People unrepresented on xml-dev are unlikely to speak up in a discussion on xml-dev... Could you point us at some archived mailing list or usenet discussions where people expressed and discussed their need for named character references?
-- Robin Berjon <robin.berjon@expway.fr> Research Scientist, Expway http://expway.com/ 7FC0 6F5F D864 EFB8 08CE 8E74 58E6 D5DB 4889 2488