The Gilbane Report: Volume 10, Number 9

XML 2002 - More Than Just Another Show

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IDEAlliances annual XML Conference and Exposition is the best single event to attend to find out what is going on in the XML community. This year, Gilbane Report Contributor Sebastian Holst, who also happens to be on the Board of IDEAlliance, reports on the big news at XML 2002.

Sebastian argues that this years show was categorically different from past events for a couple of related reasons. First, the emphasis at the event was less on technology than on how XML was being applied. XML has become mainstream, and it is not only developers who need to get together and share experiences, tricks, and best practices. As a result, events covering XML also need to change to serve the needs of a broader community. This type of transition is not peculiar to XML. All technology conferences go through a similar life cycle and survive, or not, based partly on how well they manage this transition.

The second reason this years conference was different was the unveiling by Microsoft XML Architect Jean Paoli of Microsofts vision for XML and Office 11 to the toughest possible audience. The consensus is that it looks like Microsoft is truly bringing XML to Office in a way that could turn every Office user into an XML content creator. The implications are, of course, huge . Well be providing a detailed analysis of this development in a future issue.

XML 2002 More Than Just Another Show

This has been a dismal year for the organizers of tradeshows, symposia, seminars, conventions and every other flavor of professional gathering. Virtually all events have contracted by an average of 40% to 70%. Obviously, this is a direct consequence of the current economic climate in general and the technology sector in particular. For many, this kind of contraction marked the end. Still others have huddled together to hold off this long cold winter. Internet World, Streaming Media and many other historically massive shows now share venues, operations and expenses in order to survive.

The XML 2002 Conference and Exhibition concluded on Friday the 13th of December. In this writers view, the event marked a number of significant milestones for:

• the evolution of the XML family of standards,
• software development and adoption of XML-derived technologies
• the recovery of the conference industry
• and by extension, the recovery of the overall technology sector.

This report will not provide a Readers Digest report of last weeks conference. Rather, specific announcements, presentations and technologies will be highlighted to illustrate why this show was more than just another show.

The Relevance of Symposia on the Evolution of Technology

The rise and fall of symposia map quite naturally to the lifecycle of their subject matter. Figure 1. illustrates that the need for professionals to gather takes on two overlapping forms, the development of the standards/technology itself and the aggregation and evaluation of the best practices and techniques required to take technology from the incubator to Main Street. Once this has been achieved (ubiquity), the value of specialized symposia all but evaporates. A recent example is the emergence and ultimate assimilation of object oriented (OO) technology. OO methodology can be found everywhere. The concepts and applications are well understood and ubiquitous. Therefore, very few vendors tout their OO applications and there are no OO symposia to be found. The organizers successfully put themselves out of business.

So where does the XML community fit into this natural order of things?

Figure 1. The little man identifies where the XML community sits in relation to the evolution of XML from standard to ubiquitous technology.

XML is at a crossroads. As a metalanguage, it is generating languages at a breathtaking pace. However, this is as much a problem as it is a sign of early success. Consolidation, consensus and the validation of best practices are essential steps towards ubiquity. The XML conferences are therefore also at a crossroads they must evolve with the communities they serve or be left behind to be replaced by something else. The following is, I believe, strong evidence that IDEAlliance, the organizer of XML 2002, is in lock step with the communities it serves and is helping to lead the way towards the establishment of broad and credible XML-enhanced applications and their corresponding value propositions. (1.)

Presentations

The two opening keynotes were notable in that they each focused in their own way on how XML work is ultimately guided and evaluated by communities and institutions that are steeped in their own history and behaviors and who are, in fact, uninterested in XML.

Bob Haycock, Manager for the Office of Management and Budget's Federal Enterprise Architecture Initiative, took the audience through a crash course in e-government and a federal architecture whose criteria for success is measured solely on service to the customer, reduction in cost and the strengthening the trust between citizen and government. Regardless of your political views, one has to marvel at the scope and ambition of this charter. Less than 1/3 of Haycocks presentation was dedicated to XML-centered material.

Pamela Samuelson, University of California, Berkeley, provided a number of perspectives on copyright law, intellectual property and the forces that are gathering on all sides of this complex and nuanced issue. She started with the US Constitution and worked her way forward leaving the audience with a strong sense of how much is at stake for big business, government and last, but not least, the creative minds that have catapulted America to where it is today in the arts, sciences and entrepreneurial worlds. If XML is to get a stronghold in this battle of the titans, it has to serve all of these often-competing interests. While the presentation was admittedly US-centric, Samuelson was quick to point out that these issues are being wrestled with on a global stage.

The opening keynote concluded with the presentation of the XML Cup, an award signifying outstanding contribution to the formulation and adoption of XML standards, to John Bosak and Tim Bray. What was notable here was the clearly nostalgic slant to both their selection (their early work in the formulation of the XML standard was cited as their qualifying contribution) and the sentiment expressed in accepting the award (thanking family, employers and peers).

