Originally Posted by hobbes
Whenever data is transferred between disparate systems, it must be structured in some way that is understandable to the communicating systems. Structured information contains both content and some indication of what role that content plays. Tags provide structure and meaning to data.
The article does not propose an alternative approach to data transfer that provides the key advantages of XML - flexibility, simplicity, interoperability - without the use of tags. It is the problems faced by older complex data transfer mechanisms like EDI that led to the evolution and increased acceptance of XML.
Bottomline: The benefits of using XML in the right context outweigh the extra storage space it takes up in the database.