Title: RFA Custom
I think one of the primary areas that still needs to be settled on the XML side is the issue of a schema definition language.  Until XSD becomes formally adopted, there is no standard for data type definition, one of the critical aspects of any B2B site. Instead, we develop all of these ad hoc solutions that will just fragment the existing set of work.
 
Secondarily, I think that you need to see a little more maturation on the part of XSLT developers. I see XSLT as an integral part of any solution, but currently the number of people that "grok" this way of thinking is still relatively small. That'll change -- we're kind of at the point right now where we were with C++ in the early days of OOP, where there was a lot of interest but the methodologies were still strongly driven by older structural programming paradigms.
 
Finally, I think that it is important for the discussion to realize that X12 can be subsumed into the XML space, rather than XML being a replacement technology, and that the principle advantage to XML is that it is an OPEN data standard. This isn't a technological issue, but rather a political one, and as such doesn't necessarily lend itself to being solved with finality.
 
-- Kurt
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Sunday, July 30, 2000 10:33 AM
Subject: The Value and Use of XML

Now that we've gotten all of the VAN bashing and toilet-bowl humor and comments out of the way for a while (well, we did need a bit of comic relief, didn't we!) I would like to see the discussion on this list move away from X12 vs XML (or EDI vs XML) and VAN bashing to where can XML play a role, how can it do that, and of course, what's required for XML to deliver on all of the expectations. As I've said, XML still has a lot of maturing to do in order to be fully functional and robust for industrial prime-time use. These are the issues that we could be focusing on.
 
Rachel
 
Rachel Foerster
Principal
Rachel Foerster & Associates
Professionals in EDI & Electronic Commerce
39432 North Avenue
Beach Park, IL 60099-3602
Voice: 847-872-8070
Fax: 847-872-6860
http://www.rfa-edi.com
 

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