Don't you sometimes wish that accessing database data were easier, and you didn't have to deal with such things as OLE DB, ODBC, and JDBC—that you could use just one uniform approach to access the data regardless of the location and type?
Yes, but I don't see how any of the data access mechanisms listed have anything to do with the problem as each serves a different application domain.
Well, guess what? You won't have to wait too much longer to see this dream become reality. All major vendors are not only working on this issue seriously but have already started releasing SDKs for exactly this purpose. The point of commonality between them is XML. Like it or not, XML is becoming a standard part of programmers' lives because it's simple and easy to understand structure make it a suitable format for transferring data between disparate applications and platforms. But the real power of XML lies in its ability to not only extend itself, but also define itself.
This is all well and good but it is XML, yes a uniforming technology, but the opening paragraph undermines the pont!
XML For Analysis is just another addition to the pool of data access mechanisms, it is an XML./SOAP based data access mechanism for Tabular and Mulitdimensional Data and without our implementation XMLA simply offers little to anyone trying to get at tabular data (SQL Data) as many of the current implementers fall into the OLAP camp, and there is no standard query language for persistenf CUBES (MDX from Microsoft is de facto at best). Thus, without Virtuoso tabular data (where the real data actually resides) is out of the picture.
So we say goodbye to ODBC, JDBC, OLE DB to get what exactly? From our perspective, another showcase opportunity, but for the innocent readers of this article I haven't got the faintest idea.