Robin Cover

XML Daily Newslink. Friday, 30 March 2007
A Cover Pages Publication http://xml.coverpages.org/
Provided by OASIS http://www.oasis-open.org
Edited by Robin Cover

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This issue of XML Daily Newslink is sponsored by
BEA Systems, Inc. http://www.bea.com

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HEADLINES:

* First Working Draft for Rule Interchange Format Core Design
* What Else Should Schematron Have?
* RDFa Use Cases: Scenarios for Embedding RDF in HTML
* The Real Issues With XPDL, BPEL, and BPMN
* How SOA Increases Your Security Risk
* Chopping Down Trees: How To Build Flatter BPEL Processes
* LogiXML Adds Geographic Information System Integration To Logi 8
* 60-Mile Signal in San Francisco
* Copyright: Fair Use Is Your Friend

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First Working Draft for Rule Interchange Format Core Design
Harold Boley and Michael Kifer (eds), W3C Technical Report

Members of W3C's Rule Interchange Format (RIF) Working Group have
published a First Public Working Draft for "RIF Core Design." The
Working Group invites comments through 27-April-2007. The RIF Core
document "specifies the core design for a format that allows rules to
be translated between rule languages and thus transferred between rule
systems. RIF Core defines a set of foundational concepts shared by all
RIF dialects. The overall RIF design takes the form of a layered
architecture organized around the notion of a dialect. A dialect is a
rule language with a well-defined syntax and semantics. This semantics
must be model-theoretic, proof-theoretic, or operational in this order
of preference. Some dialects might be proper extensions of others (both
syntactically and semantically) and some may have incompatible
expressive power. However, all dialects are required to extend the RIF
Core dialect. From a theoretical perspective, RIF Core corresponds to
the language of definite Horn rules (Horn Logic) with equality (and
with a standard first-order semantics). Syntactically, however, RIF
Core has a number of extensions to support features such as objects and
frames, URIs as identifiers for concepts, and XML Schema data types.
These features make RIF a Web language. However, RIF is designed to
enable interoperability among rule languages in general, and its uses
are not limited to the Web. The semantics of RIF has provisions for
future extensions towards dialects that support pure FOL, dialects that
support negation as failure (NAF), business (or production) rules,
reactive rules, and other features. Eventually, it is hoped that RIF
dialects will cover a number of important paradigms in rule-based
specification and programming. Our main target paradigms include
production rules, logic programming, FOL-based rules, reactive rules,
and normative rules (integrity constraints). The central part of RIF
Core is its Condition Language. The condition language defines the
syntax and semantics for the bodies of the rules in the core of RIF
and the syntax for the queries. However, it is hoped that the condition
language will have wider applicability in RIF. In particular, it might
be reusable as a sublanguage for specifying the conditional part of
the bodies in production rules, reactive rules, and in normative rules.

http://www.w3.org/TR/2007/WD-rif-core-20070330/
See also Business Rule Languages: http://xml.coverpages.org/ni2005-02-21-a.html#ruleLanguages

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What Else Should Schematron Have?
Rick Jelliffe, O'Reilly Technical

"Schematron uptake is on the increase, and the beta implementation of
ISO Schematron is chugging away. The relevant working group at ISO
(ISO/IEC JTC1 SC34 WG1) has asked me to look into preparing an update
for the standard; most of the other ISO DSDL family of schema languages
have just been through a round of corrections based on initial
experience, and I want to prepare something by the end of May [2007].
There won't be any changes that would break existing ISO Schematron
schemas. And I don't think there would be any extra logical apparatus
or changes to the class of logic required; and certainly nothing that
would prevent implementation in XSLT 1 by default. I am interested in
gathering a wish list, especially things where you have extended
Schematron. The candidates I see at the moment include: (1) A new
annex with the Query Language Binding for XSLT v2. (2) Editorial
corrections, in particular changes coming from Murata's Japanese
translation for JIS. -- translation involves one of the best kinds of
review a standard can get. (3) Suggestions from the new Schematron-Love-In
mailing list: for example, some users would like SVRL to be more thorough
and there are some sentences or concepts in the standard that are
perfectly clear to the editor but which apparently require mind-reading
abilities. (4) The W3C Rules Interchange Format RIF core design is a
source of review material too. Schematron itself is based on providing a
very simple framework which provides extra-logical abstractions
(patterns, phases, diagnostics, abstract patterns) and with an emphasis
on ready implementability, rather than any concern with exposing a formal
class of logic. ISO Schematron does specify Schematron using predicate
logic and my intent is that the spec does not ignore logic-theoretic
categorization, but Schematron always errs on the side of pragmatism:
what abstractions will help users? What low-hanging fruit does XSLT and
XPath allow? What source code actually exists that demonstrates
implementability and actual requirements? I certainly expect that some
uncomplicated RIF rulesets may be be convertible into Schematron. Should
we add an element 'reject' with the same operation as 'report' to allow
implementations to fail validity where a reject test succeeds, but when a
report fails? (5) A couple of recent implementation projects that
Topologi and Allette Systems have been doing, integrating Schematron
into a larger cradle-to-grave design.

