XML.com's XML
Conformance Update shows Microsoft and Oracle's
parsers to be significantly behind open source parsers in
XML 1.0 conformance.
The testing, conducted by David Brownell, shows Sun's
parser (recently
contributed to the Apache project)
and the Apache Xerces parser coming out top in the
conformance stakes, closely followed by Ælfred 2 and
James Clark's XP.
All four parsers are now under an open
source license, although Sun and IBM made considerable
efforts
in XML conformance before opening the source.
The gap between the top performers and the
Microsoft and Oracle parsers was over 10% in terms of test
pass-rate.
Brownell used versions of the original OASIS 1.0 test
suite updated by himself to reflect the errata to the XML
1.0 specification issued by the W3C since the original tests
last year. His tests are available for download
(approx. 4MB in size!)