Trends Internet Industry Hardware Software Index New Products Surf Your Spreadsheet New XML-integration features in upcoming productivity suites could change the way you think about applications.
Proponents claim that it can revolutionize information exchange between applications and the Web.
Lotus SmartSuite Millennium Edition, scheduled for launch during next week's PC Expo trade show in New York, will let you save documents in XML-compliant format. And Microsoft Office 99, scheduled for delivery at the end of the year, will also include XML integration in applications. XML is designed to tag the locations of critical information in Web documents. XML is based on SGML, an international standard for defining descriptions of the structure and content of electronic-document types. Based on elements such as text parsing, tree management, and formatting, XML tags are like an advanced card catalog for a library of Web pages.