[jasonwatkinspdx]

If you read the annotated xml spec, it really is quality work. I don't necessarily agree with every design decision, but I think a lot of people look at the complexity of xml applications and falsely blame xml itself.

Sadly there were some sensible early formats that were left behind. XML-RPC's serialization is a bit verbose but otherwise is quite similar to JSON. Somehow that got turned into SOAP and then eventually the WS- tar pit of complexity.

Likewise XML as a configuration file language can be quite elegant, almost like a literate coding version of common .ini or .conf files. But instead of this simple flat document littered with variables, xml config files in the wild end up with deeply nested structure that contributes dubious value and makes the files far less human friendly.

XML itself, with the possible exception of namespaces and a few other features, is quite simple. I totally agree it's the applications that have gotten out of hand, particularly in areas where XML is used as structured data exchange rather than document markup.