Using XML for web pages is just the tip of the XML story. With XML you can store information about your documents and pieces of your document. You can then use that information as criteria for displaying page -- but also for validating digital signatures, sharing data across systems, processing data for other applications.

Once you have an agreed-up method of storing metadata, the possibilities are almost endless.

With B2B e-commerce expected to reach $1.3 trillion by 2003 and $7.3 trillion by 2004, XML promises to be a key enabling technology.