I am happy to react to one of the first and most relevant comments on the topics I've discussed on this blog so far. Here's the comment I got this morning:
I am waiting patiently to see what comes next after xml/rss. Looks like life has always been that way. Things come, they become hip and in no time folks forget about them.
I remember when back in the days e-cards became the craze. Then flash animations took over the web arena. Some few 'centuries' later we started seeing "email this to a friend" and "printable format" links all over the web. Just taking a turn off the web, mobile phones with cameras took over the human race:>). Should I say blogging was or is...?
Then came these tiny orange icons. RSS. Its interesting the kind of things it allows us to do.
What do u think could be the next big 'data' thing after XML/RSS?
Well, I find it interesting that XML is being considered as something "hip", reading to disappear anytime from now. Here's my reply (I wouldn't usually do this, but this is particularly interesting):
"Well as you said, things come and go. But there are things that are bound to stay. XML is not just a "print box" or "email to a friend". XML is a core technology. Not only used on the web, but also used to build many and various other technologies. There are a certain number of things that wouldn't have been without XML. Think about it this way, say XML will disappear is almost like saying "data" would stop being transported and platform independant (forget about the web here). We are talking about software interoperability. The software that you use to build websites and web-applications (Dreamweaver MX) heavily uses XML for its functionning and so do Microsoft Office tools, and so on. Hence XML is used in B2B and B2C and EDI realms. So no, XML isn't just something like "come-make'em happy-disappear". And finally, when you think about it, "print and send email" boxes were not based on any standard or no one actually spent hours and years building them. I do not think that an organization as important as the W3C would spend such an enormous amount of time and resources building a standard that is a "joke". And I definitely do not think that Corporations such as Sun Microsystems, Apple, Microsoft, IBM would waste their resources either working on it.
Think about it."
MUCH LATER AS WE REACH SOME KIND OF AGREEMENT after his comment on my repost:
Nirvana: let me ask u a question?
RevBlont: ask
Nirvana: b4 xml, could u gather data from MS Outlook and make that data available to other platforms easily?
RevBlont: thats not the issue... listen .. my bottom line is this
RevBlont: xml is not the last we are seeing
Nirvana: i know
Nirvana: but at the same time it's not the "printbox" thingy
Nirvana: that u have to understand
Nirvana: it's a core technology
RevBlont: i didnt say it was... what i am saying is... it CAN disappear
RevBlont: even as a core techology
RevBlont: if another BETTER core tech comes along
Nirvana: but at the same time it's not gonna disappear before the next 15 or 20 years
Nirvana: just as SGML on which HTML, XML and any other markup we use is based on
RevBlont: yes but it will
Nirvana: good
Nirvana: I am going back there for a final repost
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- How was data transported in the absence of XML?
ReplyDelete- How were layouts done in the absence of CSS?
- How did those old guys use to program in the absence of OOP?
We have always had ways of doing things. As we get older, we get wiser. We develop new technologies to make life easier. Big companies have no choice than to move with the tide. With the emergence of a technology, we are made to believe its the best 'man' has ever come up with. We were made to believe the gameboy was the best thing we could have as kids. How come we have now ended up with games like xbox, sony ps and the like. We have grown older and wiser.
Big companies have no choice than to invest time and money in what seems to be the "technology of the moment".
Why do they keep giving us new versions of software each time? They are making new discoveries each time.
Same way they can discover a techology better than XML. Fact that company 'A' has invested billions in the tech doesnt mean life stops there.
RevBlont
My BOTTOM line is this. Even if XML sticks around for 15 to 20 years (like u said..:>)), there is a possibility of its disappearance. Just that it might disappear at a time you/I have maybe retired from coding.
ReplyDeleteThose who started this whole computer biz were retired (maybe) when the whole world was shaken by the possible dangers the Y2K bug might cause. It all had to do with something they forgot to do right with dates. Could be the same with XML. MAYBE, they forgot to get something right in the core of this core technology.
Before the PC (windows to be precise), the most common even if not too common in the home was the mac. People/companies spent loads of money and time to develop consumer applications just for that OS. Windows came along, started gaining popularity, the masses were loving it, the market base for some companies began to move from the mac to windows. Did companies sit and watch just because they had devoted too much time/money on previous mac OS apps?
"If you can't change them you join them" is a popular adage in this part of my world. Thats just what any "sensible" company will do with the emergence of a new 'supposed' best technology.
Think about it. Some of us had to port applications from ASP to ASP.net. Why? They presented a good case, we were convinced we had to port and port we did.
First it was wireless B, then wireless G. Is it the other way round! :>) Who knows how many of the alphabets we'd scan through before we are told the world must do away with wireless altogether. (could happen.. samsung will soon shake mobile fons to delete unsolicited txt messages). There is no limit to the technology man is thinking up.
I am still waiting patiently for the next big thing after XML(and its associated technologies)...
RevBlonte