Re: [xml-dev] 2007 Predictions

[Rick Jelliffe <rjelliffe@allette.com.au>]

Elliotte Harold wrote:
> What do people think is going to happen in 2007 in XML? What are we 
> going to talk about for the next 12 months? Which new technologies are 
> going to birth industries? Which ones are going to flop? What are your 
> predictions?
Criswell predicts! (See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Amazing_Criswell)

Here are five predictions: they are not tsunamis but more like the slow 
but inexorable sea-level changes from global warming.

*>  I think 2007 will see  XPath-based type-binding systems becoming a 
common part of the furniture. It uses an existing, standard technology 
and is modest and targeted in its goals: good signs for viral, 
grassroots acceptability.

Examples of systems that do this include XForms, MicroSoft's OOXML, and 
we are looking at adding it to ISO Schematron too. Crystal-balling, by 
end of 2007, I wouldn't be surprised if a tool to present the equivalent 
XPath to locate an XSD particle came out; this would allow people who 
define their systems using a grammar to implement type-aware solutions 
using XPath technology rather than PSVI (grammar-checked) technology. 
Whether this ultimately leads to the marginalization of XSD Structures 
or re-invigorates it, who knows?

*> 2007 will also see more awareness by software architects for the 
need/usefulness/wisdom of content inspection by business firewalls. They 
will start to put these firewalls in as a standard part of the design 
rather than as an add-on. Especially as more AJAX or XForms transactions 
allows consortium- or association-defined documents, not 
backend-to-backend but agent-to-broker, broker-to-supplier, and even 
agent-to-supplier transactions.

Systems will be architected so that each class of client, broker and 
supplier has a custom business-rules checking stage. (The Lloyd's London 
Markets is a good example of this.)

*> Independently, but with the same effect, there will be an increase in 
interest in XML Governance from upper management: they will increasingly 
want lower management to be able to prove with metrics and standard 
procedures that adequate QA and QC systems are in place.

This will be a maturity issue: fresh and chaotic and growing companies 
will not adopt it as much as organizations with established markets, 
expertise and operations.  

*> My ISO Schematron (now out in pre-beta) will be finally completed 
this month, and that will allow more government and consortia to roll 
out Schematron-based solutions and standards in 2007. I expect to see 
more Schematron-based pilot projects.

*> I expect more governments as well as organizations with archiving 
requirements will ban binary and non-ISO-standard formats: a hierarchy 
of ISO HTML (really W3C XHTML), ISO ODF, ISO OOXML and ISO PDF will be 
established by order of preference/interoperability/fidelity.  So 
archiving organizations would start accepting OOXML and updating their 
old binary files to OOXML, while inter-office documents and tenders will 
be required to use ODF, for example.

Cheers
Rick Jelliffe