Erik writes:
> Hi Gavin, I'm XML illiterate (and just might remain so) but if I
> understand what you're saying, a mag-tape with both the datafile and the
> COBOL copylib member describing the record layout would amount to the
> same thing (and easier to use too). Am I missing something?

No, I think that would be a perfect analogy for XML.

Nobody should take my negative comments about XML as proof that there's
absolutely nothing it could possibly be useful for.  I've just gotten sick
of the hype on this one (and the 271 books on XML that Amazon reports) and
am trying to point out that you should take the claims of the XML pundits in
the press with more than one grain of salt.

Santayana said: "Those who forget history are doomed to repeat it." to which
I would add something like: Those who fail to recognize last year's (or last
decade's) information technology ideas under a new name are doomed to buy
them over and over, paying more for them (and getting less out of them) each
time.

G.