http://www.oreillynet.com/xml/blog/2007/03/what_else_should_schematron_ha.html
See also Schematron as ISO DSDL Part 3: http://xml.coverpages.org/dsdl.html#part3

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RDFa Use Cases: Scenarios for Embedding RDF in HTML
Ben Adida and Michael Hausenblas (eds), W3C Technical Report

The W3C XHTML2 Working Group and the Semantic Web Deployment Working
Group have jointly published the First Public Working Draft for "RDFa
Use Cases: Scenarios for Embedding RDF in HTML." Current web pages,
written in HTML, contain significant inherent structured data. When
publishers can express this data more completely, and when tools can
read it, a new world of user functionality becomes available, letting
users transfer structured data between applications and web sites. An
event on a web page can be directly imported into a user's desktop
calendar. A license on a document can be detected so that the user is
informed of his rights automatically. A photo's creator, camera setting
information, resolution, and topic can be published as easily as the
original photo itself, enabling structured search and sharing. RDFa is
a syntax that expresses this structured data using a set of elements
and attributes that embed RDF in HTML. An important goal of RDFa is to
achieve this RDF embedding without repeating existing HTML content
when that content is the structured data. RDFa is designed to work
with different XML dialects, e.g. XHTML1, SVG, etc., given proper
schema additions. In addition, RDFa is defined so as to be compatible
with non-XML HTML. An XHTML document marked up with RDFa constructs
should validate, and a non-XML HTML document marked up with RDFa
remains compliant. RDFa uses existing HTML constructs and HTML-
compatible extensions to specify RDF 'content'. It is not about
embedding RDF/XML syntax into HTML documents. This "Use Cases" document
presents the major use cases where embedding structured data in HTML
using RDFa provides significant benefit. Each use case explores how
publishers, tool builders, and consumers benefit from RDFa. In parallel,
the reader is encouraged to look at the RDFa Primer, and RDFa Syntax.

http://www.w3.org/TR/2007/WD-xhtml-rdfa-scenarios-20070330/
See also the W3C Semantic Web: http://www.w3.org/2001/sw/

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The Real Issues With XPDL, BPEL, and BPMN
Bruce Silver, Intelligent Enterprise Weblog

Keith Swenson is one of the true superheroes of BPM, and a pioneer in
the development of interoperability standards. Known for his stalwart
defense of XPDL, he periodically feels called upon to insist that XPDL
does not compete with BPEL then usually adding that XPDL is actually
better. But I've always felt that Keith obscures the real difference
between XPDL and BPEL and their relationships to the "real" BPM standard,
which is BPMN. XPDL captures the diagram while BPEL captures the process
semantics. Keith dismisses the latter as just the information an
"execution engine" would need to know. Technically that's true of BPEL,
I suppose. But which of these best represents the process model? Bottom
line is that neither XPDL nor BPEL today meets the real need of the BPM
community, which is a portable serialization of process models -- not
diagrams, models -- that is independent of implementation architecture.
OMG is supposedly developing that based on BPDM, its formal metamodel
for BPMN, now nearing finalization. I said last spring at OMG Think
Tank that in BPDM's absence, XPDL had a window of opportunity to become
the de facto serialization standard for BPMN. But by focusing on diagrams
not models, and positioning itself versus BPEL not BPDM, XPDL has let
that window close. They might argue that adding BPMN compliance rules
and semantics to XPDL is not their job but OMG's. But that was in fact
the opportunity, soon to disappear. Here's the puzzling part. I've
actually seen a draft of BPDM and see no signs of a BPMN schema. Actually
I found the thing near-incomprehensible; there was something about MOF
and XMI but not a schema. It made me wonder whether BPDM would actually
include a schema for BPMN, or just some kind of production rules that
ensure conformance to the BPDM metamodel. If OMG does not publish a
BPMN schema, I see more consternation in BPM-Land and a second chance
for XPDL to get it right.

