I like the XML format better too. It's also easier* to parse if you start using XPath, if for any reasons you need to quickly read/write some of the values. *

I like the XML format better too. It's also easier* to parse if you start using XPath, if for any reasons you need to quickly read/write some of the values. * Except when a default namespace is involved, then XPath expressions get more complicated. But according to that blog, it looks like the VS team ditched the default xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003" http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003" namespace in the <Project> root :)