Will XForms Count?
October 17, 2003
The W3C has released XForms 1.0 as an W3C Recommendation. While I do not yet have intimate familiarity with the XForms syntax, I am convinced already that XForms will have an impact. The established e-forms companies (Pureedge, Cardiff, et al) are all positioning their products as being compatible with XForms, and a number of newer, smaller companies have emerged with targeted offerings.
There are two 1000-pound gorillas in this market, maybe three. Microsoft will be releasing InfoPath next week, and Adobe will be releasing its new Forms Designer in beta sometime in November. But I wouldn’t underestimate IBM. They have been very active in the development of the XForms recommendation, and have a long list of core products that can take advantage of XForms (beginning with WebSphere and continuing through more targeted applications such IBM Content Manager). The next several months should be very interesting.
Posted by Bill Trippe at October 17, 2003 10:11 AM
