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Although XML-based database management systems--not to be confused with DBMSes that can import or export data in XML format--are starting to appear, not everyone's convinced by the idea. "The whole XML database phenomenon is a furphy," says Hubbub's Janson, who believes SQL Server and Oracle are too well entrenched to be displaced. The latest released versions of systems are already well down the track of growing the required XML integration features, he says.
Monash's Hurst agrees: while he uses an XML database for his Christmas card list, he suggests it is less suited for larger applications although the ease with which the data delivered can be served to the Web can give it an advantage. However, XML as a format "gives the user far more flexibility and choice...in that context, XML beats anything else hands down," he says.
Teething problems
StarBase's French warns that the power of XML is simultaneously good news and bad news. Good because the absence of prescribed use-cases means it can support any interpretation; bad because that means it's open to any interpretation. Good because it's easily integrated into almost any information architecture; bad because it supports anyone's architectural vision, even bad ones.
The appropriate application of a fashionable technology is often an issue. "Just because a system uses XML doesn't mean that it leverages the power of XML," warns Peter Moore, CEO of Cortex eBusiness, arguing that many developers cause more problems than they solve by using XML without understanding why.
Just because you can use a particular tool for a job, that doesn't mean it's the best choice. "Everybody wants to use XML," says Kanbay's Boyle, "but it adds overhead to the system so it might be more efficient to use a file-based interface." He also warns that it can make an interface slower and harder to change, though as Dimension Data found, that's not always the case.
