. This week at BookTech '98, a technology conference and trade show for the publishing industry held here in New York, traditional bookbinders shared floor space with newcomers in online media. 'XML is just a leaner, meaner, kinder gentler version of SGML,'said Deborah Lapeyre, vice president of Mulberry Technologies, a Rockville, Md., consultancy."

[February 25, 1998] "XML and the Future of E-commerce." By Lisa Rein. In E-Business Magazine [Hewlett-Packard Company] January and February, 1998. See Part 2 and Part 2.

[February 25, 1998] "XML: The 'Golden Arches' Of Computers?" By J.P. Morgenthal. In Internet Week Issue 703 [Section: Intranet Applications] (February 23, 1998), page 27. Excerpt: "XML provides homogeneity of data format, which is very different from the other technologies. It makes no assumption about what it will be used for or how to use it. This is a positive assumption since network hardware vendors are looking at it for communications, middleware vendors are eyeing it as a message format and application developers are looking at it as an internal data format."

[February 25, 1998] "New Standard Takes Guesswork Out Of Supply-Chain Management." By John Evan Frook. In TechWeb News Posted 02/23/98; 4:32 p.m. EST. On: Collaborative Planning Forecasting and Replenishment (CPFR). The slender connection to XML for now: "The group also is considering a marriage with the newly approved XML, a metadata format for the Web."

[February 23, 1998] "XML Gets Boost From Consortium. W3C Approval Should Speed Acceptance of a System That's Already Gaining Currency." By Nate Zelnick. In Internet World Volume 4, Issue 6 (February 16, 1998) 1, 45. ". . . The power of this approach, according to XML specification co-editor and independent consultant Tim Bray, is that it allows documents to be useful forever, even as the computing architecture around them inevitably changes. . . Even more significant is the power that XML brings when combined with the Document Object Model (DOM) also emerging out of the W3C. This will allow XML-structured data to live in browsers as full-blown applications that offer all the power and flexibility of traditional applications while remaining universally portable."

[February 23, 1998] "HTML Workshop. Tapping Into XML." By Wayne Bremser. In Internet World Daily [Tips & Techniques]. February 23, 1998.

[February 18, 1998] "XML Becomes A Standard; Vendors Ready Products -- Language Likely to Boost E-commerce, Ease Web Searches." By Gregory Dalton. In Information Week [Section: Top Of The Week] Issue: 669 (February 16, 1998), page 34. Excerpt: "The Extensible Markup Language was approved as a standard last week by the World Wide Web Consortium-and already a number of vendors plan to unveil products that use the language, which could add muscle and definition to the Web. . . Products supporting XML will be on display next week at the Health Information Management Systems Society meeting in Orlando, Fla. Sequoia Software Corporation will unveil an XML transaction server that lets different applications share data. Datex-Engstrom, a $240 million medical equipment maker in Helsinki, Finland, is testing Sequoia's server in a line of anesthesia monitoring equipment that lets patient data be consolidated on a hospital intranet. Sequoia's XML technology is also the basis for a government-funded pilot by Johns Hopkins Medical Systems of a national patient index." [local archive copy]

[February 17, 1998] "XML Connects Browser To Server Data." By Rich Levin. In Information Week [Section: Application Development] Issue: 669 (February 16, 1998). Excerpt: "[XML] 'lets us do things that are very useful, that we just couldn't do before with HTML-based technology,' says Alan Karben, associate director of interactive development with The Wall Street Journal Interactive. [It] 'allows our documents to be automatically reformatted for newspaper, the Web, E-mail, or any other medium. It would be incredibly time-consuming to do this reformatting by hand'."

[February 13, 1998] "The WebDeveloper.com Guide to XML." By Scott Clark. In InternetWorld WebDeveloper.Com. February [13] 1998. Scott Clark is the technical director of Web Developer.com.

[February 13, 1998] "Going from HTML to XML." By Charles Heinemann (Microsoft Corporation). February 12, 1998. From the Microsoft`s XML Resources. [local archive copy]

[February 13, 1998] "Standards Sought For Content Exchange. Group aims to let sites share data automatically." By Nate Zelnick. In Internet World Volume 4, Issue 5 (February 9, 1998) pages 1, 49. "The group is working on a set of conventions, called Internet Content & Exchange (ICE), to provide a way for content creators and their customers to exchange information automatically. The mechanism for such exchange will be an eXtensible Markup Language (XML) vocabulary that depends on the Platform for Privacy Preferences Project (P3P) standard the World Wide Web Consortium is developing. The new XML will describe elements on a page to applications that can process them, and extensions, to the P3P standard."

