Microsoft is on the hunt for control of the online marketplace, on one front promoting the kind of computer language that will be used to build Web sites, and on another going after the Internet service provider (ISP) market America Online has carved out for itself.

This week Singapore and Microsoft announced they had added new private partners to a programme to build new Web site portals based on XML, or extensible markup language.

XML is an Internet system for viewing Web pages and transmitting formatted data. It is a public language being developed though the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). In promoting XML, Microsoft sees its main competitor as the Java language being promoted by Sun Microsystems. This is a fight over which standards that will govern our methods of communicating data over the Internet.

Using XML web builders can create specialised markup languages. Compare this with HTML, or hypertext markup language, which is a collection of formatting commands that create hypertext documents, the manner in which we view most Web pages.

When you point a Web browser to a home page address, called a URL, the browser interprets the commands embedded in the page and uses them to format the page's text and graphic elements.

When you next go on the Internet use the 'View' menu on your browser to see the type of 'Source' commands used on a particular page.

Here is Microsoft's strategy on this front. The company hopes to develop XML as the main communications language allowing applications or systems to describe and share information, regardless of the platform or programming language used to create them.

The language could be used on or off the Internet for internal or external communications or data transmissions with a range of devices.

Microsoft then hopes to build what it calls XML Web Services, a system of Internet-connected applications that provide data and services.

A web service is software available over the Internet using XML as the method of transmission.

XML, and XML Web Services form part of Microsoft's .NET programme, through which the company hopes to conquer cyberspace. The .NET programme is an attempt to develop a whole integrated platform of XML-based applications, and Web sites as services that share and combine information on any platform or smart device.

Hence Singapore as the test lab for the project, named by the government as .NET MySingapore. The project marks a renewed effort by the government to provide increased Web services in the city state. Singapore's trade union-linked insurance firm, NTUC Income, has already launched an XML-based portal, www.BigTrumpet.com.sg, for one million policyholders and the public.

While we will all welcome the services offered to improve our lives and save us time from the many humdrum tasks that entail waiting in a line, this also will be a very important project to watch for all those interested in holding a line on how far a government and businesses, given the technology, can intrude into our lives.

Will the Singapore government, with its record of autocratic control of freedom of speech, the press, and behaviour, develop .NET MySingapore in the shape of its policies on such matters? You bet.

In another development Microsoft has moved aggressively to compete with America Online (AOL) as an ISP provider. AOL is set to launch a new version of its software allowing dialup access to its portal into Web services and information.

In lockstep Microsoft has launched a US$300 million media campaign for a new version of its MSN software. Microsoft claims MSN has nine million subscriptions, up from the 8.7 million reported in July this year.

AOL claims it has 35 million subscribers.

Throw away your pocket magnifiers - Opera has released new browser software it claims can display entire web pages on mobile phones. Opera says its has found a way to reformat existing HTML sites to fit on small screens, allowing pages designed for computer monitors to be displayed on wireless devices in a more readable format.

This will save users from having to scroll from side to side to see a page.

The new browser will automatically reshuffle a page to stack tables vertically. Opera also selectively scales down large images or removes those that are superfluous.

Users will be able to zoom pages in and out, to get an overview of a particular page. Opera expects to release the new browser during the first quarter of 2003. Visit www.opera.com for screen shot views of how the Web pages will be reformatted for the small screen.

Tech Tattle deals with issues relating to technology. Contact Ahmed at editoroffshoreon.com.