An interesting quote from Frank Atanassow in a discussion Lambda the Ultimate What's Wrong With RDF? This may help to explain why XML advocates are so strident about syntax: if they were to admit the negation of the proposition "syntax does matter", then they would have to revise all the consequences of that proposition, on which the greatest part of their ideology is founded. Frank goes on to say I think the importance of syntax is dwarfed by the importance of semantics, and most of my ideology vis-a-vis PLs is founded on the fact. That's a position I agree with.