[February 12, 1998] "What's the Point of XML? Find out what this much discussed, but little understood technology can do for you." By Ed Tittel. In Sun World Volume 12, Number 2 (February 1998). Abstract: "In some ways, XML is like object-oriented programming: Everybody's heard of it, but nobody really understands how it works. Some pundits are predicting that 1998 will be the year XML descends from the ivory tower of the W3C into the real world. Others see the Extensible Markup Language as too complex to serve as a wide-spread replacement for HTML. In this comprehensive overview of XML, we explain where it comes from, what it is, and how it works." Ed Tittel is a principal at LANWrights, Inc. an Austin, TX-based consultancy. [local archive copy]

[February 11 [19], 1998] "DataChannel Announces XML-based Intranet Tools." By Jeff Walsh. In InfoWorld Volume 20, Issue 7 (February 16, 1998) page 20; also in InfoWorld Electric Posted at 7:01 PM PT, Feb 10, 1998. "DataChannel delivered two new product betas Tuesday to coincide with the World Wide Web Consortium recommendation of the Extensible Markup Language (XML) 1.0 specification. The DataChannel XML Parser 1.0 beta is a Java-based XML parser that enables server-side XML parsing and integration. . . DataChannel on Tuesday also announced the immediate availability of the ChannelManager 2.0 beta."

[February 11, 1998] "Folio to Adopt XML, Open Up Views Format. Change is Part of a Broader Strategy to Support Native File Formats in 1998." By Mark Walter and Matt Hengey. In The Seybold Report on Internet Publishing Volume 2, Number 6 (February 1998) 3-4. "Folio, a division of Open Market, jumped on the XML bandwagon with a significant announcement last month that foreshadows its plan to 'open' Folio infobases to enable documents to be indexed and secured in their native formats rather than requiring prior conversion to Folio's flat-file markup language. . . Eliminating the flat-file conversion requirement [. . .] puts Folio, and its customers, in a better position to take advantage of related tools for authoring, parsing, manipulating and rendering XML-tagged documents." Note: a version of this document is available online in HTML format.

[February 11, 1998] "Microsoft Releases Preview of XSL Style Processor." By Mark Walter. In The Seybold Report on Internet Publishing Volume 2, Number 6 (February 1998) 29-30.

[February 11, 1998] "[The XML Revolution.] Document Objects With Style. An XML Document is a Composite Structure of Node Objects." By David Carlson. In Object Magazine (February 1998) 14-15. Abstract: "Technology trends often arrive dressed as hype or revolution. XML might yield a revolution in Web-Object systems. Examine the fine points of Document Object Models and Extensible Style Language." Excerpt: "First, you need to expand your notion of what constitutes a 'document': an XML (or SGML) document is a composite structure of node objects, each having optional attributes. The principal subnodes are typed 'elements' and blocks of uninterpreted text. From these roots, you can construct schemas defining valid node structures, and document instances that adhere to the schema. I previously discussed several XML draft standards and W3C working documents for defining XML document schemas. This month, I'll focus on two draft standards for processing XML document instances: the Document Object Model and the Extensible Style Language." [David Carlson, Ph.D. (dcarlson@ontogenics.com) provides synergistic consulting services Ontogenics Corp. in Boulder, CO.] [local archive copy] See also: "XML Documents Can Fit Object Oriented Applications [Objects & the Web]." By David Carlson. In Object Magazine 7/9 (November 1997) 24-26.

[February 11, 1998] "Vignette Embraces ICE, Extends Server." By Seybold Publications staff [edited by Patricia Evans]. In The Bulletin: Seybold News & Views on Electronic Publishing Volume 3, No. 19 (February 11, 1998). The Bulletin's take: "We expect XML will be a must-have feature for any content management system by the end of the year. Vignette continues to try to leverage its position as a content management system to break into Web commerce. Its best shot is exploiting personalized content delivery as a way to create loyal customers. The adoption of the ICE protocol would help many publishers establish the kind of syndicated content networks that have been around for decades in the print world. While Vignette wouldn't be the only player in such a scenario, it would be well positioned for a leading role."

