Brief History of XML

Barry Schaeffer of x.Systems has written an excellent piece on XML technology in Internet Journal:

In the decades-long discussion of how to manage data, one branch of the conversation has always confused me. Since the latter 1960s, the text community has grappled with the inherent contradiction that lies in all textual material; it must retain its rich, flowing nature in order to retain its meaning and coherence, but it must also be viewed as a collection of overlapping logical structures in order to be properly automated. This isn't much of a challenge for a reasonably well-educated human--the brain just works that way--but it has proven a real challenge for the computer industry.

I spent Tuesday at the monthly meeting of the federal XML work group and am working on an account of the meeting.