Re: [xml-dev] XML has enabled the exponential progress of _______(fill i

[Michael Kay <mike@saxonica.com>]

> XML's long-term contribution isn't that it solved data exchange 
> problems.  It's that it made it possible for people to believe those 
> problems could be addressed on some useful level.
>
> Both of these effects are primarily social rather than computational.
>
I would put it differently: XML has solved data exchange problems, and 
yes -- the reason is that those problems are primarily social.

I saw any number of groups struggling in the 1980s and 1990s with 
defining data exchange standards, who failed because they got bogged 
down with syntax and encoding issues; once XML came on the scene, they 
were able to raise the level of debate and discuss the semantics (where 
they actually had some useful expertise).

Michael Kay
Saxonica