Claiming that "there seem to be few ways left to innovate with HTML," USA Today reports on a generally gloomy technology industry with a glimmer of hope: XML.

Reporting from Agenda, "an influential, CEO-laden technology conference set... at the luxurious Phoenician resort," reporter Kevin Maney notes the collapsing IPO market and the gloom and doom of participants.

"More than anything, the red-hot, buzz-generating ideas seem to have taken a vacation.... The best news is that the problems should be temporary. The tech industry has an amazing power of regeneration. The last time such a funk set in was 1994-95, when stand-alone personal computing seemed tapped out. A year later the Web kicked in, firing up ideas, opening new ways to make money and luring investors."

The proposed answer to the funk?

"A successor to HTML is emerging, called XML. With XML, Web sites will be able to talk to and exchange information among each other and with other programs inside your computer or wireless devices. It should make the Web more flexible and open the way for services not yet dreamed of. Microsoft is pointing its whole ship at XML. Others are becoming XML fans, including Bricklin. 'XML is going slowly, but we're all sure about it,' he says."

The XML community had better roll up its sleeves and get to work. The hype still seems to be growing.