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John Cowan writes:
> > There will be adoption where [XML is] as easy and forgiving as
> > HTML was in 1994.
>
> That will never happen, thanks to draconian error recovery. Hopefully
> XML will never become such a mess as HTML has become, either.
I think that client-side XML failed simply because it didn't fill a
big enough real need (HTML 4 is close enough), not because its error
handling was too hairy. I agree with Dave Winer, however, that XML
violates the primary Internet law of being conservative in what you
produce but liberal in what you accept.
Interestingly, XML *has* succeeded in the server-side/B2B space,
precisely where the Draconian Error Recovery is an advantage rather
than a liability. As a spec, XML naturally migrated to its most
appropriate habitat, just as Java did. XML's error recovery is a
fascinating case of a design flaw (for its original, client-side
target) turning into an unexpected benefit.
All the best,
David
--
David Megginson david@m...
http://www.megginson.com/
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