Is it just me or does this document from the W3C (but apparently with a personal voice) claim that the HTTP protocol should be rebuilt using an XML format for headers and the like? If so, I disagree. XML is a good format for structuring data while keeping it partially readable, but what makes it the panacea for all design problems? The current HTTP header format is easy to read. The data in HTTP headers is less structured than what XML allows; using XML to package HTTP messages, which themselves are in XML, would lead to excessive escaping of control characters. Current HTTP headers are simple and comparatively elegant. Verdict: the hyperactive XML-fascists should be stopped before they uproot all existing technologies in favor of a uniform < >.

The author also says:

Languages, like resources may be living or frozen. Making the language a living language is in my opinion dangerous and asking for HTML-like divergence.

The divergent forms that HTML has taken over these past 10 years has been annoying and unfortunate, but is freezing a language the only way to avoid that kind of diaspora? The growth of HTML coincided with an unprecedented (?) period of irrational exuberance, and the language was brought to its current state mainly by a maniacal land-rush process. Wouldn't a measure of cooperation and patience for the standards process allow the language to live, while keeping it close to the nest?