Microsoft looks to future at TechEd

Microsoft Corporation opened the second day of its TechEd developer'sconference with a keynote address by VP Paul Maritz that focused on the nextgeneration of the World Wide Web. Maritz calls the next-gen Web an"application integration architecture" where businesses transactionsdominate the scene. And Microsoft is positioning the Extensible MarkupLanguage (XML) as the key player in its vision of the future. XML is amarkup language similar to HTML that supplements rather than replaces HTMLwith a way to deliver and describe data.

"The third generation of the Internet will change the way we buildapplications in as significant a way as the Internet already has over thepast five years," Maritz said. "As far as we think we've come, we're reallyonly at the beginning. This is a great time to be in this industry, and weare excited about the opportunity to take the industry to the next level."

Maritz also outlined Microsoft's new commitment to developers with plans tobuild software development products that can facilitate this new vision. Thecompany revealed its BizTalk framework, an XML design framework that isdesigned to accelerate the adoption of XML. For more information about thisnew initiative, please visit the BizTalk Web site