Ricoh Silicon Valley (RSV) announced an open source release of its Platform for Information Applications (PIA), a framework for the development of flexible and dynamic information applications for small to medium-sized offices and workgroups. Designed specifically for light-weight, task-specific information applications, the PIA framework is distinguished by its ability to embed intelligence and action into collections of active pages without the need to learn a programming language. PIA will be available for download under the Ricoh Source Code Public License from www.RiSource.org, a site dedicated to providing open source support to developers of information applications for workgroups and small offices. PIA defines document-oriented information applications with its unique use of XML to specify processing. The PIA framework separates an application into a core processing engine (called an agency) and task specific modules (called agents) which consist primarily of simple web pages. The agency provides basic support for processing electronic documents — a key component for utilizing web-based information. In addition to basic http client and server functions, the engine can dynamically parse and transform structured documents. Operating as a server, proxy, or client, the agency flexibly routes request to the appropriate agent(s) and provides hooks for customization and enhancement at all levels of the processing.Agents provide the user interface and task-specific information processing (with the processing logic represented in XML)–making it easier to develop and maintain by non programmers. These pages may include special tags which are dynamically interpreted by the agency. Interface designers, graphical artists, or technical writers may develop the XML pages, and actual information design can be modified without code modification. www.ricoh.com