[February 09 [25], 1998] "Weaving a Better Web. [Reinventing the Web: XML and DHTML to Bring Order to the Chaos.]" By Scott Mace, Udo Flohr, Rick Dobson, and Tony Graham. In Byte Magazine Volume 23 Number 3 (March 1998) 58-68. The "Cover Story" in the March 1998 issue. Now online: "The features that made HTML so popular are causing the Web to fall apart. What's next?"

[February 09, 1998] "HTML on Steroids? XML Could Be [the] Future." By Jason J. Meserve. In Application Development TrendsVolume 5, Number 2 (February 1998) 18.

[February 09, 1998] "Specs Lay Foundation For Data Exchange." By Richard Karpinski. In Internet Week Issue 701 [Section: Electronic Commerce] (February 09, 1998), page 17. Excerpt: "The strength of the Extensible Markup Language, supporters say, is its ability to add context and nuance to distributed computing. Two recently disclosed development efforts will add to that strength, easing the exchange of data between disparate servers. . .The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) recently acknowledged submission of XML Data, a proposed specification from ArborText Inc., DataChannel Inc., Inso Corp. and Microsoft. . . In a separate effort, a group of partners-including Firefly Network, JavaSoft, Vignette Corp. and several content-publishing companies-are working on the Information and Content and Exchange specification (ICE)".

[February 09, 1998] "Data Centric Computing: A Real-World Solution." [Application Logic] By J.P. Morgenthal. In Internet Week Issue 701 [Section: Intranet Applications] (February 09, 1998), page 20. Excerpt: "Core to Data Centric Computing is the eXtensible Markup Language (XML). This simple grammar for creating self-describing data turns out to be exactly what the industry needs to really move forward with distributed computing. Between the specifications for the grammar, the schema, the document object model and the resource definition framework, XML enables applications to send and receive data in ASCII format without relying upon fixed-length structures. Moreover, there is a consistent method of extracting the data once it is received."

[February 09, 1998] "XML Tools Ease Integration." [Business Applications] By Marc Ferranti. In InfoWorld Volume 20 Issue 6 (February 9, 1998) page 55. An verview of Webmethods' Web Automation Server, and WIDL.

[February 06, 1998] "Microsoft Joins Group Seeking XML-based Web Content Specification." By Dana Gardner. In InfoWorld Electric Posted at 5:48 PM PT, February 5, 1998, or in InfoWorld Volume 20 Issue 6 (February 9, 1998) page 3. Excerpt: "Microsoft on Thursday joined an industry group intent on creating a specification that allows for Extensible Markup Language (XML)-based exchange of Web content, such as automated syndication of news stories. The working group developing the XML specification -- Information and Content Exchange (ICE) -- plans to submit it in June to the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) for adoption, said Brad Husick, vice president of business development at Austin, Texas-based Vignette, one of the sponsors. The ICE group hopes that XML-enabled coordination of Web content objects will lead to online networked relationships, such as syndicated publishing networks, Web superstores, and online reseller channels." See alternately: "Microsoft Joins ICE Authoring Group," by Brian Hannon and Jim Kerstetter, PC Week Onlineby 02.06.98 12:58 pm ET.

[February 06, 1998] "XML Cooks up No-fuss E-commerce." By James Kobielus. In Network World [Fusion] (February 2, 1998) page 33. Excerpt: "There already is widespread industry support for the concept of XML-based EDI standards, which means the standards bodies should put this effort on their fast-track agendas. When XML becomes a firm standard, organizations using EDI should organize limited extranet pilots and trials that use the standard to envelope standard transaction sets with a range of metadata and hyperlinks to back-end databases. Once you see the power of XML encoding to pluck relevant EDI data from Web pages and legacy systems, you'll see that it truly does represent the future of data-rich Web application development."

[February 06, 1998] "XML Expectations. XML Technology Could Trigger a Basic Shift in Web Development." By Shelley Powers. In Netscape Enterprise Developer Volume 1 Issue 1 (January 19, 1998). Abstract: "The recent flurry of interest in Extensible Markup Language (XML) has pundits proclaiming it the savior of future Web design. Is this standard a solution to the messy state of the modern Web? We take a closer look and give you real-life XML examples." [caveats]

[February 03, 1998] More on XML Characters." By Dave C. Peterson. In <TAG>: The SGML Newsletter 11/1 (January 1998) 10. The author provides an update on XML characters, as of the December 1997 XML specification. Peterson comments on the XML WG's choice of UTF-16 (variable-length representation) rather than UCS-2 (the 16-bit two-byte canonical representation of the first 65536 characters of ISO 10646). See also by the author: "Characters, Encodings, and XML, Continued" and "Characters, Encodings, and XML."

