What's missing?
According to Hubbub's Janson, the task of integrating existing systems with trading partners using XML is hampered by the absence of three elements. The first is a low-cost, easy to use message broker technology; the second is the lack of awareness of ebXML, and the third is a local schema repository (as planned by Tradegate).
Kanbay's Boyle points to inadequate XML support in current browsers. Currently, browser-based XML applications must be kept simple, but he predicts that in a couple of browser generations we'll see cross-platform applications delivered in XML, "but it's a way to go before it's a huge hit."
Rapid change is a feature of IT, but Monash's Hurst thinks some "considered reflection" would help the XML arena. The problem is that "you get saddled with the wrong decisions for so long," he says, pointing to the way that the DTD specification has become "a millstone". Hurst's prediction should strike a chord with IT veterans: "A lot of different approaches [are] emerging. Eventually it will bed down to one...but not necessarily the best."
Gleb Gorov, managing director of IT consulting firm Glot, took up this point, suggesting there's no point in a developer explaining to a large corporate client that it will use the best available XML parser to build a proposed system unless it happens to come from a big name such as Microsoft or IBM. He's not suggesting either company is incapable of producing an industry-leading product, only that many companies are very brand-sensitive.
Perhaps there is still work to be done, but there's so much momentum behind XML that it seems destined to become one of the near-universal information technologies.
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