Microsoft re-christens XDocs

By Alun Williams

Posted on 11 Feb 2003 at 16:41

Microsoft has chosen the moniker 'InfoPath' - think 'info gathering' - for the technology formerly codenamed XDocs.

Don't worry if you had not heard of XDocs - it is not due to be released before the summer of this year. It was first revealed in October last year - Microsoft extends Office with XML-based XDocs - by Steve Ballmer at an IT expo in London.

'Connecting XML Web Services to the Desktop' was the strap line for the Office family application. It involves the use of XML-based forms to process the flow of business information - customer relationship management (CRM) and supply chain management (SCM) are among its target markets.

Dont confuse XDocs with SmartDocs, a feature of the next version of Microsoft Office.

The name change was announced yesterday at a Healthcare Management conference in San Diego, where Microsoft is demonstrating how InfoPath can support Clinical Document Architecture (CDA), an XML standard for the healthcare industry.

'Microsoft InfoPath support for industry-standard XML schemas will be a productivity boon for a variety of vertical industries with distinct industry-specific data needs,' said Joe Eschbach, corporate VP of the Information Worker Product Management Group at Microsoft. 'With Microsoft InfoPath, valuable digital information can be gathered more quickly and accurately and can be used to drive business processes more effectively.'