[February 03, 1998] "New Products Help XML Gather Momentum." By Malcolm Maclachlan. In CMPNet TechWeb Posted 02/02/98; 3:17 p.m. EST. Excerpt: "While new technologies were making a splash at Internet Showcase, held last week in San Diego, an older technology that enjoys Microsoft's support, XML, hit its stride. XML was developed from a language called SGML. The principle behind XML is separating data and its presentation, according to Tom Johnston, a platform product manager at Microsoft. Separating the two is becoming increasingly important as the Web moves to a three-tiered architecture with both user-to-server and server-to-server interactions. While a three-tiered architecture avoids having customers go straight to a Website's back end, Johnston said, the problem is 'you have a lot of information to move around.' The promise of XML is it will make it easier to build and maintain three-tiered Websites."

[February 02, 1998] "Breaking the Online ICE." By Jim Kerstetter and Brian Hannon. In PC Week Volume 15 Number 5 (February 2, 1998) page 6. Also online, January 30, 1998 2:54 PM PST. Excerpt: "A consortium of software vendors and corporations will unveil this week an online specification that allows seamless data sharing between Web sites. The ICE (Information and Content Exchange) specification, to be unveiled at a press conference in Austin, Texas, is based on the Extensible Markup Language (XML) and the OPS (Open Profiling Standard). Vendors involved in creating ICE plan to start working out interoperability details within the next month.

[February 02, 1998] "Untangling Email Threads." By Chris Oakes. In Wired News [Technology Section] Posted 4:00am 2.Feb.98.PST. "To the dismay of few, a new proposal to the W3C could mean the end of the greater-than symbols that multiply like rabbits alongside quoted and re-quoted email text. Three email application vendors have proposed an addition to the hypertext markup language (HTML) that would enhance its display in email messages and their multiple replies..." See HTML Threading - Use of HTML in Email.

[February 02 [05], 1998] "IBM invests in XML. Link to DB2 Opens Doors to Enterprise." By Paul Krill and Lynda Radosevich (with Dana Gardner and Steven E. Brier). InfoWorld Volume 20 Issue 5 (February 2, 1998) 1, 26. Also in InfoWorld Electric. [Top News Stories] Posted at 6:58 AM PT, February 2, 1998. Excerpt: "With initiatives on several fronts, IBM is leading the charge of vendors trying to bring the Extensible Markup Language (XML) into the corporate database realm. The company is working on a plan to build a DB2 extender for handling XML-tagged data that will give corporate users better text-searching capabilities, officials said. IBM also plans to soon release an XML parser, written in Java, with classes and methods that will enable users to parse, generate, and manipulate XML documents. . .'Databases can store HTML and XML text as a binary large object, or Blob, with no inherent understanding of the data, but native XML in DB2 can allow the database to act as a more intelligent vehicle for deployment of intelligent Web sites,' said Jeffrey Jones, IBM program manager for data management marketing, in San Jose, California."

[February 02, 1998] "XML, XLL, and XSL: Current Status, Next." By Bob DuCharme ["XML Correspondent"]. In <TAG> Volume 11, Number 1 (January 1998) 1-3. See the bibliography entry for an overview.

[February 02, 1998] "XML Apps Target Databases, Commerce." By Richard Karpinski. In TechWeb News Posted 1/30/98; 8:14 p.m. EST. Excerpt: "Separate development efforts were disclosed this week using the Extensible Markup Language (XML) to ease creation of database-driven Web applications and enable the exchange of data between disparate servers. . . The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) said it submitted XML-Data, a proposed specification from Microsoft, ArborText, Inso and DataChannel. In a separate effort disclosed today, a group of partners, including Vignette, Firefly, JavaSoft and several content-oriented companies, said they are working on an Information and Content and Exchange (ICE), specification. ICE is an XML application for enabling server-to-server data exchange, including the buying, selling and sharing of content and user profiles between sites, said Brad Husick, vice president of business development at Vignette." [local archive copy]

[February 02, 1998] "Software to Help Net Stores." By Tim Clark. In CNET News.Com January 29, 1998, 4:45 p.m. PT. Excerpt: "Impetus for the proposed Information & Content Exchange (ICE) protocol comes from FireFly Networks, a collaborative filtering technology firm, and Vignette, which markets publishing software used by major Web sites. . . Other technology firms backing ICE are JavaSoft, Net Perceptions, and Adobe. Major Web sites joining the ICE initiative include National Semiconductor, Preview Travel, CUC International, the Chicago Tribune, ZDNet, and CNET: The Computer Network, which publishes NEWS.COM."

