xmlhack: Washington Post: XML invented by Microsoft

David Ignatius, in an opinion column for the Washington Post, describes XML as "invented several years ago by two Microsoft technologists," a claim new to most of the XML community.

Noting his find on XML-Dev, Wendell Piez asked:

"Does this misrepresentation matter? It scares me. Until that point, I was reading the article sympathetically, reflecting that Ballmer may actually be seeking to change, for the better, the way Microsoft works with its partners, competitors and customers, as Ignatius suggests. Then I come across this, and wonder who believes it."

Matt Sergeant wrote it off as "just yet another journalist not doing his research", while Sam Brown argued that "Microsoft technologies that exist today add business value which is what non-technical Executive Management is interested in."

While Microsoft's Jean Paoli was a co-editor of the XML 1.0 Recommendation, this may be the first time anyone has claimed XML was a Microsoft invention. Early credit typically goes to Jon Bosak of Sun Microsystems, who pushed hard to establish XML as a major simplification of SGML. At XTech 2000 in March, Bosak's W3C colleagues honored him as the 'father of XML'.

Update: Andrew Layman of Microsoft reports that it was a reporting error, not a claim made by Steve Ballmer.

Update: The Washington Post has issued a correction, acknowledging that XML was a product of the W3C, not Microsoft.

Re: Washington Post: XML invented by Microsoft (Celia Dolop - 22:53, 12 Jan 2003)

The Washington Post, Newsweek and NBC all belong to the Microsoft empire. For NBC, this is utterly clear. Everyone knows MSNBC. Why not change the name of the newspaper to The MS Washington Post as well? Then at least we would get a fair warning when we read before we start reading.

Re: Washington Post: XML invented by Microsoft (John Parino - 15:00, 21 Apr 2002)

What is the continuing need of the United States to back Israel? In the past during the cold war a staunch ally and a well-prepared army was needed in the region to fend off any soviet aggression. I fought in the gulf war and spent 2 months in Iraq with 8/43rd ADA, a patriot unit covering the meeting in the desert I believe it was called. For the past 12 years I have defended the position that we could not go after Hussein and the subsequint arguments. I am not anti Israel but our policies regarding Israel have put our country in the forefront of the Palestinian conflict. Our continuing physical presence in Saudi Arabia gives Muslim fundamentalist a war cry and ammunition to rally the poorer less educated Muslim populations against us. The weapons of the war on terrorism are economic progress and education.

As a leader of nations fighting a war decisions often difficult must be made. The world population of the Jewish faith on this planet is so small yet garners so much of our time money and young men. Israel has the right to survive but how much should it cost the American people. The war in Afghanistan is proof that we no longer need Israel to keep the rouge nations in check we can project our will form the Sea just as easily and with out them there is little that we need argue over. The mullahs get their power from the oppression and occupation of the IDF. If you factor out Israel what is the driving force of terrorism? Our news is polluted with terrorism, which feeds off the actions of so few. When in history has the occupation and subjugation of any race or land not been accomplished by the eradication of the indigenous people? I understand the need of the Jewish people to have a state of there own I also understand that it will only come with the sacrifice of there own blood. For what ever reason the Jews left Israel thousands of years ago and came back to live there only seconds ago in time. The luck of the draw is that they occupy a land that cannot support them or those who they wish to vanquish. How can a land so bloody be holy to anyone? If three students offered three papers, the Torah, the Koran, and the Old Testament, Who would get credit and who would be accused of plagiarism? Our fore fathers made the distinction of “separation of church and state” Why??? I believe it to be self-evident.

I recon the conditions of the Palestinians in the occupied territory, much to those of the Jews in the Warsaw ghetto, prior to the destruction of which, I believe was a neighborhood. It is a brutal comparison but one that I feel is quite ironic. I also remember the pre amble and the constitution of the United States, which I learned in school and volunteered to defend with my life. A double standard is and always will be evil. I do not profess to have the answer nor will it be easily found but as the leader of the free world America must strive for “these truths that we hold self evident”.