Has XML started to prove its worth?
One company is using eXtensible Markup Language (XML) in its intranet software to allow users to publish documents on the Web with a single click on Save. Another company employs XML as the basis for a "real name system," eliminating lengthy URLs that complicate Web navigation.
XML, a subset of the long-established Standard Generalized Markup Language, provides a standard for formatting Web data, be it a document, record, object, link or user interface. Taking the Hypertext Markup Language (HTML), which is used to determine presentation on the Web, a step further, XML is underlying information that further describes HTML data.
"Isn't it simple?" asked DataChannel, Inc. CEO David Pool during a demonstration of DataChannel's Rio 3.0 at Spring Internet World 98 last week. The beta of Rio 3.0, which distributes content across an intranet or extranet, makes use of a technology called "Save to the Web." The technology allows users to publish any document, regardless of application, to the corporate intranet. Rio also notifies other users of additions made to the intranet.
According to Pool, the biggest obstacle of intranet development is what he calls the "Webmaster bottleneck." He said if saving active content to the intranet is not widespread and simple, users will not keep the intranet up-to-date and use it to its potential.
DataChannel is relatively new to XML development. The Bellevue, Wash.-based company was not even a blip on the radar screen at December's Internet World in New York. Microsoft Corp. had championed the likes of POET Software, ArborText, Inc. and Inso Corp. as its primary XML partners. As the industry prepares for the XML Conference 1998 to be held March 23-27 in Seattle, it is not ArborText or POET sharing the bill with Microsoft, but DataChannel.
Rio will be available for distribution next month.
Grand Centraal station
Keith Teare, president of Centraal Corp., said his company's system of using familiar language and recognizable words instead of lengthy URLs as locators for Web sites, is so simple it is "insulting."The establishment of a new domain system would be based in distributed XML technology. A simple word would be armed with the appropriate meta tags that would direct the browser to the correct site. In addition, other attributes, such as the owner, location and language of the site could be attached to the simpler name.
Teare said Jerry Yang, co-founder of Yahoo! Inc. recognized this dilemma years ago and began to popularize the search engine. But Centraal is trying to build the search functionality directly into the address protocol. "The addressing system itself needs to be smarter," he said.
Another major concern with lengthy URLs is that they are not beneficial for voice recognition, which Teare claims will be a significant technology of the future. The simpler real names would be easier to decipher by voice recognition software.
Centraal is not looking to replace Internet service providers and domain name registries. "Centraal Corp. is not a Web site," Teare said. "We want to work 100% through third-party vendors to empower their site." Centraal will dismantle its registry at the expiration of the trial round.
