Andrea wrote:
Hello everyone,
I'd like to know which are the main pros and cons of using XML
implementation in business organizations.
From a technical perspective, I find XML powerful, but looks like it is being pushed more from technical people than from businessmen...
So, some questions:
1. Pros and cons
See the XML FAQ:
http://xml.silmaril.ie/basics/whyxml/
http://xml.silmaril.ie/appendix/glossary/#disadvantages
2. Main and most trustable effective uses of XML in real industrial
companies and corporates ?
* message-passing, especially between disparate architectures
* web service messaging
* web sites (storage: user interface often usually HTML)
* logging, recording, config files, etc
* structured, provable format for data, especially for dumping
and loading between disparate systems
* structured, reusable format for text documents (separating
actual information from formatting on any one occasion)
and 1,000,001 other uses...
3. Any indications on costs and ROI, TCO ?
The smart companies started using SGML to reduce the cost of text
document management 15 years ago. Cost reduction in XML is harder
to show because it affects many areas in a small way rather than
one area in a big way. XML itself (the standard and the file format)
is in the public domain, so there is no charge or license. There is
also a vast amount of free (as in beer and speech) software, if you
are technically knowledgeable enough to use it, otherwise you have
to pay. It's a steep but short learning curve to get started, so
there is a training cost. As with most technologies, having it
implemented rationally and sanely leads to lower expenditure: having
it botched by people without the necessary experience makes it more
expensive. It's a long-term strategic buy-in, so don't expect RoI in
six months: it's not that kind of animal; but for many applications
it's a no-brainer.
And there are 1,000,001 people who will disagree violently with one
or more of the above: a lot depends on what you want to do with it.
///Peter
--
XML FAQ:
http://xml.silmaril.ie/ 
