Microsoft's David Turner said that HTML and HTTP were the
most successful efforts in the industry due largely to their
simplicity. He drew the following comparision:
HTML
XML
presentation
programming
Web pages
Web services
browse the Web
program the Web
He explained Microsoft's view of XML in terms of three major
types of applications:
as a database row set; data remoting, data binding
for complex data; perhaps relational databases;
collection of objects that relate to each other
as a messaging wrapper (transport layer)
Turner spoke about BizTalk,
which is essentially a design framework for implementing
XML Schema, and a set of XML elements used to pass messages
between applications. BizTalk also includes access to
approximately 100 schemas, according to Turner,
although I have been unable to locate a complete list of
these schemas on the
BizTalk Web site.
The benefits of BizTalk
include a roadmap for e-Business, a schemas repository, and
a mapping across schemas.
For an overview of BizTalk, see
BizTalk on Microsoft's Web site.
Several of the BizTalk links below require first establishing
a free account.
Turner also discussed
Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP)
"provides an open, extensible way for applications to
communicate using XML-based messages over the Web, regardless
of what operating system, object model, or language they use.
We provide an overview and the specification."
Turner likened SOAP to
XML-RPC
(remote procedure calls), as a transparent layer that
facilitates inter-application communication via XML messaging.
Another BizTalk presentation was given by Joseph Futty of Microsoft.
