Microsoft Access should support the ability to use an XML file as a linked table, just like it supports linking a table to a SQL backend.

Further, if they include an XML parser it would be easy to implement a web service linked table.

For example, a supplier may publish their price list as a DataSet returned from a WebService. By entering the path to the WebService then selecting the function, Access could then import this as a linked table.

Figure: Access supports links to many data sources, but not XML