"The Future of XML" (is the Web)

Everyone,

Elliotte Rusty Harold recently published an article at IBM's web site
discussing the future of XML:

   http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/library/x-xml2008prevw.html?ca=dgr-lnxw01XML-Future

The relevance of this article to e-books and text digitization is
strongly implied in the article introduction:

   "The wheels of progress turn slowly, but turn they do. The crystal
   ball might be a little hazy, but the outline of XML's future is
   becoming clear. The exact time line is a tad uncertain, but where
   XML is going isn't. XML's future lies with the Web, and more
   specifically with Web publishing. 

   "It seems a little funny to have to say that. After all, isn't
   publishing what the Web is about? The Web was designed first and
   foremost as a mechanism to publish information. What else can it
   do? Quite a lot. The last three years have seen an explosion of
   interest in Web applications that go far beyond traditional Web
   sites. Word processors, spreadsheets, games, diagramming tools, and
   more are all migrating into the browser. This trend will only
   accelerate in the coming year as local storage in Web browsers
   makes it increasingly possible to work offline. But XML is still
   firmly grounded in Web 1.0 publishing, and that's still very
   important."

I've essentially come to this conclusion as well with respect to
published content such as e-books, and join others who have concluded
this already, such as Bill Janssen.

In addition, Elliotte's comment about the web browser as being the
medium of both content creation and rendering is especially
interesting -- of course this is a "Web 2.0" vision.

We'll see where this goes. But clearly XML is NOW the core of nearly
all commercial-grade publishing solutions, so XML has a very bright
future.

Jon Noring




------------------------------------------------------
Post a message:   ebook-community [[at]] *
Unsubscribe:      ebook-community-unsubscribe [[at]] *
Switch to digest: ebook-community-digest [[at]] *
Switch to normal: ebook-community-normal [[at]] *
Put mail on hold: ebook-community-nomail [[at]] *
Administrator:    ebook-community-owner [[at]] *

(* == yahoogroups.com)
------------------------------------------------------- 
Yahoo! Groups Links

<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
    http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ebook-community/

<*> Your email settings:
    Individual Email | Traditional

<*> To change settings online go to:
    http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ebook-community/join
    (Yahoo! ID required)

<*> To change settings via email:
    mailto:[email protected] 
    mailto:ebook-community-fullfeatured-hHKSG33TihhbjbujkaE4pw@public.gmane.org

<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
    ebook-community-unsubscribe-hHKSG33TihhbjbujkaE4pw@public.gmane.org

<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
    http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/