Once again, I'll be chairing the XML track for Software Development 2005 West in Santa Clara next March. The Call for Proposals for is now live. Besides XML, tracks include Web Services, Java, Emerging Technologies, C++, Requirements & Analysis, .NET, and Mobile Development. Plus we have two new tracks this year: System Security and Scripting. Submissions are due by August 6th.
For the XML track, we're interested in practical sessions covering all aspects of XML. This is not specifically an XML show, so we tend to find that our audience responds better to more practical, how-to, basic sessions as opposed to more theoretical, high-level sessions. For instance, a simple introduction to XQuery would go over better than a detailed comparison of XQuery optimization techniques. One thing previous attendees have told us is that they'd like to see more new sessions at each show, so we're going to be looking preferentially for talks that have not previously been given at SD West.
Sonic Software has released Stylus Studio 5.3, a $395 payware XML editor for Windows. Features include:
IBM's alphaWorks has updated the XML Schema Quality Checker. This program reads "an XML Schema written in the W3C XML schema language and diagnoses improper uses of the schema language." This update appears to be avery minor bug fix release.