XML, which lets companies exchange data over existing Internet connections, can be learned quickly (as already stated), and is setup for easy display and programming.

Because XML is self-describing; the tags describe the data enclosed within them, it lets companies enhance the efficiency of exchanged data, in any format they want to use.

Users can even apply a style sheet to an XML file and view it precisely as they wish. The beauty of this concept is that you never need to change the actual XML data whenever you want to create output for different devices.

You only need to use different pieces of software that know how to provide the output needed for a particular output format or piece of hardware, i.e. DTD's or XML Schemas