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Technology Stocks : How high will Microsoft fly? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: ThomasG who wrote (52447)	10/31/2000 3:08:05 AM
From: dybdahl	Respond to of 74651

Thomas, this is the best explanation, I have got - the only problem is, that "mapping data formats" and "agreeing on XML tags" is about the same... Remember RTF? I have made an RTF generator for Microsoft Word 6.0 in the good old days, using Microsofts specification. RTF works like XML: Basic syntax is there, only the contents needs to be specified. Even with the specification on my desk, I managed to make Word show two cursors at the same time. I also noticed a big difference in behaviour (not speed) between storing images binary and in hex - I don't think I have to comment on that. I simply found out, that the RTF specification was incorrect at some places. Turning this to XML wouldn't help a bit. That would just be another syntax with the same compatibility and specification problems. Many people I speak to, really believe that XML is a file format that is compatible between apps. Believing that makes XML seem brilliant. It's just not correct. The big work isn't the syntax represented by XML. It's the content, the XML tags. XML does not guarantee any compatibility or interoperability.