|
XML and Web Services In The News - 21 June 2006
Provided by OASIS |
Edited by Robin Cover
This issue of XML Daily Newslink is sponsored by BEA Systems, Inc.
HEADLINES:
First Public Working Draft for XML Binding Language (XBL) 2.0
Ian Hickson (ed), Web Application Formats Working Group WD
W3C has announced the publication of an initial public Working Draft
for the "XML Binding Language (XBL) 2.0." This specification was
originally developed by the Mozilla Foundation and its contributors,
in conjunction with individuals from Opera Software ASA, Google, Inc,
and Apple Computer, Inc, to address problems found in the original
language and to allow for implementations in a broader range of Web
browsers. The specification describes the ability to map elements to
script, event handlers, CSS, and more complex content models. This
can be used to re-order and wrap content so that, for instance,
simple HTML or XHTML markup can have complex CSS styles applied without
requiring that the markup be polluted with multiple semantically
neutral DIV elements. It can also be used to implement new DOM
interfaces, and, in conjunction with other specifications, enables
arbitrary tag sets to be implemented as widgets. For example, XBL
could in theory be used to implement XForms.
See also: W3C Rich Web Clients
RELO: Retrieving End System Location Information
Henning Schulzrinne, IETF Internet Draft
Members of the IETF Geographic Location/Privacy (GEOPRIV) Working Group
have issued an Internet Draft for "RELO: Retrieving End System Location
Information." This WG was chartered to address modern applications'
"need to acquire geographic location information about certain resources
or entities. These applications include navigation, emergency services,
management of equipment in the field, and other location-based services."
The RELO protocol allows end systems (devices) to obtain information
about their current geodetic (longitude, latitude) or civic
(jurisdictional or postal street address) location, based on their
Internet Protocol address or possibly other identifiers. It defines a
MIME subtype 'relo+xml' in the 'application' space (application/relo+xml).
The protocol uses HTTP to retrieve the information. The location
information can be returned by value or by reference, either for
retrieval or for event notification by subscription. The protocol is
motivated by the requirement that end user network- layer equipment,
such as DSL modems, routers, NATs and wireless access points, cannot
be modified. Hence, a DHCP or PPP based solution cannot be reused. To
reduce privacy risks, RELO is designed for "first-party" retrieval,
i.e., the device obtains its own location or a reference thereto. It
is not designed for a third party to retrieve location information
about a device. However, RELO may retrieve a reference to location
information that can be passed to third parties.
See also: http://www.ietf.org/html.charters/geopriv-charter.html
Microsoft, Lessig Launch New Creative Commons Copyright Tool
Elizabeth Montalbano
The coupling of Microsoft and Lawrence Lessig, an outspoken proponent
of loosening restrictions on copyrights for digital content, may seem
an unlikely one. But the software company and Lessig's Creative Commons
organization will announce Wednesday that they've teamed up to develop
a tool that lets Microsoft Office users create Creative Commons licenses
from within Microsoft Office documents. Creative Commons licenses allow
an author of published material to decide how he or she wants to allow
others to republish or reuse that work. The new copyright licensing
tool will enable people creating documents in Office, PowerPoint, or
Excel to immediately attach a Creative Commons license to the document
through an option in the applications' "File" command. The partnership
has positive implications for both sides, [Rob Enderle] said. Lessig
wins a significant partner in his push for removing some of the
restrictions from copyrights, and Microsoft offers a useful tool that
will make current and potential Office users happy. Lessig founded
Creative Commons in December 2002, and today there are about 140 million
published works -- which include audio and video files, as well as
documents and other printed materials -- that use a Creative Commons
license.
See also: the announcement
Corel Sheds Light on ODF Support -- And the Lack of It
Matthew Aslett, Business Review Online
"Yesterday I had the chance to meet up with Richard Carriere, general
manager of office productivity with Corel, for an interesting chat
about the state of the office productivity market and Corel's position
among the competing noise of Microsoft, Google, and Star/Openoffice.
Richard was also able to shed some light on something that had puzzled
me -- why Corel had not yet announced support for the OpenDocument
Format despite being involved in the standardization process. 'It would
be very easy in the government space to say "we're betting the farm on
ODF", but nobody's really using it,' he maintained. While there is
interest in the document format, he explained that the company sees
confusion between the format and the use of formats to solve business
problems. No one ever doubted Corel's business decision to support the
new Office 12 formats, but it does seems strange that a company that
boasts "we support more file formats than anyone else, even Microsoft"
could not also find room for ODF. It's a question of priorities,
explained Carriere, who also maintained that Corel would be there with
ODF support as soon as customers demand it... ODF is currently supported
by StarOffice, Openoffice.org, KOffice, and IBM Workplace."
See also: ODF references
On the Subject of Double Standards
Soren Thing Pedersen, Blog
The Danish parliament unanimously agreed on passing resolution B103 to
mandate open standards in the digital governance by 2008 (or as soon as
technically possible) under a comply or explain policy. The resolution
doesn't mention specific standards. During the parliaments committees
work on the resolution the Danish Minister of Science, Technology and
Innovation, Helge Sander, revealed that an examination of various file
formats for text documents have already begun. Officially, no file
format has qualified yet. However, 3-4 Danish ministries immediately
responded to the resolution by aiming for all documents to be published
as ODF by September 2006. Officially, no file format has been
disqualified yet either. The criteria will allegedly be derived from
the reasoning behind the Danish parliaments call for open standards by
2008 and consequently which standards answers the call. Open competition
was one of the reasons for mandating open standards. While working on
an answer to this question the current vendor support for open standards
cannot be ignored... The [materials here quoted] show that Danish
decision makers are ready to mandate common standards that supports
open competition in a given technical domain. This policy is also
necessary to bring the Danish digital governance to the next level
because according to an analysis from StatBank Denmark 2 of 3 public
institutions have seen lack of common standards as a barrier for digital
governance.
XML.org is an OASIS Information Channel sponsored by BEA Systems, Inc., IBM Corporation, Innodata Isogen, SAP AG and Sun Microsystems, Inc.
Use http://www.oasis-open.org/mlmanage to unsubscribe or change an email address. See http://xml.org/xml/news_market.shtml for the list archives. |