[February 02, 1998] "XML On The Rise -- Language Expected to Aid E-commerce, Help Web Searches." By Gregory Dalton. In InternetWeek [Section: Intranets/Internet] Issue: 666 (January 26, 1998) page 81. Excerpt: "XML is already a basis of the Open Financial Exchange format for consumer financial transactions proposed by Microsoft and other companies. Another consortium aimed at the retail trade, the Open Trading Protocol, this month posted its proposed XML-based specification. That initiative is led by MasterCard International and backed by companies including AT&T, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, and Wells Fargo. 'The group chose XML because there is nothing like it for structuring data and because it has broad industry support,' says David Burdett, development director at MasterCard's Mondex International unit." [local archive copy]

[February 02, 1998] "XML Will Boost Verification, Content on Web." By Bradley F. Shimmin. In Lan Times Online [SOFTSCENE] (February 2, 1998). Excerpt: "To make XML truly useful, you have to add a custom DTD. A DTD file simply says what tags are allowed to appear and how they may be structured, just like HTML. Once you build your own DTD file, you can simply refer to it from an XML file with a definition . . . With the addition of a custom DTD, an application capable of understanding a document's grammar can then use it to assign semantic meaning to the document's entities. A search engine, for example, could categorize and retrieve XML documents based on specific entities within those documents, letting users search for specific occurrences, such as changes in stock prices."

[February 02, 1998] "Synchronized Surfing. A New Standard in the Works Will Bring TV-like Content to the Web." By Angela Hickman. In PC Magazine Volume 17 Number 3 (February 10, 1998) 29. "Synchronized Multimedia Integration Language (SMIL) describes a simple markup language that lets developers synchronize content--such as text and voice--without arcane scripting. It would let a developer write commands such as 'play audio file A in parallel with video file B' and 'show image C after audio file A has finished playing'." [see the SMIL entry]

[January 30, 1998] "XML speeds along in standards land. Java's little brother has gained support from a number of competitors. Find out what this fresh-faced technology holds for you." By Miko Matsumura. In JavaWorld Volume 3, Issue 2 (February 1998). Abstract: "XML 1.0 is expected to become a W3C Recommendation next month, which would make it a standard on par with HTML. XML, the so-called baby brother of Java, opens up a whole new arena to Web developers. This month's column discusses this burgeoning standard and explores the significance of XML to Java developers." [local archive copy]

[January 29, 1998] "Vignette Goes The XML Route." By Richard Karpinski. In InternetWeek News Posted Thursday, January 29, 1998, 6:00 p.m. ET. Introduction: "Vignette, best known for its template-driven publishing system and big-media customers, is moving into the extranet market with a new version of its StoryServer platform and a strategy to use XML to enable what it calls 'site-to-site' commerce. The company's new direction is heavily influenced by the emerging Extensible Markup Language (XML) and a proposed specification from Vignette and partners dubbed ICE, or Information and Content Exchange." [local archive copy]

[January 29, 1998] "[Vendors Rally Around XML Spec.] Vignette to push XML-based Web publishing system." By Dana Gardner. In InfoWorld Volume 20 Issue 5 (February 2, 1998) pages 43-44. Also in InfoWorld Electric. Posted at 11:56 AM PT, January 29, 1998. Excerpt: "Vignette is taking steps toward automating extranet content delivery with the release of an Extensible Markup Language (XML)-enabled Web publishing system, Vignette's StoryServer 3.2, along with a proposed content meta-tag specification. Vignette and several partners have formed a working group to develop the XML specification -- Information and Content Exchange (ICE) -- and plan to submit it in June to the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) for adoption, said Brad Husick, vice president of business development at Vignette."

[January 29, 1998] "XML Tool Integrates Web with Business Apps." By Marc Ferranti. In InfoWorld Electric , Posted at 6:10 PM PT, Jan 29, 1998. "The [WebMethods] Web Automation Server, demonstrated at the Internet Showcase trade show in San Diego this week, uses an extension of XML the company calls the Web Interface Definition Language (WIDL), designed to give applications access to Web data. WIDL provides a means of building automated access to Web resources through well-defined interfaces, according to the company."

