Re: xml vs xhtml

> XML ~~WILL~~ be here tomorrow. Learn it fluently - starting today.

I disagree.  According to the W3C it has already been here a number of years
and we MISSED IT!

The original draft spec was written Nov 1996 (see
http://www.w3.org/TR/WD-xml-961114.html and the 1.0 version was published as
a "proposed recommendation" in Dec 1997. That's all they do, make proposals.
It's up to us to accept them or reject them.  For something that has been
around about 5 years, I have to say the response by the Internet industry
has been underwhealming. If it weren't for the press, which knows very
little, XML would be totally forgotten by now.

There is a lot of hype and a lot of promises for the future, but the
hardcore day-to-day folks that churn out new web pages have pretty much
ignored it.  I know in my guts that XHTML 1.0 was published by the W3C to
stir up interest in a flagging standard.

I can see some uses in corporate America.  Take car manufacturers for
example.  Ford could create an XML DTD that would benefit sharing data with
its dealers.  GM could do the same.

On the other hand look at highly competitive industries like bedding.  I
don't ever see those folks coming together to create a common DTD for their
dealers.  What good are ten different standards for the same type of
product?  That ain't no standard.

Until there are tools that allow the easy creation of a DTD and affordable
database driven XML generators on the server side, XML will remain a
high-end toy.

Never believe everything you read and only half of what you see or touch.

XML - you'll find it in your rear view mirror!  :-D

Paul Wilson
webgooru(at)gte.net

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