It is important to understand that XML is not a replacement for HTML. In future Web development it is most likely that XML will be used to describe the data, while HTML will be used to format and display the same data.

My best description of XML is this: XML is a cross-platform, software and hardware independent tool for transmitting information.

We have been participating in XML development since its creation. It has been amazing to see how quickly the XML standard has been developed and how quickly a large number of software vendors have adopted the standard.

We strongly believe that XML will be as important to the future of the Web as HTML has been to the foundation of the Web and that XML will be the most common tool for all data manipulation and data transmission.