I was slightly involved in writing a few items in the XmlDevCon Top Ten List.  Here was my complete submission, some of which were used in the final.

Top Ten <Dirty Little=“True”>System.Xml</Dirty> Secrets

10. “Boxing” was almost called “Richtering”

9. Tim Bray and company meant the whole thing as a goof. And you bought it!

8. The original idea was quotes and commas, not angle brackets.

7. The Semantic Web was planned as the “Symantec Web,” and before that, “Norton’s Web”

6. The System.Sells.Ewald.Box.Brown.Fritz.GenX subsystem is wholly under-utilized.

5. Xml was even more useful back when it was called EDI.

5.5 (optional) WSDL Contracts with the Devil for your Soul must now include a Hell-specific Binding.

4. Xml 1.2 plans to be even more flexible than Xml 1.1 when it becomes a candidate recommendation in the spring of 2023.

3. Orcas plans to introduce a File | New | Enterprise wizard. “Looks like you’re opening an insurance agency! Can I help you with that?”

2. Indigo will soon include the “From Your Lips to God’s Ear” transport to replace DCOM.

1. Xml was dreamed up in order to give Ewald more opportunities to say “deterministic,” “infoset” and “a priori”