John King

For several years the computing industry has discussed a state of total harmony among systems and software called ubiquitous computing. XML, a tremendous simplification of SMGL, is already competing to become the lingua franca of computing. However, the power of XML is found not so much in the direct benefits provided by the specification or related technologies, but in the indirect benefits measured in the larger sense (for instance, how do you describe the importance of ASCII?). This article describes the puzzle of ubiquitous computing and how this new piece - XML - helps solve some of the puzzle. What Is Ubiquitous Computing and How Is It Affected by XML? The latest incarnation of the ubiquitous computing concept is the new wave of business-to-business computing. In B2B computing, consumers and suppliers seamlessly complete shared transactions over a "virtual" comm... (more)