Once one component can import, export, or process XML, it becomes obvious that there will be great benefit if the next component does, and the next, and so on. To illustrate the diversity of XML's applications, here are just some of the areas XML has moved into recently. XML is now a popular choice for the humble configuration file, a ready-made, expressive syntax that means developers don't have to worry about creating new syntaxes and parsers for configuration and state files. All major databases now offer some degree of XML storage and searching. It is early days, but XML is making incursions into the world of professional print production.
Work is also underway to bring angle brackets to logic and proofs.
Share your thoughts with the author and other readers. In particular, the aim is to make such exchanges easy for application and database developers. There is a body of opinion that holds that the W3C should have rubber-stamped the SOAP protocol, devised by Microsoft et al. , which is already widely deployed and implemented. For a long time, the Semantic Web has been Tim Berners-Lee's ambition for the future development of the World Wide Web. Enabling the machine-processing of web pages, the aim of the Semantic Web is to make the Web more useful for users.