Yep, as Matts I like perpetuating myth, and I often ask the question: What's Wrong With Perl and XML? (and here is the lighning talk version) ;--)

I don't think Perl sucks though, I think it works great with XML (I should know, I use it everyday for it!). I just think there is an impedance mismatch between the 2 worlds: It all comes down to perception: Perl is perceived as a hacker tool while XML is perceived as IT territory. So XML code is written by IT teams, in Java, using IBM or Sun tools, and it takes them month to do so, because it is perceived as complex, so they can get away with it. It doesn't matter that Perl's excellent tools, written by Matt or other single-person entities, could be used to do the exact same job, just faster.

Maybe the new http://perl-xml.sourceforge.net/, which hopefully will become xml.perl.org will improve things by providing a single entry point for all things about Perl and XML, as at the moment it is quite hard to find the information (we really, REALLY need to update the !@#$%^&* Perl and XML FAQ, which is the first hit returned by Google and which has been obsolete for at least a couple of years now! (and yes I am guilty of not working on it too ;--( ).