Re: XML Attributes

Good point, but the fact is that paper PO's are meant to be read by
humans.  Humans, except for consultants, have the ability to reason or
at the very least to call someone who is capable of reason.  A computer
program doesn't have such luxury.  If a human sees 50 different styles
of PO's a day he or she can figure out what the data means and what info
is needed, any standards for paper PO's would only speed up the process
but that is all.   

On the other hand a program depends on the layout of the document in
order to decide what the data is and what info it needs to collect.  The
computer program has no life line, it can't call a buddy, poll the
audience or ask for a 50/50.  So standards are essential if the
documents are intended for use by software.  

A document intended for humans eyes only can look like anything because
a human can change its approach to the data, but a computer program
can't -- it needs to see the same layout each time.

> never heard of EDI, do you all the paper POs from your customers look the
> same?  Of course NOT.  one customer may send you a single PO with a single
> ship to location, another may send you a single PO and at the detail level
> of the PO order 10 widgets and have you ship 1 widget to 10 different
> locations.  Do you dis the paper POs as not being "standard", of course NOT.
> Some industries have attempted to create a subset implementation of an ANSI
> x.12 document in order to speed implementation in a certain industry
> segment.  Basically, the customer sets the rules for EDI and the vendor does
> what ever it takes.  I don't see XML changing that at all.
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