The takeaway message for this audience member was that while standard work continues at a feverish pace, the hot and notable work has moved from standards specification to implementation and adoption. Again, given where the XML community is headed, this right on point.

The reader should not be left with the impression that after this opening keynote, the rest of the sessions were called in. There were five full days of multiple tracks filled with a mix of refresher and introductory material as well as a strong agenda of advanced topics including topic maps, XSLT and a variety of industry and application-specific XML protocols.

For a complete list of the sessions, visit http://www.xmlconference.org/xmlusa/ . The presentations can be purchased on CD by sending email to dkunkel@idealliance.org . The cost is $195 US ($95 US for IDEAlliance members.)

Product Announcements

There was one major announcement that promised to change the face of XML forever. The announcement, presentation and demonstration of Microsofts XML Vision for Office 11 gave the first glimpse of a truly universal set of tools destined to hit the many millions of desktops Microsoft serves. This product suite and the implications it holds for users, traditional XML-centric vendors and the body of XML content will be covered in a follow-up Gilbane Report . However, it is safe to say that the Microsoft team, led by Jean Paoli, Microsoft XML architect, introduced an impressive revamp of the Office tools we know and (mostly) love that demonstrated

• true native support for arbitrary XML schemas, transformers, etc.
• the ease of use one expects from Word, Excel, Visio, etc.
• the commitment to transform virtually all MS Office content into native XML content with little more than an incremental ripple in the end users learning curve.

Every vendor surveyed for this report wisely positioned this announcement as complimentary to their own strategy and ultimately good for the entire XML vendor community as the rising tide should lift all boats. What else could they say? Well, one software veteran noted that all beta software seems too good to be true and that in the end, there are always significant omissions or defects that

leave the door open for competitors to establish their niche. The anonymous vendor is absolutely correct, but I am not sure how much solace that is to the WordPerfect developers and the other vendors that counted on this as a long-term strategy against Microsoft.

Exhibitors

Microsoft was positioned at the center of the floor with all of the (remaining) traditional XML vendors positioned around this emergent hub. The exhibition space was the least exciting, but there were certainly noteworthy products on display. Looking forward, topic map enabling software showed continued maturation as demonstrated by Ontopia. Cleaner integration with traditional publishing tools and legacy Quark content was demonstrated by PCI. ArborText and Corel demonstrated their respective XML authoring and publishing tools with increased awareness of their respective value to the markets they serve.

However, two exhibitors were noteworthy in that they came from outside the existing XML community with technology that appeared to be both sophisticated and solution-oriented.

Medicos

(www.medicalwindows.com) was featured in the incubator section of the exhibition space. Visitors to their tabletop stand were treated to a demonstration by an M.D. Medical doctors are well known for their aversion to adopting new technology into their practice, so the notion of actually having doctors specify, promote and demonstrate point of service and publishing technology was a unique experience.

Kwaresoft

(www.kware21.com) is a Korean company that claims to have developed one of the most comprehensive XML platforms available that includes legacy data conversion, content management, transformations and cross-platform delivery (from MSWord to IETM (Interactive Electronic Technical Manuals), level 5) and they have over 100 customers who will back up their claims. Their remote location (from a US-centric perspective) and their current lack of a distribution channel in the US and Europe not withstanding, Kwaresoft is a successful XML solutions provider that has been entirely invisible to the analyst and press of the Western world. How many more of these potential powerhouses are there?

The impact of economic cycles on technology-based symposia

IDEAlliance and the XML Conference and Exposition series appears to be successfully leading their constituency across the chasm between technology development and technology adoption. Of course, it is not as simple as that. The economic contraction and the resulting IT cutbacks, as indicated at the top of this report, have had a dramatic compounding effect. Figure 2. illustrates how IT investments follow economic cycles and the resulting impact of show, exposition and conference activity.

Figure 2. The little man shows where the XML community sits in relation to the current economic cycle, IT spending priorities and show market segment lifecycle.

Attendance was up 50% from last years numbers and, not coincidentally, roughly 40% of this years attendees identified themselves as first timers. This can be interpreted to mean that the XML Conference leveled out its core audience and is beginning to attract significant numbers of new attendees that are looking for direction on how to deploy XML-influenced technologies, rather than to debate the finer points of query language or formatting semantics (of course, the core audience remains passionate about these things).

Conclusions

While this show will never look like a Comdex or NAB, it is likely to see continued growth over the next few years. This assumes that the event can continue to offer valuable insight into both the evolution of the XML family of standards and the best practices to justify our continued interest.

The obvious affection that the pioneers of SGML and XML have for this show combined with the current organizers focus on best practices and adoption are likely to attract new audiences interested in solving their organizations problems and we know that this is a well that will never run dry.

See you next year!

Sebastian Holst
Sebastian@gilbane.com

(1.) Disclosure: Sebastian is on the Board of Directors of IDEAlliance.