RE: [xml-dev] XML for Video, Pizza Shops & TakeOut

[Matthew Gertner <matthew.gertner@schemantix.com>]

Come on, guys. We should avoid being sucked into the self-fulfilling hype
machine created by the media. Like most good conspiracies this is the result
of group dynamics and not a consciously devised plot, but the effect is
equally pernicious. The media, in need of a good story, latch onto the
latest greatest technology and hype it to the moon: "XML is going to slice
bread, put men on the moon *and* keep you company on a Saturday night." This
has the synergistic effect of providing these same media outfits with a
brand new story 6-12 months later when the hype inevitably proves
unjustified: "Can you believe this, a year has passed and I still spend my
Saturday nights watching Friends reruns, with XML nowhere to be seen." This
phenomenon has been well articulated by Gartner Group as Technology Hype
Curve.

This stuff *always* takes far longer than we initially anticipate. Pizza
shops and video stores will definitely be supporting XML-based interfaces at
some point, since this will let them plug into broader e-business
infrastructure, reducing overhead and improving access to customers. This is
good news for me, at least, since I hate watching videos on an empty
stomach. XML enabling these outfits will let application developers put
together one-stop shops for any arbitrary combination of goods and services,
so I can get my video and pizza delivered to my door just by selecting
"Comedy" in one dropdown list and "Double Anchovy" in another.

Do expect this to take a while. Early adopters of XML interfaces for
e-business aren't likely to create interfaces for consumers, since the
infrastructure, applications and tools aren't here yet. Expect businesses to
first XML enable their interactions with their existing trading partners,
improving on and extending EDI. Eventually this will be extended to some
early consumer-facing applications (e.g. so when I order my car on the
Internet, someone in Malaysia starts tooling the necessary lug nuts).
Finally it will reach critical mass and we'll have an explosion of XML
interfaces, just as we had for websites a few years ago, and even your
corner grocer will have one. My guess is that this will start taking off in
five years or so.

It's a bit early to call XML a failure just yet...

Matt

> -----Original Message-----
> From: David Lyon [mailto:david@globaltradedesk.com]
> Sent: Wednesday, October 17, 2001 8:28 AM
> To: mrc@allette.com.au
> Cc: xml-dev@lists.xml.org
> Subject: Re: [xml-dev] XML for Video, Pizza Shops & TakeOut
> 
> 
> 
> Marcus,
> 
> > What would you have it do in those places? If you can identify an
> > economically viable requirement for those markets, you 
> might be on to
> > something. 
> 
> Cool stuff Marcus. Like a Linux console in my car that 
> notifies me when the 
> pizza is cooked or my video is ready. (GPS car devices are 
> selling in record 
> numbers in the U.S. presently) Why not a pizza xml link for them.
> 
> So far we're no closer to this than we were ten years ago, 
> probably further 
> away actually. We have the hardware that can do this but no 
> software. It's 
> deplorable.
> 
> > Where's the dough in a pizza shop?
> 
> There's money in Techno gizmos. Problem is now there's so few 
> cool xml gizmos 
> as far as I'm aware. Gizmos have been the only growth area in 
> PC hardware 
> sales for the last 2 or so years. People love them gizmos.
> 
> It seems that the old policy of locking programmers in rooms 
> to code has 
> resulted in a world where there are so few cool gizmos being 
> developed 
> anymore. It's such a shame.
> 
> But I may well be wrong. I still reckon there are plenty of 
> cool xml gizmos 
> to make but so few people to make them.
> 
> David
> 
> On Wednesday 17 October 2001 14:15, Marcus Carr wrote:
> > David Lyon wrote:
> > > Yet, still, my local Video store can't handle XML yet. 
> Nor can the Pizza
> > > shop or other take-out places.
> >
> > What would you have it do in those places? If you can identify an
> > economically viable requirement for those markets, you 
> might be on to
> > something. The video store itself probably won't even see 
> out the decade,
> > so I doubt if anyone's going to put much effort into 
> ramping up that model.
> > For the other two, the phone is probably more efficient 
> overall for taking
> > orders and they might use a database for reordering if they 
> belong to a
> > chain. Beyond that, you'd be looking to do something pretty 
> specialised.
> > Where's the dough in a pizza shop?
> >
> > > So my question is where is XML going ?
> >
> > Everywhere I look...:-)
> >
> >
> > --
> > Regards,
> >
> > Marcus Carr                      email:  mrc@allette.com.au
> > ___________________________________________________________________
> > Allette Systems (Australia)      www:    http://www.allette.com.au
> > ___________________________________________________________________
> > "Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler."
> >        - Einstein
> 
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