The world of XML development surely doesn't suffer from a lack of ideas. Name an industry, and I can name at least one XML initiative that is designed to solve its problems. These range from the broad (RosettaNet for trading networks) to the highly particular (the Bioinformatics Sequence Markup Language) to the whimsical (Facial Animation Markup Language, and, no, I am not kidding). Sometimes I wonder if the XML community should not be so prolific and should instead focus on mastering a few key initiatives. For example, in my last column I wrote about XBRL, the extensible Business Reporting Language. The FDIC has directed the banks it oversees to use XBRL to report their performance and results. XBRL-encoded financial reports are both human and machine readable and can undergo efficient computer analyses that can't be matched by conventional manual approaches.
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