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Micah Dubinko

Wed, 14 Sep 2005

Is it the end of an era?

Or the start of a new one? This weeks XML-Deviant column is the last, and it contains this notice:

Editor's Note: In this column, Micah Dubinko concludes XML.com's longest running column, XML-Deviant, by looking back at how things have changed and how they've stayed the same. It's time for XML.com to evolve, now that the classic era of core XML specifications is ending. Part of that evolution includes saying goodbye to an old, valued friend so that room can be made for something new. Dubinko is working on some new column ideas and will return next month.

I have a buch of ideas for a future column, but I'd like to hear yours. Add a comment to this post or mail me directly. Did you read XML-Deviant regularly? Why or why not? What kind of column would keep you coming back for more as a regular reader?

Thanks, -m

posted at: 19:38 | under: 2005-09 | 2 comment(s)

I did read XML-Deviant regularly, and I greatly enjoyed it. I am a lurker on XML-Dev, and I thought that your column provided useful perspective, summary, and research that was relevant to the discussions in the XML community.

There is a reason why "following" can sometimes mean "understanding" in English. In the case of XML-Dev threads, it can, at times, be difficult to do both. I thought that your summaries encapsulated and distilled much of the conversation that goes on there, and as such provided a unified view into those discussions.

Both the discussions themselves and your own summaries can have bias, though. I thought that your column did justice to this reality by drawing from other sources to flesh out the XML universe.

In drawing from these other sources, you provided a broad research perspective on the state of the XML universe. As a link hub, I was able to use your column as a jumping off point to both better understand things that had been said on XML-Dev as well as to then explore what others had said or done in a particular space.

Thanks very much for your column. It often felt like reading your column offered a plateau from which to peer down into a lush garden maze in which I had been wandering. I will miss the vantage point that it offered.
Posted by John L. Clark at Thu Sep 15 10:14:05 2005

I can do little more than echo what John says so eloquently. A really useful column that will be sadly missed (at least until I find the replacement is even better).
Posted by Paul Spencer at Fri Sep 16 09:09:29 2005

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