Well, there was a time when making XML-related software would have been a driver of valuations of companies in a similar way, and engineers were asked by boards

Well, there was a time when making XML-related software would have been a driver of valuations of companies in a similar way, and engineers were asked by boards to "start doing XML". I'm not even saying it's unmitigatedly a negative thing. When the question "What are we going to actually do with XML?" came up, many had good ideas, and useful tech investments started getting past boards that wouldn't otherwise have. -- So there was a lot of "collateral goodness". But people also started ripping out databases and purpose-built DSLs from existing applications just so they could replace them with something XML-based. As a way of making tech investments, it's weak. If it's 1999 and I'm asked to invest in a tech company that makes a damned good XML parser and nothing else, I'm well advised to not invest. And if I'm a CTO in a non-tech business asked to start replacing database servers with XML files, I'm well advised to not do it.