It Starts with Standards: Laying Groundwork for the Next Generation of Innovation

Microsoft

1/01/2005
(Original Publish Date: 3/5/2002)

In the high-tech world, a couple of years can be a lifetime. Consider XML. Known only as a promising new Web programming language just a couple of years ago, eXtensible Markup Language is now rapidly maturing to the point where it's living up to its potential. Interoperability across systems, applications and programming languages isn't just possible, it's becoming pervasive. When it comes to technology, if there are two ways of doing something, there's a good chance one company will do it one way and another will do it the other way. And while both may be technically correct, those tools will never work together. On the road to true interoperability, these factors pose a problem. Fortunately for the high-tech industry, companies have by and large focused on cooperating in pursuit of standards and specifications that seek to define a common method for handling everyday computing, networking, information-sharing and connectivity issues