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Save XQuery on the Microsoft .NET Framework – Ten Ways You Can Help!

So you want to help save XQuery on the Microsoft .NET framework, but you don't know what to do. We didn't either, so yesterday at lunch we got together and jotted down (yes, on a napkin. How did you know?) 10 simple things you can do to help make the world a better place to code. Let XQuery ring!

1. Sign our Petition to Save XQuery

What makes Microsoft such a great company is that they listen to their customers! Maybe not right away (not everyone can be as responsive as Stylus Studio), but in time they respond to significant customer demand. Let's speed up the clock! By signing the Stylus Studio Petition to Save XQuery on the Microsoft .NET 2.0 Framework, you can send a clear message to Redmond that XQuery is too important a technology to be shut out from the Microsoft client/mid-tier and thereby help simplify future data integration headaches.

2. Tell your friends and co-workers

The world's IT community is not as vast as you might think. Ok, +8 million people (as some estimates hold) is nothing to sneeze at, but remember this: we're all part of a global village! Try this: think of all the co-workers and industry friends that you know. Add to that number all the people each one of them knows. Repeat this a few times, and you'll be at 8 million before you finish reading this list (even leaving out all your friends in Internet chat rooms)! That's right! We're just one big IT family, and it's pretty easy to get out the word about XQuery by just telling your friends and co-workers. (People talk. Trust us.) Shy? We created this nifty email-a-friend page to help make getting out the word about XQuery easier.

3. Know the facts about XQuery

The 2005 Stylus Studio XQuery Industry Study of 550 XML developers revealed that over half of XML developers have already started working with XQuery, and many more indicate that they have plans to start using XQuery in the next year. But don't take our word for it (after all, we're biased "stakeholders") – a 2005 survey by Evans Data of database developers (the World's leading developer market research firm) revealed that "44% of those surveyed said they are using XQuery, or plan to -- even though the final XQuery specs have yet to be put in place.", and another survey by DevX (the premier online technical information source for application development professionals) found in a poll of 302 software developers, 43% said that "We implemented XQuery and it's incredibly useful", and another 16% said that "we'll be using [XQuery] soon, too".

While surveys and industry studies provide insight into the viability and adoption rate of a particular technology, what really matters is the actual experiences of real-world customers and their feedback. Recently, DynCorp (CSC), the contractor for NASA's Johnson Space Center Aircraft Operations in Houston, Texas turned to XQuery to help simplify their XML data integration project. Here's what Mike Ritchson, a Systems Integrator working on the project team had to say about his experiences using XQuery: "It's rare in this business that you come across a software technology that is more powerful, easier to use, faster, actually lets us increase application requirements, and not to mention, is free to use– but in truth, that was our experience with XQuery and we were thrilled with the results." Learn more about how XQuery is blasting off at NASA today!

4. Blog about saving XQuery

Admit it – you have a blog. (It's okay, everyone does). So, instead of the same-old "What I did today" fare or the tired "I'm so sorry for not updating my blog" screed, how about dedicating just one day's post about this important issue and save XQuery for future generations? We've even created several webby (think edgy, but for the Web) graphics to add to your site!

5. Spread the word on developer forums

There are thousands of developer newsgroups, email discussion forums, and online developer forums, and chances are you post messages to one or more of them periodically. (When you're not busy blogging, of course.) These forums are the coffee shops, churches, and town halls of the Internet global village – great hang-outs for developers and other IT professionals who might be sympathetic to the cause. Help get out the word about XQuery in your developer forums! The revolution will not be televised, but it will be broadcast.

6. Write about your own experiences with XQuery

Stylus Studio's XQuery Zone is the biggest XQuery developer portal in the world and gets thousands of visitors every day. If you email us a letter explaining how you used XQuery and why you think XQuery should be kept in the Microsoft .NET framework, or at the very least, why you think Microsoft ought to make some kind of commitment to XQuery in the client/mid-tier in the near future, we'll do our best to post it here for all to see. With your permission, we'll showcase excerpts from the best letters in The Stylus Scoop, our official XQuery newsletter that goes out to the quarter-million registered users of Stylus Studio every month.

7. Don't hide your light under a bushel

If you're an author, a speaker, product manager, Microsoft MVP, or technology evangelist, then you're an influential member of the software community! And as Spiderman the Movie taught us – with great power comes great responsibility. Roughly translated, this means that it's your duty to fight for truth, justice and, of course, XQuery for all – Java and Microsoft developers alike. The XQuery cause desperately needs spokespeople from different industries and technology backgrounds to galvanize the masses – email us if you are willing to help.

8. Tell the mainstream IT media, too.

If you're friends with a journalist or analyst who writes for the mainstream IT media, tell him or her about our efforts to save XQuery! If you're a journalist reading this, drop what you're doing and contact us to schedule an interview with an actual XQuery user or spokespersonsright now (see the note in #7 about us trying to recruit spokespeople)!

9. Get involved with the XQuery community

We know – between youth soccer, your book club, and the local paint ball league, you're already feeling over-committed. But did you know that there are a lot of ways to get involved and interact with the XQuery community from the comfort of your computer chair? The Stylus Studio web site alone has too many ways to list but quickly, but check out the XQuery Help and Discussion forum, and apply for an XQuery Innovator Award to showcase your innovative XQuery use-case to the world!

10. Learn XQuery

Okay. Let's not lose sight of why we fight: XQuery is the most productive and easy-to-use technology for querying, manipulating, and integrating XML data across different data sources anywhere on the Internet, both in the database and in the mid-tier, too. The best way to uphold the value of XQuery is to learn XQuery, and the fastest way to learn is by doing! You can download Stylus Studio's XQuery tools for free! And you can take advantage of several free XQuery learning resources, including an XQuery tutorial, an XQuery FAQ, XQuery from the XPerts', and so much more. We cannot lose touch with the inherent value that is at the heart of XQuery technologies, else we have let the XQuery nay-sayers win.

Epilogue

Thirty years from now, we'll all be living happily in a fully connected world, enjoying seamless access to information from every database, device, appliance, and application on the planet; the world will be at peace, we'll have saved the environment, world hunger, cured terrible diseases (etc.) - all thanks to the power of XQuery technologies in the middle tier. The work we do now, together, as a community of XML and XQuery enthusiasts, will help save XQuery on the Microsoft .NET 2.0 Framework and ultimately make the world a better place for our children, and our children's children. And when they ask you, "Daddy [Mommy], what did you do to help save XQuery in 2005?" you can look them in the eye and tell them proudly, "Why, child, I did what any right-thinking application developer would do. I stood shoulder to shoulder with Stylus Studio. And I'd do it again tomorrow. Now, where's the remote?"

On behalf of application developers and integration architects like you everywhere, we thank you for your support.

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