> I've gotten the informal impression that incidental complexity (you know, complexity arising not from the problem but the solution) is a factor behind the hug

> I've gotten the informal impression that incidental complexity (you know, complexity arising not from the problem but the solution) is a factor behind the hugeness of the XML ecosystem You are absolutely correct. As Phil Wadler put it: "The essence of XML is this: the problem it solves is not hard, and it does not solve the problem well." It makes a trivial issue into a byzantine enterprise. But, it has created a whole industry of 'experts', standard committees and other busybodies, so it must be good for the economy at least!