Transparent XML

摘要

Gartner Group developed a concept called the "Hype Cycle" to show common patterns of technology adoption. The cycle starts with manic enthusiasm followed by a depressive plunge into self-doubt, then cautious use, and finally, steady-state mainstream adoption. Sometimes this model seems like a force-fitting of trends to reality, but it decisively applies to content-centric XML. Note that I didn't say XML-based Web applications, which leaped from the peak of enthusiasm, bypassed the trough of despair, and went directly to adoption. I am one of many, however, who rode the XML content roller coaster up: high hopes for the use of SMIL in multimedia; SVG for graphics; create-once and reuse many times for everything from office documents to highly-disciplined technical documentation. And down: Microsoft ignored SMIL and SVG; few office workers ever mastered using MS Word styles that could provide additional document structure. What hope was there for the discipline and promise of XML?