Re: [xml-dev] [ANN] "Future of Software and Databases" NetSeminar(December 3)

[Mike Champion <mc@xegesis.org>]

10/26/2002 4:23:01 AM, tblanchard@mac.com wrote:

>If XML is an "interchange" format - then why am I storing it?  

What (authoritative) source gave you the impression that XML is 
only, or even primarily, an "interchange" format?  It started
life as "SGML for the Web", and SGML is not primarily an interchange
format.  Its usefulness as an interchange format is alluded to in the
XML 1.0 spec, IIRC, but not stressed.

Anyway, "interchange" formats have a way of needing to be stored
efficiently and reliably, with transaction management, queries, 
reporting, etc. as the sheer volume of the data increases, the
importance of the data for business increases, and the transactions
become longer-running and more stateful.  The logical way to handle
data that must be handled efficiently, reliably, queried, and 
with transaction management is in a DBMS.  Hence specialized 
XML DBMS's evolved, and RDBMS's have added XML support.  

You should hang out with Fabian Pascal (http://www.dbdebunk.com) -- he
also thinks we're all bozos on the XML bus  :-)