To: esecurities(tm) who wrote (1996 ) 7/16/1998 1:03:00 AM From: SemiBull Read Replies (1) | Respond to of 4231
esecurities(tm) and Mike McFarland: Thanks for the insight. My assumptions have been re-assured. Short terrm, the arbitration may be of significant importance, but the spinoff of Softquad International and/or the potential sales generated for this Christmas by Alpha appear to me to balance against a negative surprise in the L&H arbitration over the intermediate to long term...or so I hope. Below is something of some relevance regarding the the spinoff of Softquad International.....SemiBull CommerceNet Acquires XML Exchange From XMLSolutions; Foundation for Global eRegistry Service Vital to XML-based Electronic Commerce WASHINGTON, July 13 /PRNewswire/ -- Only ten weeks after its initial launch, the XML Exchange (http://www.xmlx.com) has been acquired. CommerceNet, the leading worldwide electronic commerce consortium, announced today that they have acquired the website from XMLSolutions, LLC, to form the foundation of CommerceNet's eRegistry Service. It is the first in a set of services announced by CommerceNet on May 21, 1998. ''XML will have a dramatic impact on the future development and growth of electronic commerce,'' said Randall Whiting, President and CEO of CommerceNet. He further stated that XML will have a broader impact than many people anticipate and will enable a new level of interoperability between applications, companies, and industries. This level of interoperability will enable companies to form many new business models and approaches to business. This higher degree of interoperability will create a dramatic growth in new forms of e-commerce allowing companies to more tightly integrate supply chains, allow cooperative product design and development, and create new levels of integration between business partners. ''The simplicity of XML means cost and learning barriers will no longer keep your smallest suppliers and individual customers from participating directly in your e-commerce information stream,'' stated Jeffrey Ricker, co- founder of XMLSolutions. ''Such barriers have kept other technologies like EDI and SGML from reaching their intended potential.'' Why a registry service is vital XML places information in context with simple markup tags. Anyone can create new tags in XML but to ensure interoperability and promote the exchange of information, it is essential that the same tag be used to mean the same thing. A registry service enables the sharing of tags and the content that uses them. As a component of its eRegistry Service, CommerceNet's XML Exchange will provide: Easy and open posting of content so anyone may submit new tag sets for immediate availability to anyone who wants access, Integrity checks to assure accuracy during submission as well as downloading, Assured availability and keyword searching of all content, and Discussions forums for those who are developing XML-based content. About CommerceNet CommerceNet is a non-profit industry association for companies promoting and building electronic commerce solutions on the Internet. Launched in April 1994 in Silicon Valley, CA, its membership has grown to more than 500 companies and organizations worldwide. They include the leading banks, telecommunications companies, VANs, ISPs, online services, software and service companies, as well as end-users, which are transforming the Internet into a global electronic marketplace. CommerceNet can be contacted at Tel: 650-858-1930; Fax: 650-858-1936; URL: (http://www.commerce.net). About XMLSolutions, LLC XMLSolutions, LLC, is an XML software consulting company headquartered in Washington, DC. Extensible markup language allows companies to easily create web-enabled datastores for intranets and rapidly integrate existing applications for e-commerce. XMLSolutions can be contacted at Tel: 202-434-8379; Fax: 202-639-8238; URL: (http://www.xmls.com/about.html).