http://news.com.com/2010-7345-5121763.html
XML was originally intended to be the universal language for Web pages and Web-enabled applications, but its advent collided with the big bubble bust. Despite promises that it would become a standard for applications interchange [as, for example, made much of by Microsoft in its plans for OFFICE], it is Not There Yet. But as this article indicates, support for XML standards is growing, and it looks like the long-delayed maturation of this technology is at hand.
One thing which networking folk should regard in all of this [and indeed, originally this was front-and-center when Server 2003 was known as Server.NET] is that the sort of programming which XML represents is going to become essential for network operation as well. For those networkers working in a *NIX environment, and for Windows [and other OS] administrators who do scripting, this will not come as much of a shock, but for those, especially in smaller installations, who think of programming as a separate and arcane black art, the development of XML is indeed protentious, because, I think, it blurs the boundaries between programming and network administration.
This is no small thing.
Posted by jho at December 22, 2003 07:43 AM