XML (eXtensible Markup Language) is a very important and key technology in today’s internet, and other applications involved in the smooth transfer of data between computers.  As a markup language, it bears a family resemblance to other similarly named languages, most notably HTML or HyperText Markup Language.  HTML is the language of the internet which allows web pages to be displayed and formatted in multiple browser configurations with the two-fold objectives of flexible formatting (to allow layouts to be presented adequately across multiple screen sizes), and the enabling of hypertext, or the links which allow the user to ‘jump’ to other related pages with the click of a mouse.

The operative genetic link between these two languages is the ‘Markup Language’ common component of their names.  The markup language means that content of the files using these languages are enclosed in ‘tags’ or labels, which define their context.  But there the similarity ends.  HTML recognizes a list of perhaps 200 words that when properly used as labels and descriptors can allow a web page to be rendered or interpreted into what passes as a well formatted document.

XML, on the other hand doesn’t DO anything.  It provides the mechanism to store reasonable amounts of data in a commonly accepted and defined format for transfer and communication between computers and systems.  Its vocabulary is theoretically unlimited in that tags may be made up and transmitted at will,provided that their punctuation is proper.  The files themselves are made up of elements which are delimited by these tags.  XML tags are case sensitive, whereas HTML tags are not.  The elements, or nodes may be multi-generational with some elements having lesser nodes describing characteristics or individuals of the larger nodes.  Here’s an example of a small XML document which simulates a group of  appointment book entries:

<?xml version=”1.0″ ?>

<appointmentplanner>

XML is truly an abstract language.  There are no specific words required, only that each element, including the root element of the document itself, be enclosed by matching tags, and that its first line declare that it is an XML document.

There’s more.  One can actually create an XML language which will act as a container for a specific application.  This involves an additional referenced file which contains those definitions.  These files are called schemas or DTD documents (Data Type Definition) which can actually define the permitted or required elements in an XML file.  One could invent an XML application language which would be specific to -say– chemistry (requiring definition of atomic numbers, or isotope variants), or medicine (perhaps a separate schema for each specialty, or even for each doctor within a practice)  The schemas or DTDs can define the type of data within an element – text, video, binary, file, or whatever.  This is very powerful technology.

There are several ancillary technologies related to XML which magnify its strengths.  For instance XPATH and XQUERY empower the user to parse an XML document to extract portions or elements of the document related to what he is seeking – much like Regular Expression and database query technologies.  XSLT uses the XPATH functionality to format an XML document.  And there is facility within modern day relational databases to receive data from XML, and deliver data from XML, distributing and gathering it appropriately from relational tables.

The flexibility and abstract nature of XML make the protocol extremely adaptable and useful for exchanging all manner of data between applications.

• Business to Business transactions are now typically (orders, confirmations, quotes) transacted using XML, or one of its variants or extensions.  This allows a buyer company using Windows machines to communicate and accept confirmation of orders to their supplier company who is running a Unix system
• RSS transmissions are standardized using XML, or its close cousin ATOM protocols.  This allows a light weight individually tailored package to be delivered to the user and interpreted successfully, whether the user is a Mac Windows, or Linux machine.
• XML allows websites to provide a web page to be displayed and tailored to each individual.  This is more complex than Amazon’s personal recommendations.  This technique is closer to the iGoogle page which allow you to construct your own home page.  The preferences and URLs you ask for, are formatted to the way you set them, then stored in an XML file.
• XML technology would allow you to construct a feed of your Twitter or Product Specials information to be constantly updated on your blog or website.
• AJAX (asynchronous Javascript and XML) techniques which use XML with javascriptis a technique which allows an interactive and dynamic web experience for the user by empowering the client side web application to update the web page depending on choices made real time by the user.

The best thing about these interactions is that they are done under the radar.  There is no need to take any action either as sender or receiver of this information, since the XML filesare created and interpreted without any human interaction.  This is a very easy to provide updated fresh content for a website or blog without expending additional resources. XML is related to and is basic to similar protocols like SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol) and JSON (JavaScript Access Notation).

