I also want to affirm what Steve and Rachel have said. Many people have
touted XML as the next wonder drug for
E-Commerce. IMO, XML is a fine solution for representing data and meta data
combined, but it's far from
a wonder drug, for all the reasons cited by Steve.
You don't have to use XML to be successful with E-Commerce!
It's quite easy to see E-Commerce success stories all around us today. For
example, DISA awarded Enron and EC Power the E-Business Enterprise Award for
their great E-Commerce success story.
Enron has done over $183 Billion dollars in E-Commerce ref:
http://www.computerworld.com/cwi/story/0,1199,NAV47_STO54149,00.html
Enron was one of the earliest adopters of the GISB (http://www.gisb.org)
standard, an Internet B2B standard for securely and reliably transporting
X12 or any other type of "payload". "We like to say we were B2B before there
was B2B," says Enron president Jeff Skilling. According to some reports,
Enron has experienced a 900% increase in E-Commerce Transaction volume since
1997. Enron is a great E-Commerce success story. In fact, the entire Energy
industry is experiencing great success with E-Commerce. The Electric
Companies in Pennsylvania are another great success story. There are over 1
million transactions exchanged each month by Electric Companies in
Pennsylvania and their trading partners, using the same GISB Internet B2B
standard that Enron uses.
The GISB standard is one of the foundation specifications within the IETF
EDIINT AS2 specification. The AS2 specification is one of the foundation
specifications used by ebXML's Transport Routing and Packaging team in
developing the ebXML Message Service Specification. Every effort has been
made to ensure that a smooth migration path existed from the GISB B2B
standard to ebXML's Message Service standard so that today's GISB
implementers could, if necessary, transition to ebXML in the future.
Success stories, such as Enron's and the Electric Industry in Pennsylvania,
are living proof that one doesn't have to use XML to reap the benefits of
E-Commerce. The key, IMO, is for companies to leverage the communication
medium of the Internet as a "pathway" between each trading partners
application systems so that automated
transaction processing can occur as efficiently, and timely as possible. In
order to accomplish this we need a standard, secure, reliable communication
mechanism (which we have today in the Energy industry) and standard data
representation, both syntax and semantics, which we also have today in the
Energy industry - thanks to UIG (http://www.uig.org) and GISB. This is why I
believe the Energy industry is experiencing such great success with
E-Commerce.
Dick Brooks
http://www.8760.com/
-----Original Message-----
From: Rachel Foerster [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
Sent: Thursday, March 15, 2001 9:58 PM
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: RE: Why 90 percent of XML standards will fail
Steve,
Bravo, bravo, bravo! Very clearly and eloquently stated. I was with a client
yesterday and tried to articulate these same concepts, but not nearly as
well as you stated below. The client just doesn't want to hear
it...specifically the client representing the business side of the
enterprise, while the IT guys got it immediately!
Rachel
-----Original Message-----
From: Steve L. Bollinger [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
Sent: Thursday, March 15, 2001 2:17 PM
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: RE: Why 90 percent of XML standards will fail
At 02:20 PM 3/2/2001 +0000, Francis Cave wrote:
>What Steve and many others fail to make clear (I'm not suggesting that they
>don't actually understand it, as I presume they wouldn't be writing about
>XML at all if they didn't) is that what they are talking about is NOT XML
>ITSELF, but is a particular set of standardization activities that are
using
>XML as a technological building block.
Yes, Francis, you are absolutely correct. XML itself is a very useful
technology. It's usage on web pages makes the web much more searchable. It
gives us a smarter internet. There are many other fine uses.
My criticisms are based on the false promises regarding what XML is
supposedly going to do for the electronic exchange of Business Objects
between companies. I do consider the work that ebXML and UDDL are doing is
excellent and on track and will be vitally useful as standards defining
technical and business protocols for the exchange of such objects over the
internet. I foresee this as an emerging standard that can be supported
world-wide because it deals with an area that can be universal i.e. the
transport of electronic messages.
It is what is inside the package that is sent that is the problem with
"standards" because it can't be universal. This piece inside is the
payload, aka business object, aka transaction. Whether this payload is in
XML, X12, EDIFACT, etc., there are business issues forcing the
diversification of the business object standards and these are not at all
solved with XML nor can they be. What X12 and EDIFACT failed to solve in
this regard, XML is already failing to in an even bigger way. I am already
seeing this in XML/EDI projects that I am personally aware of.
It is a very difficult thing to come to understand why standard business
objects that can be universally accepted are so impossible to form, but it
is true. I spent years believing the EDI hype that it could be done. It
took me years of EDI work to finally come to the understanding of why it
isn't done nor will it be done any time soon.
So I know how difficult it is for some people to come to that
understanding. It really seems like we should be able to have such
universal business object standards. The truth is that as long as we have
competition, there will be diverse standards because of the need to one up
the competition. You can say, wait a minute Steve, in X12 we have a
standard 850 Purchase Order. Oh, do we? There are so many "optional"
segments and elements that different Trading Partners agree they must use
in varying combinations, we are back in the non-standard soup
again. RosettaNet tried to "solve" this by making most of their fields
mandantory. Then when partners had no use for a field they put in "XXXXXX"
just to fill it. What a mess.
You see, XML, X12 and EDIFACT are not tools that could fix this. It is
like doing mechanic work on a car using a toothbrush. You see, wrong
tool. When you are fighting cavities a toothbrush is a wonderful tool. We
all need to clearly see the real problem and then select the right tools.
(P.S. don't forget to floss! :))
False promises eventually cause a loss of consumer confidence which is what
the Nasdaq is now reflecting. IT is losing favor with Business for the
very reason of false promises. And false promises about XML/EDI is a part
of that confidence drop. That means you and I and the rest of IT share a
responsibility for this.
We in IT need to tell our customers (i.e. the companies that we are
employed by or contract to) the truth. Instead we too easily jump up and
down about the next cool thing and get our companies involved because we
want to put this cool new stuff whatever it is on our resumes. Instead we
need to keep in mind the ROI of the company. That company is paying your
salary or contract. You need to ensure that there really is a long term
payback for them. Then they can afford to keep paying you. (This is how
money works, in case you weren't sure).
So if you are looking for someone to blame why you stock options have all
gone to hell, don't forget to peek in the mirror.
Regards,
Steve Bollinger
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