http://www.intelligententerprise.com/blog/archives/2007/03/the_real_issues.html
See also Standards for Business Process Modeling: http://xml.coverpages.org/bpm.html

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How SOA Increases Your Security Risk
Bert Latamore, ComputerWorld

Service-oriented architecture changes the security equation by
introducing a greater reliance on third parties for application
development and operation. According to Ray Wagner, managing vice
president of information security and privacy at Gartner Inc., SOA may
increase the number of securoty-related exchanges hugely. "Doing this
hundreds of times an hour may have implications for computing loads,
but it really is just a change of degree," not a qualitative change. A
second major exposure is more technical and harder to intercept. "XML
basically can contain any kind of executable or data, including things
designed to do damage," Wagner warns. Again, every organization accepting
XML-encoded files, which is the vast majority of organizations today,
is exposed already. But SOA promises to increase the number of XML
transfers -- and, therefore, the exposure -- by orders of magnitude,
while the huge volume of these transmissions in the SOA architecture
also complicates the problem of intercepting the occasional piece of
malware in that flow, even as it attracts increasing attention from
criminals. products are already appearing to address this problem.
Crossbeam Systems Inc., a unified threat management (UTM) vendor focused
on SOA security, and Forum Systems Inc. have created an alliance to
combine Crossbeam's X-Series security services switches, a high-
performance, high-reliability UTM solution, with Forum's XWall Web
services firewall and the Forum Sentry Web services gateway for a
best-of-breed solution for intercepting malware in XML and other
transmissions entering the enterprise. A third concern, Wagner says,
is that the session model for identity management does not fit the
more complex needs of SOA. In a simple transaction, the user
authenticates at the beginning of the session, and that authentication
carries through the session. However, in an SOA model, the user may
initiate a transaction and disconnect from the server, while the
transaction flows through a group of back-end services, so the user
has no direct connection to the final transaction. "The most promising
approach to this solution uses the Security Assertion Markup Language
(SAML) to create a representative identity that can be attached to
the transaction."

http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9015145
See also SAML references: http://xml.coverpages.org/saml.html

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Chopping Down Trees: How To Build Flatter BPEL Processes
Michael Havey, SOA World Magazine

The natural visualization of a business process is of boxes and arrows
arranged in a tree-like formation. A large process with numerous
conditional paths forms a rather expansive tree that can't fir on a
computer screen or printed page. If the process has loops, these are
often represented as arrows pointing back to earlier boxes, resulting
in an untidy graph structure. Although BPEL isn't a visual process
language, its XML representation can form code trees that are no less
cumbersome. A receive inside a sequence inside a flow inside a switch
inside a pick, even if properly indented, can make a coder see double.
This technique article shows how to model BPEL 1.1 processes in a
special flat form that represents even the most onerous processes in
just a few levels of structure. A process modeled in this form,
represented visually, more closely resembles a neat pile of sticks than
a tree. Aesthetics aside, the flat approach is fundamentally better
suited to SOA orchestration than the tree approach. Flat BPEL is good
SOA. The first example provides some tips on how to map, element-by-
element, existing BPEL processes to the flat form. Concurrency is a
notable exception. In BPEL, concurrent execution of activities is
modeled with a flow activity. There are two sorts of flows: those that
merely perform a set of actions in parallel and those that model what
state machine guru David Harel calls orthogonal states (or a set of
states that apply to the same entity simultaneously). Two possible
design approaches are to flatten the flow into mutually exclusive form,
or to explicitly build the logic to support orthogonal states.
Concurrency is a delicate subject, and the flattening heuristic does
not work in all cases. The moral of the example is to preserve the
spirit of flat even when faced with the challenge of orthogonal states.

http://webservices.sys-con.com/read/355646.htm

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LogiXML Adds Geographic Information System Integration To Logi 8
Staff, LogiXML Announcement

