Java programmers outnumber Perl programmers here by about 20-to-1. I'm pretty much the lone Perl progammer and I believe that, day to day, I crank out and parse more XML than the rest combined. I think that's largely because it is so easy. Although sometimes I think that hurts -- I get the impression some people think I've just hacked up some regexp's when, in fact, I do almost all of it with Perl XML packages from CPAN.

On the other side, it took the Java guys about a year to get away from custom Java string parsing code (yuck) and start using some real XML tools. So go figure ...

As to the argument for/against XML itself, the answer is simple: It's here, so you will have to deal with it if it comes your way. I do find, however, that many people complicate simple data import/export models that are single row oriented (e.g., better suited for delimited or CSV formats) by coming up with utterly silly XML DTD's that just blow the whole thing up into 10 times more work. On the other side of that, I deal with a half dozen or so interfaces where XML is a perfect fit for the complex, hiearchical nature of the data.

I always try to do what makes sense and what's easiest. I think out of our three friend Laziness, Impatience, and Hubris I may have an extra dose of Laziness ...