Compared to the large number of HTML editors available in the market today, there are only a few editors out there for XML, and Austria-based Altovas XML Spy is probably one of the best among these.

The buzzword in Excel 2003 is XML, best illustrated by the new mapping feature. This lets you map cells, columns and ranges to data held in XML data sources, so you can create Excel workbooks showing data from Web Services or other back-end data stores. The XML data is validated on input into Excel against a custom XML Schema under your control. Excel can also save your work in a native XML workbook format, which keeps any formatting but avoids the proprietary XLS file format. You may also, however, save data as a pure XML data file, leaving any formatting in the template. This XML data file can be put through BizTalk or imported into a back-end database.

Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the web, has a vision for newer, smarter web. Tim Dean looks at how the future of the web might work.

It has been over two years since we previewed Office XP, but Microsoft has finally given us a glimpse of Office 2003. The finished version should be on the shelves by the end of July, but will it be worth the upgrade? The answer could be an emphatic 'yes' if you're a Tablet PC user, as Microsoft has just launched OneNote (see page 59), making full use of electronic ink. The company is also introducing InfoPath (see page 59) for designing electronic forms, with the flexibility of XML. The classic apps have also had their seen refurbishment, with Outlook (page 56) getting the most attention, and FrontPage and Publisher (page 58) a bit of a revamp.

Silverlight and Office Open XML combined in 'TextGlow'.

Silverlight and Office Open XML combined in 'TextGlow'.

At its heart, you can think of InfoPath as being a forms engine. Drag the item you need onto the page, wire it up to a data source, and you have something akin to Microsoft Access. But that's where the similarities end.

With its cosmetically enhanced menus and toolbars, Word 2003 is now smoother and prettier, but the bulk of Microsoft's efforts are hidden under the surface. There are a quite a number of enhancements that will appeal to everyone, but the majority of Word's new features are aimed at the corporate market, with support for XML, Smart documents and IRM (Information Rights Management).

Despite the profusion of point-and-click web-design software, there’s still no excuse for not knowing HTML. Will Head walks you through the basics

Impressive and free antivirus and antispyware package

Impressive and free antivirus and antispyware package

Impressive and free antivirus and antispyware package

Impressive and free antivirus and antispyware package

New effects enable richer design results, while a host of other improvements boost productivity.

Impressive and free antivirus and antispyware package

Impressive and free antivirus and antispyware package

Impressive and free antivirus and antispyware package

Impressive and free antivirus and antispyware package

Again, SharePoint and XML support separate Access 2003 from its predecessors, and Access can now import and export XML data using custom Schemas. Exports can employ XSLT transforms to match data formats to other custom Schemas, and you may include related data such as look-up tables so you export structured data.

A company named i4i wins a legal battle over patent covering a document formatting system.