Microsoft gets in
Microsoft has adopted XML in a big way. According to Peter Moore, director for .NET strategies and development, "many different development teams within Microsoft started to realise the value of XML while they were starting to develop the next generation of Microsoft products some years ago.
It was all of a sudden realised that there was a whole lot of common work going on around using XML as a standard for integration and open connectivity [and] that raised the attention of people like Bill Gates." This realisation led to Microsoft's .NET platform for XML Web services. Like other Web services initiatives, .NET is about computers exchanging information via the Web rather than simply receiving and presenting information to a human user.
One of the more pressing reasons for using XML is that one of your partners or prospective partners is already using it and wants or requires you to fall in line. If you are already using EDI, you'll probably continue using it with established partners, but generally speaking its use is confined to larger businesses.
"While the value of EDI was recognised as a set of standards that allowed applications to talk to one another, the limited availability and high cost of EDI and the private network charges, meant that it really didn't take off.
The ubiquity of the Internet came along and people started to think 'Wow, we could use the Internet,'" says Microsoft's Moore.
