text: why is xml so important. it is useless for data representation and organization?   xml is important because it allows you to persist data in an application independent way.  this is huge.  it gives you the flexability to use the same document across multiple platforms and systems.  if company a generates some data, but that data now needs to be shared with company b, as long as company a stores that data acording to the rules of xml company b can easily process the data generated from company a.....  hopefully that makes sense and gives you an idead of why xml is important.