XML.com: The XML Cover Page

The XML Cover Page

Excerpted from the News Section of the XML Cover Pages, edited by Robin Cover.

Office Open XML File Formats Published as ISO/IEC 29500:2008 Final Standard - ISO announced the publication of the Office Open XML File Formats specification as an ISO/IEC joint standard. ISO/IEC 29500 specifies a family of XML schemas, collectively called Office Open XML, which define the XML vocabularies for word-processing, spreadsheet, and presentation documents, as well as the packaging of documents that conform to these schemas. A new Document Interoperability WG will help align ISO/IEC 29500 with ISO/IEC 26300 (OpenDocument).

W3C Forms New Web Services Resource Access (WS-RA) Working Group - W3C has launched the Web Services Resource Access (WS-RA) Working Group, chartered to standardize a general mechanism for accessing and updating the XML representation of a resource-oriented Web Service and metadata of a Web Service, as well as a mechanism to subscribe to events from a Web Service. W3C Recommendations will be produced based upon five Member Submissions: WS-Transfer, WS-ResourceTransfer, WS-Enumeration, WS-MetadataExchange, and WS-Eventing.

Microsoft 'Geneva' Framework Supports SAML 2.0, WS-Federation, and WS-Trust - Microsoft has announced a new identify management strategy under code-name 'Geneva'. This single, simplified, claims-based identity model includes support for several standards in the federated identity space, including SAML 2.0, WS-Federation, and WS-Trust. Components include Geneva Framework for building claims-aware .NET applications, Geneva' Server, and Windows CardSpace 'Geneva'. A Beta release was unveiled at the Microsoft PDC, available for download.

Public Review for OpenID Provider Authentication Policy Extension (PAPE) 1.0 - Members of the OpenID Provider Authentication Policy Extension (PAPE) Working Group have released PAPE Draft 7 for 60-day public review. The PAPE extension to the OpenID Authentication protocol provides a mechanism by which a Relying Party can request that particular authentication policies be applied by the OpenID Provider when authenticating an End User. For example, phishing-resistant, time-related, or multi-factor authentication methods may be requested.

EAS-CAP Industry Group Publishes Profile for the Common Alerting Protocol - The EAS-CAP Industry Group has released a draft "EAS-CAP Industry Group EAS-CAP Profile Recommendation EAS-CAP-0.1" for public comment. ECIG is providing the profile as a recommendation to U.S. governmental agencies and industry associations on the use of CAP (Common Alerting Protocol) for Emergency Alert System (EAS) purposes, including the FCC, FEMA, National Weather Service, and other organizations. CAP is an OASIS Standard and an ITU-T Recommendation.

OASIS Identity Metasystem Interoperability TC Advances Information Card Use - OASIS announced the formation of a new Identity Metasystem Interoperability (IMI) Technical Committee, chartered to increase the quality and number of interoperable implementations of Information Cards and associated identity system components to enable the Identity Metasystem. The goal of the IMI TC specification development work to provide the interoperability support that will enable Information Card use to become ubiquitous.

Open Web Foundation Formed to Support Community Specification Development - Open source community leaders announced a new Open Web Foundation which seeks to apply a hybrid open source model to community-based specification development. OWF will focus on: (1) Incubation: lightweight process for creating open web specifications; (2) Licensing: or really no licensing, through non-assertion covenants; (3)Copyright: Creative Commons model; Community: collaboration of individuals and companies held accountable to support the Open Web.

Vendors Publish Content Management Interoperability Services (CMIS) Standard - EMC, IBM, and Microsoft have published "Content Management Interoperability Services (CMIS)", distributed as four prose documents with supporting XML schemas. The CMIS standard defines a domain model and set of bindings, such as Web Service and REST/Atom, that can be used by applications to work with one or more Content Management repositories/systems. Alfresco, Open Text, Oracle, and SAP collaborated on CMIS, now proposed for submisssion to an OASIS TC.

W3C Member Submission for Creative Commons Rights Expression Language (ccREL) - W3C has published the text of a Member Submission from Creative Commons: "ccREL: The Creative Commons Rights Expression Language." ccREL builds upon the astronomical success of Creative Commons licenses, which are embeddable machine-readable legal instruments allowing authors to express permissions for others to share, remix, and reuse content. ccREL is a new XML/RDF machine-readable language to express copyright licensing terms and related information.

OASIS/ITU-T Common Alerting Protocol (CAP) Receives Support from FEMA and WMO - Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and World Meteorological Organization (WMO) announcements highlight adoption of the XML-based Common Alerting Protocol. CAP defines a format for exchanging all-hazard emergency alerts and public warnings over multiple networks. FEMA announced a CAP Profile for the Integrated Public Alert and Warnings System. WMO issued a CFP for a December 2008 CAP Implementers Workshop in Geneva, co-sponsored by OASIS and ITU-T.