Many software developers who are not too familiar with XML assume that it is a huge and complex technology. XML itself is actually very simple, it is all the tools and specifications that have grown up around it that are complex.

Current XML development at the W3C threatens to obliterate the original promise of XML -- a clean, cheap format for sharing information -- by piling on too many features and obscuring what XML does best. "XML Ain't What It Used To Be" in XML.COM by Simon St. Laurent (simonstl.com)