LogiXML continues to add value to Logi 8, the company's new interactive,
Web-based business intelligence (BI) platform by introducing Geographic
Information System (GIS) data and technology through a partnership
agreement with ESRI, the world leader in GIS. Logi 8 is a pure Web-
based, unified and XML-based solution that offers robust BI
functionality, including managed and ad hoc reporting, OLAP analysis
and BI data services, accessible by technical and non-technical users
in organizations of all sizes. The GIS Mapping features of Logi 8
support integration of GIS data with organizational data to present
compelling geographic representations that let customers visualize the
spatial component of their business data. This integration provides
ways to project and promote understanding and decision making around
key trends in terms of their geographic impact. For example, this
approach helps to answer questions like, "Where are the closest business
locations to my current location?" You can then further drill down or
drill through to other related reports to answer questions such as,
"What is the revenue for a particular location?" The initial service
will offer a connection to ESRI's Arc Web Service that allows Logi 8
users to integrate GIS data into reports through a subscription to the
ESRI service. Additional service options from ESRI and links to other
GIS sources will be added to the Logi 8 GIS Mapping as customer demand
for this service expands. Logi Report, LogiXML's free reporting product,
is now part of many applications in production at thousands of
organizations around the world. Used by thousands of small and medium-
sized organizations worldwide, LogiXML products are built on
standards-based technologies for easy integration, upgraded on an
aggressive schedule to maintain technology leadership, and are cost-
effectively priced to support implementation by Independent Software
Vendors (ISVs), Value Added Resellers (VARs), consulting companies and
user organizations.

http://www.logixml.com/rdPage.aspx?rdReport=CompanyNews032907

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60-Mile Signal in San Francisco
Eric Griffith, Wi-Fi P***t

Wi-Fi signals going long distances are nothing new -- many contests
have been held to see how far the signals can be extended, year after
year. But this one isn't a contest: Intel has set up a Wi-Fi link in
downtown San Francisco that it claims is capable of reaching 60 miles
(100 kilometers). Intel has also developed a "steerable antenna" (with
some tech developed at the State University in Russia; it and U of C
both have Intel facilities) that can steer a Wi-Fi signal around
obstacles like buildings and trees. These are directed signals -- it's
not omni-directional. The steerable antenna on a tower would, in theory,
be immune to being knocked out of alignment. Besides the fact that this
first attempt at a steerable antenna was made of more wood and wires
than the fake panels behind the Millennium Falcon's cockpit, Intel is
reserving the technology for emerging markets. Intel has plans to
serve such areas with its Classmate PC -- a $300 laptop program with
the same goal as the One Laptop Per Child program -- to get kids
computing, even those in remote villages with no wired infrastructure,
let alone wireless. Eventually, a Wi-Fi signal could be bounced to a
village and the smart antennas could steer the signal to villagers.
The theory is that towers with Wi-Fi antennas might cost significantly
less than doing the same thing with WiMax or other existing long-
distance wireless technology. It also avoids the need for licensing
spectrum, since Wi-Fi runs on globally unlicensed radio frequencies.

http://www.wi-fip***t.com/news/article.php/3668151

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Copyright: Fair Use Is Your Friend
David DeJean, InformationWeek

Nine out of 10 people would probably tell you copyright is all about
big companies maximizing their revenue from the content they own at
the expense of the consumer. The 10th person would tell you copyright
is a cornerstone of our American way of life, but he'd turn out to be
lawyer for the RIAA, the Recording Industry Association of America.
In fact, copyright is as much about your right to make fair use of
copyrighted content as it is about the "intellectual property" of
corporations. For 11 minutes of quiet, reassuring good sense on the
subject I recommend a podcast interview with Anthony Falzone, executive
director of the Fair Use Project at Stanford University. Falzone offers
a definition of fair use and provides some examples from the latest
fair-use case law. He outlines four factors that help determine whether
a use of copyrighted material is fair, and emphasizes the transformative
nature of the use, which was a concept that was new to me. What he says
is that if your use of a copyrighted work doesn't serve a substantially
different purpose that its original use, then you're probably violating
its copyright: if you intend to criticize something on a TV news program,
for example, but merely rerun the entire program and add a comment at
the end, you haven't transformed it sufficiently to defend against
copyright violation. [Rodney Green, VP of Corporate Development at IMN,
and Anthony Falzone, Executive Director of the Fair Use Project at
Stanford University, examine fair use in copyright law, especially as
it pertains to user-generated content available on the Internet. Tony
first defines what is meant by fair use and provides some classic
examples. They then turn the discussion to the four factors that tend
to guide fair use analysis, including the nature of the use you make,
the nature of the work being borrowed, how much of a work you can use,
and the effect of your new work on the market for the original material.
They close by exploring special considerations that one needs to be
aware of when using copyrighted material for commercial purposes.]

http://www.informationweek.com/blog/main/archives/2007/03/copyright_fair.html
See also Creative Commons Project: http://xml.coverpages.org/creativeCommons.html

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XML Daily Newslink. Friday, 30 March 2007