Mummy, what happens when I die?

Said the baby document to its parent document.

"Well dear, just like all of us in the Contract family, your life is all mapped out for you.

Even in your granny's day life has followed the same journey.

 
 

There was a time, back in the years before 2007 when documents were free to run around anywhere they liked. Back in the swinging days before the Office system, unruly documents did whatever they felt like. But people didn't look after their documents and many of them would wander off and get lost forever. "

 
 

"Gosh mummy that sounds scary!"

 
 

"It was - documents weren't raised properly and got themselves into all sorts of trouble. Some didn't even know their own meta-data poor things. "

 
 

"But mummy surely someone could just read their metadata for them? - like uncle DOM - he knows everything about documents"

 
 

"No even uncle DOM couldn't read their meta-data because back then they weren't honest true to the core XML documents. No back then documents didn't all get along like they do now in happy Office system world and many just couldn't or wouldn't talk to each other at all.

 
 

But all that’s changed now. We are proud to be documents of the new generation - yes we are happy and secure, standing on the one version of the truth, strong on the Windows Workflow Foundation. You come from a proud family, the Contract family. My mummy, your granny, was the first Contract - she taught me our values and how to live our lives and you inherit the same metadata yourself just like all your brothers and sisters out there being good contracts in the big wide state machine. "

 
 

"But where do documents know where to go?"

 
 

"Well that depends on how good you are and whether you get the approval of the people you meet. But you will know, when the time is right, where you need to go next. And at the end of your life, you will meet your end like a good contract, with courage and integrity and no corrupt thoughts. All us contracts have a place reserved for us in records heaven. There, nobody every gets sick and nobody ever needs to worry about getting lost. Life is ordered there where all documents are complete. There documents will live forever and never change. There is rest there with no more web services to complete or workflows to do."