xml-dev - RE: The failure to communicate XML - and its costs to e-business

[Steve Boyce <SteveB@hbs.com>]

> o  XML processor.  Tough.  To really Get It, 
> someone has to become acquainted with the 
> InfoSet.

That's *really* true, that it's hard.  And I think the reason why it was
hard for me, and probably for most people, is coming from a database
background.  In this sense, one starts off mentally mapping XML, schemas,
etc., back into familiar database territory.  The Infoset is alien to this
mental model.   

> Otherwise, Steve's example about the 
> page being presentable vs being more 
> functional is really about as deep 
> as the Dvorak's need to understand. 

Thanks for that! My point is that talking about a long list of specs is to
miss the point about selling XML and is in fact falling into the trap set by
Dvorak.  Rather, we need to get across a simple message with concrete
examples about "the world before XML" and "the world after XML."  

Steve