The XML crowd - as a group - is terminally insane.

Its a huge circle jerk of rules, transforms, types, schemas, DTDs, pockets, packets, etc.

I spent a month on the xml developers list trying to figure out where these people are coming from. I learned:

1) Many of them don't even code and never have. They are cocktail party architects.
2) The few that have done some coding are brycian anti-object zealots.
3) They love complexity. Creating puzzles for themselves and then trying to solve them.
4) The are splintered into lots of little factions that don't agree and thus thrash constantly.

As an example, I posted something to the effect of "I don't get it - what is all this for and when and where do I want to use it?"

The argument lasted 2 weeks. No consensus was reached. The best answer was "its an interchange format - not a working format".

I'm not holding my breath.