At Microsoft's Mercy (O'Reilly) [LWN.net]

Kendall Grant Clark ponders the current state of XML editors on O'Reilly. "In a recent XML-Deviant column, "The Pace of Innovation", I examined the still contentious, often puzzling issue of XML tools support, especially for end users. Even after five long years of XML development, the ideal and ubiquitous "XML editor for humans" seems more rumor than reality. Could it be that we have underestimated the difficulty of building a tool with which ordinary people can easily and simply create XML content? What troubles me even more, however, was the conclusion I reached in that column, namely, that the XML creation facilities in the next major release of Microsoft Office are the best, realistic hope for the future of the documents side of XML, at least in terms of mass market success."

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