[January 28, 1998] "ArborText Unveils First XSL Editor." By Richard Karpinski. In InternetWeek Posted at 01/28/98; 5:07 p.m. EST.

[January 28, 1998] "Database Vendors Consider XML." By Paul Krill. In InfoWorld [CLIENT/SERVER] Volume 20 Issue 4 (January 26, 1997) 31. Also InfoWorld Electric January 26, 1998. Quotes from representatives of Allaire, Microsoft, Oracle, Sybase, NC.Focus, etc. Excerpt: "Although the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) is expected to formally recommend adoption of the Extensible Markup Language (XML) 1.0 specification by February, the idea of using this language to facilitate data access across the Web is already gathering steam among database vendors. Companies such as Microsoft, Oracle, and Sybase all are backing the XML specification for Web-based objects manipulation, according to officials at the three companies."

[January 28, 1998] "ArborText Ships XSL-based XML editor." [For which read probably: `XML-based XSL editor.'] By Jeff Walsh. Similarly, "ArborText Releases XML Styler" In InfoWorld Volume 20 Issue 5 (February 2, 1998) page 43, and in InfoWorld Electric Posted at 1:35 PM PT, Jan 27, 1998; also InfoWorld Volume 20 Issue 4 (January 26, 1997) 3 [Newsbriefs]. Introduction: "ArborText announced the availability of a style sheet editor for Extensible Markup Language (XML) data here at the Microsoft Web TechEd show this week. XML Styler is based on the Extensible Style sheet Language (XSL) proposal ArborText submitted to the World Wide Web Consortium along with co-authors Microsoft and Inso. The product enables the display of XML data by bridging the gap between the structured data and Microsoft's free XSL Processor."

[January 27, 1998] "New Life for SGML. SGML Gets a New Lease on Life at DC Conference. XML Is the Big Thing (but Not the Only Thing)." By George Alexander. In The Seybold Report on Publishing Systems Volume 27, Number 9 (January 19, 1998) 1, 25-31 [25-27] The article discusses "[Vendor] Support for XML and XSL" in one dedicated section, and notes announced XML/XSLsupport in conjunction with relevant product overviews. See the review of SGML publishing software demonstrated at the conference in Alexander's article, as summarized by the abstract in the full bibliographic entry.

[January 27, 1998] "XML: A Better Way to Move Data Across the Web." By John Swenson. In [Microsoft] MSDN Online, IMHO. January 21, 1998. Excerpt: "One of the hottest topics at Microsoft's upcoming Web TechEd conference January 25-28 is sure to be XML, a technology that many believe is destined to become the universal language for describing and transferring data on the Web. XML could become a universal technology for transferring data between applications. . . Said another way, XML complements, not replaces, HTML. While HTML is all about defining how information is displayed, XML has nothing to do with display. XML is all about describing information. For example, an HTML tag might define the color or font size of a word, but it says nothing about the actual meaning of the word. An XML tag can describe the meaning of any word or term identifying it as a person's name, a product name, date, or whatever. The descriptions can be as specific as a developer chooses to make them." [local archive copy]

[January 23, 1998] "Banking on the Java of E-Payment Systems." By Joe Nickell. In Wired News (January 23, 1998). Excerpt: "Spearheaded by ecash pioneer, Mondex International, the group is working on an XML-based protocol that would allow a single digital wallet on the desktop to interact with the payment systems designed by everyone from CyberCash to AT&T to Wells Fargo Bank. By using XML ([sic!] extended markup language), the protocol is designed to ensure interoperability among the software used by buyers, sellers, and financial institutions to carry out online transactions." See the OTP database entry.

[January 23, 1998] SGML Exceptions and XML." By Eve Maler of ArborText. The document "briefly describes SGML exceptions (inclusions and exclusions) and discusses how 'exception users' can handle their DTDs and data in XML, which does not allow exceptions." See also the database section: Use (and Non-use) of Exceptions in DTDs.

[January 21, 1998] "Microsoft's XSL Tool Available on the Web." By Jeff Walsh. In InfoWorld Volume 19, Issue 3 (January 19, 1998) 22.

