I'm not sure the two relate. Textual is still made of bits, just more of them. As a stream, they can be checked via TCP for completeness and order, iirc. The da

I'm not sure the two relate. Textual is still made of bits, just more of them. As a stream, they can be checked via TCP for completeness and order, iirc. The danger, I suppose, is that they might be interpreted incorrectly, but that's why you've a versioned spec. Like SSL and HTTP itself, negotiate based on what the browser says it supports and the server prefers, and that's that. Binaries for software or "golden master" images for the OS are fragile not because they're binary, but because they aren't versioned as easily and they can deviate from the golden master. While on the web, a new golden master of your app/doc is a refresh away and there is such version negotiation.