I read an article about 10 days ago which was critical of Microsoft’s efforts to gain a toehold on the web that got me to thinking.  The premise of the article was that Microsoft has thrown huge sums of money into developing a web presence, but has so far failed.  Kevin Kelleher, the article’s author advances an argument that Microsoft should throw in the towel, and get out of the web business, because Microsoft obviously doesn’t do ‘it’ well.

My own vantage is one of an early and ardent admirer of Microsoft.  My Company, Paladin Consultants, LLC ,was one of the original Solution Providers (later renamed Microsoft Partners Network).  Over the past 20 years, we have  designed hundreds of custom software projects for many big name clients using Microsoft Sql Server database, Visual Basic,  .Net Projects in C#, and extensive application development using the Microsoft Office Products (including programmed routines in Word, Excel, and full blown small database system in Microsoft Access).  A few of the larger projects are detailed on our website.

Gates & Co. has changed the world through their innovations, and they are deserving of every nickle they have made.  Microsoft’s software products set a standard for quality, ease of use, and innovation that the rest of the industry used as a standard.  And for years we have been a strong supporter of Microsoft products.

But something happened in the mid ‘90’s - a number of things, actually, that changed the character of Microsoft, and of the playing field.

First, Microsoft seems to have lost its spirit of innovation.  Their execllent ideas like Windows, Visual Basic, SQL Server, and Office have only been marginally improved since the mid ‘90’s.  Their PR machine would, perhaps vehemently disagree with that assertion, but, aside from the cosmetics, and being easier to connect with those programs, the functionality has been little changed for the good of the user.  Their foray into the browser market is a case in point.  They built Internet Explorer into their Windows software to preclude competition from other browser manufacturers like Netscape.  They were sued by the U.S. Justice department  and by the E.U for anti competitive practices.  The corporate culture for some reason elected to compete in the market with anti-competitive practices, rather than innovation.  The Netscape browser was, unfortunately a casualty.

Second, the terrain of the battle shifted dramatically.  Although Bill Gates paid lip service to the concept that ‘ the future of the information business is the internet’, in practice his actions showed that he didn’t get it.  For instance, take a look at this snippet of text taken from a word document:

In an effort to make IE and Word indispensible, Microsoft allowed Word users to save their documents as HTML files.  The only problem was that in order for those files to render properly, the user was required to use IE.   Here’s a snippet of the HTML generated by Word.  Notice how the tags are largely proprietary, and not able to be interpreted by other browsers:

The larger thought is that the very gestalt of Internet is to have as open a system as possible.  The internet is home to many different operating systems, and APIs.  The nature of the beast is that all participants must be able to share those resources freely.  Microsoft’s view of the world, however, is that they want everybody to use their products, and will do anything they can to ‘tie’ as many people as possible to their paradigm.  In a real sense, thse two competing philosophies and business models are incompatible.  Another example of this is the Microsoft .Net platform.  We develop on .Net for clients, but invariably, there are open products that are available that do just as good a job, if not better, faster, cheaper, and easier to maintain.  The same can be said when comparing Windows Internet servers with Apache Linux servers.

So, when it comes to Internet products developed by Microsoft, by the time the product comes to market, there are already superior products available from their competitors.  VBScript vs Javascript, MSN vs Yahoo, Bing Vs Google, IE vs Firefox, Frontpage vs Dreamweaver and the list goes on.

Third, Microsoft has an extremely poor record of loyalty to its ‘partners’.  They have shown this again and again that when it becomes advantageous for MS to desert their partners, they will do so in a heartbeat.  The loyal army of Solution Providers were presented with a more and more expensive and onerous set of hoops to jump through that it became not a good business proposition for most of them.  In the beginning, Microsoft was a good source of referrals for many of us.  It was advantageous for them to establish themselves as the default platform.  But after a few years, those referrals invariably went to the ‘partners’ who sold the most Microsoft desktop products.  So, like their own internal innovation, relations with their ‘partners’ also fell prey to the drive to stoke consistent quarterly earnings growth.  Their relationship with RealPlayer is another example of this kind of ‘partner’ dissolution.  RealNetworks ended up suing Microsoft and winning $3/4 billion, in addition to the $600 million fine levied against Microsoft by the E.U. related to the RealNetworks suit.

