Omaha Steaks Inc., known for decades for its direct marketing of meat through magazine advertisements, almost stumbled across the technology in its quest for more effective e-commerce.
Most vendors seem hard pressed to name customers actually doing something real with the technology.
Yet surface quiet may mask a deep interest, suggests Warren Wilson, a senior analyst at Summit Strategies Inc. in Boston. Whether that's reflected in the market numbers is anybody's guess. But I'd say the majority of companies I talk to are using it one way or another. Whether gluing Web sites to a database back end or enabling smooth communications between companies or helping businesses more effectively manage their data, XML is gaining practical acceptance. Although descriptions found in magazines and other vendor literature may make XML sound mysterious, if not confusing, the technology is essentially nothing more than tagged text.