Graced by good weather and San Francisco's unique charms, XML World 2001 brought together a diverse community of speakers and attendees around the ever expanding phenomenon of XML. The variety of topics addressed and the number of applications being undertaken by attendees all point to the unbridled proliferation of XML into the far reaches of business and technology. If there was a central theme for this year's XML World, it was diversity. In fact, so diverse was the range of issues being discussed that the topic soon arose, on several occasions and in several different contexts, of whether XML, in being "everywhere", was too broad a topic to be considered on its own.

In closing the conference, though, both the closing Keynote speaker, Dr. Charles Goldfarb, and the conference chair, drew the attention of attendees to the fact that "diversity" is, in fact, the key to XML and to its ability to solve business and technology problems in every sector and at many levels. It is this "diversity" that has made it so interesting and so popular. It was also emphasized that the roots of XML extend equally towards the information prepared and used by people and the data prepared and used by applications. In fact, the web phenomenon has been making it clear that the feasibility of distinguishing between information resources oriented to people and those resources oriented to applications is quickly disappearing. Recognizing the ability of XML to bridge the gaps between people and applications is the key to seeing why XML is proliferating across so many industries and sectors. Recognizing this fact highlights the importance of keeping at least one eye on XML itself even while specific domains of application rise and fall in the media limelight.