I am concerned that as the desktop market matures along with the growth of Internet and cloud computing that Microsoft will continue to suffer reversals.  Of course, it is possible that the company will experience a resurgence in its innovation, but at this point it is difficult to see the theater that will make this likely.  Contrast this to the buzz that frequently comes from the new product machine at Apple. Growth in Internet based computing shows no signs whatever of slowing down.

We are Paladin Consultants, LLC, and, for the past 20 years,  have been in the IT consulting business concentrating on developing custom software, and web services for clients in primarily the Ny/NJ metropolitan area.  As our website suggests (Http://www.paladn.com ), we have been involved in as diverse a mix of software and web projects as one might imagine one would find in a company which has been developing mission critical software for that period of time.  As technology has advanced, we have always been enthusiastic to see new applications and techniques developed.  And, when they offered real value. We have been quick to recognize their contribution to the growth of our industry.

One such candidate for recognition is Microsoft’s OneNote.

In the more recent and advanced versions of their Office program, Microsoft has added an additional offering called OneNote, to go with their Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Access programs.  They (Microsoft)  have not done a very good job at marketing it, but it is a very powerful program.  Billed as a portable notebook, it is much more like an idea laboratory and collaborative resource.  I have found it to be extremely valuable in a number of applications, which I will try to explain in the article, and perhaps a few following it.

There are a number of quite good sites devoted to OneNote, such as www.onenotepowertoys.com, and www.iheartonenote.com which flesh out all the nooks and crannies of the product.  But here in a few humble articles, I would like to show how we use the product, and why we find it so powerful.  First of all, it is media agnostic: pictures, text, movies, sound – virtually anything available today will be accommodated in OneNote.  Second, it’s flexible: anything can be positioned anywhere, and moved at will – either in a document, or copies and pasted, or renamed to other notebooks, or pages.  Interoperability with other Office programs is simple and easy.  And you can copy and paste from any URL you can get on your browser (any browser ) either in whole or in part.  It’ll send and receive email, and interface with the tasks in Outlook.

Recipes

I enjoy cooking a wide variety of dishes, in various cuisines.  While recipes are available on line, and in many many cookbooks, I enjoy the creative expression that comes from ‘doing it yourself’.   But who wants to reinvent the wheel.  When I get a dish to where I want it (which may take several iterations), I want to preserve that knowledge.  I have found that OneNote offers an excellent interface to this process.

I start with a basic recipe, either from my own idea, or from another source.  Then, using a two column approach, I record the ingredients, and method in the right hand column.  Opposite the preparation, I record the critique.  Over several iterations of this process, I arrive at a satisfactory result, which I ultimately record in my database, but save the ‘experiment process’ on its own OneNote page.
The process looks like this:

The process looks like this:

The process includes as many steps as necessary to achieve the desired result, and frequently will include pictures. Here’s an accompanying image clipped from a OneNote recipe page on making salsa.

Market Techniques

I have been an active trader in the equity, bond, and futures markets for over 30 years.  OneNote has helped me categorize my knowledge of the behaviors of the markets.  I have written many software routines on the TradeStation platform which measure and predict the behavior of the markets.  As part of the feedback process, a large database of images and actions has grown over the years.  These images and accompanying indicator readings are then identified as categories of patterns, and each category has a OneNote page, which might consist of scores of examples of a pattern exemplified in various markets under various conditions over time.

A OneNote based system for visually categorizing market patterns.

In contrast to the recipe process, which seeks a perfect solution for each category, this process seeks a common denominator for each identified pattern, and seeks to isolate the seminal , or minimum characteristics which will successfully identify opportunities and risk profiles in each category.

The trick is in the software which identifies opportunities and categories of patterns, interaction between the software and the database, and between the database and the OneNote gallery of patterns and narratives.

I