Re: [xml-dev] XML as fall guy

[Steve Newcomb <srn@coolheads.com>]

Simon's SlashDot link is full of fightin' words, some aimed at XML, some
at NoSQL, and some at MarkLogic.  In the best tradition of Roger
Costello, let me quote of the ones that spoke to XML, here, and see what
comments at accrues.

"...XML, JSON and XQuery are all *data-interchange formats*. Using them
to run your database internals is like using a screwdriver as a hammer."

(which was posted by Chris Mattern)

Personally, I find myself sympathetic to this remark.  I once thought
that *everything* is best considered a matter of data interchange, in
view of the fact that hapless human beings have to make the internals of
systems actually work.  Reading core dumps, for example, is no fun at all.

I don't think that way any more, though, mostly because of the hapless
human beings who need work to be done quickly and cheaply, and hapless
contractors who compete on those grounds.

I also *hate* it when a customer predetermines the solution to a problem
before the problem has been fully specified. (I hate it almost as much
as when the customer wants to spend money but *not* solve any problems.
 Which happens a lot!)

On 11/24/2013 01:38 PM, Simon St.Laurent wrote:
> Apparently systems that take XML seriously are "too unfamiliar".
> 
> To be honest, of course, in any kind of visible failure, the piece
> that's least similar to the rest will get attacked extra.
> 
> "Another sore point was the Medicare agency’s decision to use database
> software, from a company called MarkLogic, that managed the data
> differently from systems by companies like IBM, Microsoft and Oracle.
> CGI officials argued that it would slow work because it was too
> unfamiliar. Government officials disagreed, and its configuration
> remains a serious problem."
> 
> <http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/23/us/politics/tension-and-woes-before-health-website-crash.html>
> 
> 
> and:
> 
> <http://developers.slashdot.org/story/13/11/24/1437203/nyt-healthcaregov-project-chaos-due-partly-to-unorthodox-database-choice>
> 
> 
> Thanks,