In this brief article, we reflect upon some of the XML highlights in 1998 and upon some of the new dilemmas. Through this vehicle, we invite the reader to muse upon the prospects for XML's advance in 1999. With a couple caveats, we feel that the outlook for XML is very bright. And the caveats? One: the crescendo of enthusiasm for XML in 1998, experienced by some as "mere sound-byte and hype," may have created unrealistic public expectations about XML's potential to change the world. XML, while quite powerful in terms of generality and flexibility, is not of itself a solution to any modeling or computing problem; it provides no technology breakthrough beyond that which SGML already provided in 1986. Two: it may be that the designers of the XML suite of specifications are now approaching the truly difficult parts of the task, where getting the semantics right is tough slogging (e.g., link semantics, data types, query language facilities). The XML developer community will be faced with new challenges in building truly interoperable tools in cases where the W3C standards are (perceived to be) ambiguous or under specified. Patience most certainly will be called for.
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