Tim Bray on XML People

To mark the tenth anniversary of the XML Recommendation, Tim Bray has resurrected an account he wrote ten years ago of various people involved in the pre-history and creation of XML.

Well worth reading, whether you were there and are looking for an excuse to spend half an hour on nostalgia, or you weren’t there and wonder what it was like. Of course, there is no single “what it was like”: it was like different things from different vantage points. My memories of the initial development of XML are a lot longer on technical discussions and a lot shorter on memorable dinners with movers and shakers.