Funded by a group of companies committed to establishing an open, distributed system for enabling the use of XML in electronic commerce and other industrial applications, XML.ORG is designed to provide a credible source of accurate, timely information about the application of XML in industrial and commercial settings and to serve as a reference repository for XML specifications such as vocabularies, DTDs, schemas, and namespaces. Sponsors of XML.org make a financial commitment that will be used for the development and operational support of the XML.org portal, including the reference XML registry and repository at xml.org . Founding partners will automatically become members of the XML.ORG Steering Committee, responsible for setting XML.ORG priorities, defining the technical direction of the portal, and determining what kinds of XML specifications are in or out of scope for the XML registry. Partners also receive marketing benefits associated with the site at xml.org at a level yet to be determined. While XML.org Partners and Affiliates may join at any time, being designated as a founding sponsor is a one-time opportunity.
Affiliates are individual contributors who represent specific vertical-industry standards bodies.
The most important function of XML.ORG is to serve as a trusted, secure, persistent repository and registry for DTDs, namespaces, schemas, and other specifications that must be globally accessible in order to make possible the use of XML for data exchange within particular industries. The XML.ORG initiative will continue as an open initiative along those lines.