[ebxml-dev] Happy birthday, XML!

[Andrzej Jan Taramina <andrzej@chaeron.com>]

And on the occasion of XML's recent 5th birthday, the following quote is quite 
apropos to ebXML and other efforts (UBL, OAGIS, etc):

> The five years since XML was released have seen XML become the lingua
> franca of the Web. But this universal embrace has not always been
> accompanied by a clear understanding of what XML can and cannot do.

> What XML cannot do is to magically solve the problem of data
> interoperability. XML just provides a framework within which interested
> groups can work out agreements about the vocabularies and data
> structures to be used in a given domain. The widespread adoption of XML
> has created a wonderful infrastructure of standardized tools and
> products to support the creation and implementation of such agreements,
> but deep down, the job of semantic definition requires the same
> grinding committee work that standards groups have been engaged in for
> more than a century. 

> On the other hand, there is relatively little awareness of one big
> thing that XML can do: It can play an essential role in freeing users
> from the big-vendor hegemony that has ruled the computer industry for
> the last 50 years. The ability of user communities to develop their own
> data formats is a powerful force for freedom from vendor control. 
> 
> --Jon Bosak, Sun Microsystems 
> From "XML makes its mark":  http://news.com.com/2009-1001-983871.html?tag=fd_lede1_hed

Happy birthday, XML!

Andrzej Jan Taramina
Chaeron Corporation: Enterprise System Solutions
http://www.chaeron.com