[January 20, 1998] "The Extensible Markup Language (XML). ETHOS Technology Briefings Series 1: Developments Shaping Internets and Intranets." By Martin Bryan (SGML Centre). Approximately 12 pages.[local archive copy]

[January 20, 1998] "XML to Power Smart Web pages. Web-based scripting language standard promises smarter, more efficient applications." By Joe Paone. In Lan Times January 20, 1998. Excerpt: "Best described as an electronic publishing and data interchange format, XML represents an effort to standardize the delivery and categorization of data over the Web, a task that observers say HTML, which is best suited for display, handles clumsily." [local archive copy, text only]

[January 19, 1998] "Suite Builds Time-Saving Web Applications -- XML tools speed online searches for images or product information." By Gregory Dalton. In InformationWeek Issue 665 [Section: Intranets/Internet] (January 19, 1998) page 84. Excerpt: "About 30 designers are using a software agent, created with a beta of WebMethod's Web Automation Suite, to reduce the time needed to find and retrieve images used for print and television advertising as well as CD-ROMs. Discovery expects the system, which augments an internal library of 25,000 images that can't be searched as quickly, to save the equivalent of several hundred thousand dollars of designers' time. . . Web Automation Suite is based on the emerging extensible markup language (XML) but also works with HTML data sources." [local archive copy]

[January 15, 1998] "Frontier 5 and XML: RPC via HTTP." By Dave Winer. In [Scripting.com] Frontier 5 January 14, 1998. Snippets: "We've reached one of the milestones in our exploration of XML ... now we have a server running on the scripting.com LAN that responds to remote procedure calls... We're coordinating with our new friends at DataChannel. These are very exciting times! XML is a panic attack. It's going to happen. The walls come down. No more barriers between platforms. Thanks to everyone for all the positive energy. We're having fun! Not bad, good!" See also Frontier 5 and XML: Home Page.

[January 15, 1998] "Web Tool Writes in XML." By Andrea Dudrow. In MacWeek [Internet] Volume 12, Issue 3 (January 14, 1998). "Media Design In*Progress this month introduced XPublish, a Web authoring tool based on Extensible Markup Language, an emerging standard for describing content on the Web."

[January 14, 1998] "Microsoft Releases XSL Style Processor." By Seybold Publications Staff. In The Bulletin: Seybold News & Views on Electronic Publishing Volume 3, Number 15 (January 14, 1998). Excerpt: "The importance of XSL is that it will give Web publishers style sheets closer to the functionality to which print publishers have become accustomed than the relatively crude formatting capabilities of CSS 1 and even CSS 2. What is especially significant is that XSL has a better chance than DSSSL (the style complement to SGML) of developing into the master style sheet language for both print and online. DSSSL proved too complex for vendors to implement; XSL is being driven from the bottom up by vendors anxious to develop software for it. Even though browser support for XSL is still months away, unlike CSS, which depends on widespread browser support to be practical, XSL — when used in conjunction with a tool such as Microsoft is developing — can be of immediate benefit to developers. Designers can create formatting rules using XSL's simple style, and let the software take care of generating formatted HTML, with or without the use of CSS styles."

[January 13 [21], 1998] "Microsoft Releases First Look at XSL, Launches 3-Tier Plan To Render HTML." By Nate Zelnick. In WebWeek 4/2 (January 12, 1998), 20, 22. Also online. Extract: "In a traditional three-tier application, data is extracted from a database based on a client request, is parsed on a middle tier, and presented using a client application. Using XML and XSL templates, Microsoft's plans now posit a world where the data remains in whatever database it currently resides, but the record set returned from a query now gets transformed into structured XML data. At the middle tier, that data is transformed into HTML using XSL and rendered as a normal page in a browser."

[January 12 and February 12, 1998] "XML Programming in Python." By Sean McGrath. In Dr. Dobb's Journal Volume 23 Number 2 (February 1998) 82-104. [Scripting Languages]. Abstract: "XML brings to the document world what the database world has had for a long time -- interoperability via open systems. Sean shows how you can use Python as a development platform for XML programming. Additional resources include the Python web page, and PXML.TXT (listings from DDJ)." See the dedicated database section Python for SGML/XML Processing, and see the the main bibliography entry.

