XML can seem pretty worthless to a perl hacker. I've been thinking about this and I think the reason is DBI. IMHO, the DBI/DBD interface in perl is one of the greatest inventions since sliced bread. It allows you connect and query most databases through a clear and consistent cross-platform interface. Most languages do not have this and to them XML makes things easier. To us, it's just more work.

My 2 bits.