+ Microsoft Joins Oasis Amid Worries Over XML Split
Microsoft Corp has now joined XML industry group Oasis, the
Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information
Standards - a move that could forestall a potential split in
XML caused by vendor specific schemas such as BizTalk. Oasis -
which changed its name earlier this year from the SGML Open
Consortium - counts IBM Corp, Oracle Corp and Sun Microsystems
Inc among its members.
Last week Microsoft and Oasis simultaneously set up new portal
sites - Biztalk.org and XML.org respectively - as "open
repositories" for Framework schemas. These, also known as DTD
Document Type Definitions, are designed to help organizations
integrate applications and exchange documents, and are likely
to be an important component of future e-commerce
implementations. While Microsoft's membership of Oasis doesn't
guarantee interoperability between DTDs, it is likely to result
in more consensus.
Other vendor-specific XML schemas include Ariba Corp's cXML and
Commerce One Inc's CBL, although both of these companies agreed
to become charter members of Microsoft's BizTalk committee,
along with Baan NV, JD Edwards & Co, Peoplesoft Inc and SAP AG.
Hewlett-Packard Co's E-speak, and currently unreleased future
technology from Oracle (CI No 3,674) could also add to the
potential confusion.