XML vs. HTML

[Karen G. Schneider]

With all due respect, no one on the list asked if XML were necessary.  The
question is whether XML is inevitable.  Gazing into my own, highly personal
crystal ball, and having had an expert tutor me in its fundamentals, I say
yes.  Like Roy said, it just needs the right application to support it.
The first time I saw the Web, through the Cern line-mode browser, I said
"this will never catch on."  Even when I used lynx, I thought it was not
everyman's tool or a major force to reckon with, and in many ways it
wasn't.  But the day I spent 17 hours (literally) struggling to get Mosaic
up and running on my home computer and then at 10 p.m. saw the Internet
through a graphical interface--I knew what it felt like to step on the
moon.  I actually had to leave the house and drive up and down Route 23
(NJ) for an hour just to get the adrenaline out of my system.  

With respect to XML, what I don't know is whether that special tool will
emerge, whether it will get the right support, whether another technology
will surface, or whether XML will be completely OBE'd (overcome by events).
 Time will tell.    
_________________________________________________________
Karen G. Schneider |  kgs at bluehighways.com http://www.bluehighways.com
Author: A Practical Guide to Internet Filters, Neal Schuman, 1997 
Director, Garfield Library of Brunswick, NY  garfield at crisny.org
Garfield on the Web: http://www.crisny.org/not-for-profit/garfield
Information is hard work
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