XML
Vocabularies in the News; XML and ADEX
XMI;
Interchange of Object Metadata
The
Object Management Group (OMG) and a group of its
members announced that they are building a specification
which will provide application developers with
a common way to build powerful applications using
a variety of tools and object types. This new
specification is based on XML and is known as
XMI, the OMG's XML Metadata Interchange. XMI defines
object programming and design information. This
means that development teams from different tool
and object format backgrounds will be able to
collaborate more easily in developing shared and
widely distributed object-based applications.
XMI uses the Web to exchange models between tools,
applications, and repositories to stimulate object
and component reuse by enterprise systems architects,
integrators, and developers.
Richard
Soley, the OMG's chairman and CEO, in Framingham,
MA stated, "XMI enables developers to choose
best-of-breed software development tools and to
communicate among different repository tools,
thus speeding the software development cycles
and enabling best practices." XMI is being
written by such vendors as Unisys, IBM, Oracle,
Platinum, Fujitsu, Softeam, and Daimler-Benz,
and supported by Rational Software, Sprint, Sybase,
Xerox, MCI Systemhouse, Boeing, Ardent, ICONIX,
Integrated Systems, Verilog, NCR, and NTT. IBM,
Unisys, and Oracle are expected to implement XMI
in their products as early as the second quarter
of this year, according to OMG officials.
It
is important to note that XMI is seen as a direct
competitor for Microsoft's Open Information Model
(OIM) before the Meta Data Coalition. "Having
different standards for the exchange of data and
meta data is foolish and would be a big disservice
to Microsoft customers," said Thomas Bergstraesser,
product unit manager of Microsoft Repository and
developer of OIM.
XML
Standard for Newspaper Classified Advertising;
ADEX
The
Newspaper Association of America's (NAA) Classified
Advertising Standards Task Force has introduced
a common format that allows classified ad publishers,
advertisers and online enterprises to readily
exchange and publish classified ads. The standard
was unveiled January 12, 1999 by task force Chairman
Jack H. Stanley, Houston Chronicle senior vice
president/operations and technology, during NAA's
Newspaper Operations SuperConference at the Hilton
at Walt Disney World Village in Orlando. The standard
is represented electronically through a document
type definition, or DTD, a virtual road map for
classifieds. The DTD has a set of elements, or
fields, which describe the product being sold.
The XML DTD was designed to provide publishers
the standard information they need, while also
allowing advertisers to be flexible. The DTD is
free and available for download from NAA's
Web site. Background information on the new
standard can be found in the executive
summary of the document.
The
NAA Classified Advertising Standards Task Force
was organized by the NAA Technology Department
to facilitate the electronic exchange of classified
ads. Standards developed will pave the way for
aggregation of classified ads among publishers
on the Internet, as well as enhance the development
of classified processing systems. Mission of this
group is to establish standards that permit advertisers
to provide, and publishers to share and aggregate,
advertising data which may be published in media-independent
formats. 
Return
to TOC
