XML has become such an important topic in the computer industry that enormous amounts of material have been written about it. This page contains links to a number of feature stories about XML that have originated from various sources both inside and outside of Sun.

Special Report

The Birth of XML: A Personal Recollection
By Jon Bosak

Press Releases

• Sun Unveils XML Technology Support in the JavaTM Platform: On March 9, 1999, Sun announced efforts to develop a Java standard extension for XML. Jon Kannegaard, vice president and general manager of the Java platform, said the Java Community Process would help ensure that the XML standard extension would become an industry-developed standard Java API providing essential features for developing XML-oriented services and applications.
  

Feature Articles

• Co-stars in Networking: XML and Java^TM Technologies: By now, virtually all of the major players in Internet technologies have made commitments to XML technology. This feature article, by John Byous, tells how Sun is combining XML with Java technologies to create a complete, platform-independent, Web-based computing environment.
  
  
• XML and Java Technology Q&A: David Brownell, designer of Sun's Java Project X, answers a series of questions about XML and Java technology in this wide-ranging interview.
  
  
• XML and HTML: What's the difference? "XML arose from the recognition that key components of the original web infrastructure -- HTML tagging, simple hypertext linking, and hardcoded presentation -- would not scale up to meet the future needs of the web," Sun's Jon Bosak explains in this article. Although XML markup looks a bit like HTML, he adds, XML is a much more powerful beast.
  
  
• XML at Misawa Homes Co. Ltd.: How a Japanese home designer uses XML and Java technology together to create an open, flexible system for home design presentations.
  
  
• XML: Mastering Information on the Web: This is first in a series of articles written by Todd Freter of Sun about XML, its promises, and its challenges. Topics addressed in this article include the shortcomings of HTML; XML's goals for the Internet; and some observations on how a transition to XML may occur.
  
  
• Beyond Text and Graphics: XML makes Web pages function like applications: Sun exec Todd Freter's second XML article was an inside view of a major XML Conference held in Seattle in March 1998, sponsored by GCA (Graphic Communications of America). "Because of XML's potential effect on the Internet," Freter reported, "the strongest interest shown at the conference 1998 was in the technology of XML itself."
  
  
• XML: It's the Future of HTML: Now that XML has burst on the scene, will it spell the death of HTML? The answer is no; HTML has an important role to play in the brave new world of XML. But what is that role? In this article, Todd Freter presents some possible answers to that question.
  
  
• XML: Document and Information Management: XML markup provides metadata for all components of a document, not merely the object that contains the document itself. This makes the pieces of information that constitute a document just as manageable as the fields of a record in a database. This last article by Todd Freter tells how XML's focus on information rather than documents is likely to affect document and information managment.
  
  
• Managing Names and Ontologies: An XML Registry and Repository: Adoption of XML by a host of industry partners has created a wealth of opportunity for information reuse and distributed network computing over the Web. But XML resources are not nearly as discoverable and reusable as they deserve to be. This article, by Robin Cover of OASIS (the Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards), summarizes several kinds of challenges to interoperability in an XML environment and offers some observations on how such challenges can be met.

News Published in Periodicals

• XML and the Second-Generation Web (Scientific American, May 1999): The combination of hypertext and a global Internet started a revolution. In this article, Jon Bosak and Tim Bray tell how a new ingredient, XML, is poised to finish the job.