xml-dev - RE: Joel on XML

["Bullard, Claude L (Len)" <clbullar@ingr.com>]

If you can find papers on the CALS CITIS 
(Contractor Integrated Information Services) 
you'll have the vision from the eighties 
(not the first or last) on the notion of 
net integrated businesses.  These were 
the ideas that started out as 
Computer-Aided Logistics Systems (a very 
doable thing), went on to Computer-aided 
Acquisition and Logistics System (doable 
but harder because procurement and lifecycle 
support were merged) then on to the grand 
but slightly absurd Commerce At Light Speed 
which preceded the frictionless economy metaphor.

It is great fun to watch how certain ideas 
hover on the lunatic fringe until advances 
in technology reinforce new competitive 
forces and finally a lunatic idea becomes 
revolutionary.  It is all evolution from 
fifty thousand feet.  From fifty feet, is 
hot competition and casualties. 

I haven't read Joel's article but have spent 
the last week reading a lot of the MS papers 
and the SCL document. .net will work.  What then?  

Len 

http://fly.hiwaay.net/~cbullard/lensongs.ram

Ashvil writes:

I sympathize with the people who wrote the whitepaper, it is a tough
job to explain these concepts. I would give Microsoft points for
trying. Hey it version 1.0 ;-) And their video demos do a better job
at explaining this to the non technical folks.

I raised a similar issue on the requirements and user expectations for
the Semantic Web sometime back and the response from Simon was the
closest one was Tim's book, 'Weaving the Web'. Tim BL also promised to
write a whitepaper on this.

I think we need more whitepapers on this vision (Semantic Web, .NET,
Next Generation Internet, ...) from different folks and companies.
Putting all of them together may let us see the elephant[1] and what
part XML plays in it.