It turns out that the Metadata Coalition’s interchange specification did not after all get voted on at the Database Client Server World show last week (CI No 2,821). It is pitching for a June 1 date for the specification now. Official explanations included absenteeism and requests for more time from new members. From what we understand, a draft specification due on February 15 was only released last week. A Coalition meeting has been scheduled for DBExpo in San Francisco on April 16 to 18. The specification is supposed to standardize the input and export of flat file data formats so they can be accessed by different tools and across multiple systems. Compliant tools are expected by year-end. Metadata Coalition officials would only say the specification is now due in the summer.
