From: Valdis(_dot_)Kletnieks(_at_)vt(_dot_)edu
[mailto:Valdis(_dot_)Kletnieks(_at_)vt(_dot_)edu]
Of course, the concept that we should redo all the RFCs into XML
so they are
more pleasing on a GameBoy-class display misses the point that rfc1.txt is
still readable 32 years after being written, while both the XML and the
display you're trying to support will probably be history within a decade.
I am not sure I agree with the statement that in 10 years XML will be history.
One of XML's greatest values is in the fact that it is a good format for
long-term archiving of written material. Some very old material (several
millenia old) is available in XML format -- that's more than the 32 years for
RFC1. ;-) The reason old text has been converted to XML is not so that people
can read it on a GameBoy, but so that it can be archived, indexed, converted to
other formats, etc. An alternative point of view is that in 10 years XML will
have achieved a critical mass, so that it becomes as entrenched as many other
standards: ASCII, TCP/IP, C, etc.
My original point about XML is that you can convert to whatever format suits
you. You want plain ASCII text? Prefer to archive in plain text? You can.
It's not taking anything away, but it does offer a bit more.
--
Doug Sauder