3D-XML

XML has revolutionized how we manipulate information by effectively separating content structure from the content itself. No longer do programmers need to worry about what a particular data stream contains as long as it conforms to the XML spec. Conversely, content providers need never worry again about the mechanics of publishing their information, which alleviates a huge headache. XML is at the heart of the latest Web Services craze and promises to open up whole new categories of composite applications (see Halsey Minor's Grand Central Communications for a great example) that would have been impossible to do just a few years ago (anyone remember Asera?). Ultimately, it's a move from closed, proprietary interfaces to open, standardized ones with all the attendant benefits. But these advantages are really only available in the digital world. On the physical interface front, precious little has been done. There are standardized electronics connectors - USB, IEEE-based things (Firewire, etc.) and MIDI, standardized techniques (how to safely build a house out of wood) and standardized testing bodies ("UL-listed") but nothing even remotely close to XML exists with respect to the formal elegance it imposes on the discrete components of, say, a web site or a financial transaction. In the 3D world there is no formal, standardized roadmap for the construction of any physical interface. Shouldn't there be a high level way to define how, for example, I should connect my computer to my car? Or connect my sink to my refrigerator. Or my computer to my sink(?) Is there a model one could set up that neatly defines the separation of the interface structure from the interface presentation? No, or at least not to my knowledge. It's an interesting issue that may, in fact, have no answer. Digital content is really just ones and zeros, so at a fundamental level, it's all the same fabric. The physical world is far from that simple so it may be that getting to a common interface definition can't happen (at least not unless you're comfortable talking about atoms). Need to think more about this.