Lately, I’ve seen quite a few people claiming XML to be the definitive way to store data, because it’s supposed to be the most flexible format…
Others claim RDBMSes have been providing an efficient solution to data storage for years or decades and there was no need for something new.
This argument just doesn’t make sense! XML and RDBMSes are two different solutions, both efficient… but solving two different problems!
Think about it. One tries to structure documents. The other one tries to structure relational but basically tabular data.
Asking which of XML or an RDBMS is best, is like asking which of Word or Excel is best! Best for what?
I guess the whole confusion started when people started to use XML to exchange tabular data in the context of webservices. Don’t get fooled: tabular data can temporatily be converted to a document (XML) when it must be transfered or exchanged, but there is still no reason to store it that way at one end or the other of that transmission…