XOM API for Processing XML with Java

[Olivier Lefevre <lefevrol AT yahoo.com>]

Michael Kay wrote:
> > what would be the harm in such a policy?
>
> As a developer, it means you are supporting multiple versions, and you can
> no longer tell people who have a problem to solve it by moving to the latest
> release. That significantly affects maintenance costs.

If you want to be a player in the enterprise software world, supporting 
multiple versions is a burden you have to be willing to bear anyhow: 
support for version X long after it is no longer current is one of the 
key characteristics of "enterprise" software (and hardware as well), 
perhaps the defining one.

Your wish, on the developer side, to be eligible for enterprise-grade 
software status while being able to use "just move on to the latest 
release" as the answer to all problems strikes me as the mirror image of 
the wish, on the customer side, to stick with Java 1.4 while enjoying 
the very latest libraries: in both cases I would argue it is a case of 
trying to have one's cake and eat it too. Neither position quite 
computes, IMO.

-- O.L.