A big happy XML family

Baby steps XML has been around for five years, making inroads into unexpected places. The process has rarely been simple or quick, and opening up information doesn't happen magically. While this may feel like a 1.0 release, it's a huge first step.
Everybody's doing it Both Microsoft and OpenOffice are using XML to connect their applications to a wider world, and other companies, notably Apple with its Keynote software, are taking the same path. It's not an instant fix for all our problems, but it can make our problems much easier to solve.
The end of the desktop island For the past few decades, desktop applications and the rest of the computing universe have been separated by incompatible storage approaches and a mindset that desktop applications are just for office work. These steps into XML should break down those barriers and hopefully - given time - break down the mindset barriers as well.