[January 12, 1998] "The Search For Metadata." By Richard Lander. Document summary: "This report explores the metadata proposals submitted to the World Wide Consortium to fill the need for a standard metadata framework. Such a framework will provide a standard way of describing resources and their relationships. Resource description is required to evolve the Web from its current state to one where resources are organized, catalogued and effectively searchable. The proposals employ the Extensible Markup Language (XML) for their syntax and model. XML, being extensible, allows the proposals to be extensible, making for complex and effective description. Metadata applications can be customized to user needs, without losing interoperatibility with other applications, allowing for accurate representations of resource relationships. It is concluded that the Resource Description Framework is the most comprehensive, flexible and well-defined metadata proposal. It is recommended that the Resource Description Framework be adopted as the metadata standard. All other metadata proposals, complementary to RDF, should be modified to exist within RDF." Note that Richard Lander has contributed two other articles on XML: "XML Rescues the Web" (July 1997) and "XML: The New Markup Wave" (May 1997).

[January 12, 1998] Coming of Age in Cyberspace: Births, Deaths, and Milestones at SGML/XML '97. Trip Report. [Alternate title: Behold the Newborn: Vendors Herald the Arrival of XML.] By Liora Alschuler and George Alexander. In: The Seybold Report on Internet Publishing Volume 2, Number 5 (December 1998) 1, 21-34. This feature article reports on the SGML/XML '97 Conference and Exposition. As for the prominence of XML and its importance for Internet publishing, the article says: "Ever since XML was first announced just over a year ago, we've been saying that it would have a tremendous impact on Internet publishing. It seemed only logical to us that the Web, which was grounded in a limited form of generic markup (HTML), should extend that markup to embrace the richness we all enjoy in print. XML, though still an infant, promises to provide the basis for much better text processing than the Web has seen before. It will enable better typography, more specific searching, faster downloads and much more sophisticated data representations than HTML will ever provide. No single document architecture, no matter how rich or complex, can cover all of the possible types of documents people create. Only a standard and widely supported metalanguage - one that lets authors and publishers create tags and structures that reflect their documents - provides the flexibility that expression of written communication demands. Only such a metalanguage can support the continual refinements in document layout and processing that online publishing requires." See the full bibliographic entry for other information about the article coverage.

[January 09, 1998] "Streaming Media to Make You SMIL. Introducing the Synchronized Multimedia Integration Language." Multi-part feature article in Web Review January 9, 1998. Contributions include: (1) "Toward Synchronized Multimedia on the Web," by Philipp Hoschka; (2) "An Interview with the W3C's SMIL Guy, Philipp Hoschka," by D. C. Denison; (3) "Synchronized Media for the Web," by Kim Brown; (4) "SMIL Resources," by Jen Muehlbauer. See more about SMIL in the SMIL database entry.

[January 09 [14, 26], 1998] In The Seybold Report on Internet Publishing Issue 2/5, Seybold Publications nominated XML as "Achievement of the Year." See similarly: "The Seybold Editors' 1997 Awards. The products, technologies and companies impacting publishing. - XML." Published in: The Bulletin: Seybold News & Views on Electronic Publishing Volume 3, Numbers 13 & 14 (January 7, 1998), and similarly in The Seybold Report on Publishing Systems Volume 27 Number 9 (January 19, 1998) 49. The Seybold Editors, [after] "an exciting and innovative year in publishing, with many excellent products appearing in the market. . . winnowed [its] nominees down to a list of products and companies that have already made a notable impact, or are likely to have a substantial effect, on the future of publishing." Among those honored, according to the text published in The Seybold Report on Internet Publishing:

Achievement of the Year: XML. This past year, a working group within the W3C, brought together by the leadership of Jon Bosak of Sun Microsystems, created a simplified form of SGML called the Extensible Markup Language, or XML. With the initial XML specification complete and vendors lining up to support it, we salute the XML Working Group for creating a metalanguage that will enable text processing, searching and composition on the Web to rival that of other media. A year after our first positive assessment of XML, we reaffirm that this group is indeed taking Web markup where it needs to go, in the process creating a standard that will serve publishers of all types well into the future.

[January 09, 1998] "Microsoft Posts Piece Of XML Puzzle." By Richard Karpinski. In InternetWeek January 09, 1998. Posted 12:27 p.m. EST. "Microsoft has posted a preview version of an Extensible StyleSheet Language (XSL) processor, a key piece of the emerging XML architecture. With XSL, developers gain the ability to transform XML-encoded data into HTML pages via XML-aware style sheets. . . XSL processor technology will be included in the next official release of Internet Explorer, Microsoft said."