December 15, 1997
Will XML become the universal document format?
By Bob O'Donnell
Call me naive, but I hold out the hope that someday there will be some type of
universal file format that virtually anyone can read and edit, regardless of the platform
they're on and the applications they're using. Only then will we really start to leverage
the power of today's computing environments and begin to experience the impact of the
information revolution. Isn't that, after all, what the phenomenal impact of the Internet
and the World Wide Web is all about?
Back in the sobering reality of today's mixed platform, multiapplication environments,
file formats continue to limit how easily we can share information with everyone.
Certainly, HTML and the Web have gone a long way toward creating a world in which the
content of the file is more important than its format, but we've already begun to run into
the well-documented limitations of HTML. Certain types of documents and information just
can't be translated into the simple HTML format without losing some real value.
Fear not, though, faithful Web wanderers -- the answer to HTML's limitations has
already been found and anointed in the form of XML, the Extensible Markup Language. XML
extends the HTML standard by providing support for structured documents, which are
essentially documents that have some kind of logic built into them. This means that
instead of having to convert a document with an embedded chart or other active components
into a static HTML page where the chart is converted into a static picture, for example,
you could post an XML-enabled document complete with the ability to receive live updates
to that embedded chart or any other active component. (XML can do much more than this, but
that gives you the basic idea.)
At last week's Internet World show in New York, XML was apparently the buzz of the show
and several important announcements were made regarding its future. Based on those
announcements, it seems that XML can, in fact, play a critical role in the evolution
towards a completely universal file format.
First, the members of the World Wide Web consortium announced that they had reached
tentative agreement on the XML standard and virtually all the major players in Internet
software, including Netscape, Microsoft, IBM, and others reiterated their support for XML
in future iterations of their products.
Second, and equally important in my opinion, Microsoft announced that the next version
of Office for Windows (95, 98 and NT) will use HTML documents with XML extensions as their
primary file format, on par with the existing proprietary binary formats (which will
continue to be supported as well). As a result, Office users will be able to save their
files in this completely open HTML/XML format and then open their files in an Office
application and still be able to edit them without losing any functionality (such as pivot
tables in Excel spreadsheets, etc.). Even better, any other application can be made to
open and even edit those Office files (although the effort necessary to create an
application that can read in, display, and then edit those files is apparently quite
large).
As I argued in a previous column,
an open file format for the most common type of documents used in business today should
present an alluring opportunity for developers who want to tap into the success of
Microsoft Office.
If nothing else, Microsoft's strong support for XML virtually guarantees the new
standard's success and is bound to lead to an almost immediate acceptance of XML-enabled
documents. I, for one, am encouraged that the company took this step to improve the reach
and overall value of Office-created documents. I think it could be a critical first step
toward a world where file formats have virtually no meaning.
©
Copyright 1997, by InfoWorld Publishing Corp., a
subsidiary of IDG Communications, Inc. Reprinted from InfoWorld,
155 Bovet Road, San Mateo, CA 94402. Further reproduction is prohibited.
