> When XML was invented I was sure it would change the world (and arguably, enabling RSS/Atom did), but now in 2020 you don't hear much about XML.
XML is a data-format, not an enduser-format. It's used everywhere, what is there more to hear about it?
> All word processors should be hierarchical rather than monolithic (linear)
No, they should not, it's just a pain. Word processors have hierarchical view, but enforcing it would be a harmful. In the first place, word processors are not note-systems. It's not their job to manage your files.
Documents are almost always hierarchical, but yes for reading purposes, something like an "expand all" is helpful for presenting it all in a single view, so you just need to hit down arrow key if you want to perhaps read it from beginning to end with minimal user gestures. So the GUI interaction is a separate issue from the storage format and representation.
The way Quanta works is that every sentence or paragraph can have an entire conversation thread underneath it, which is light-years ahead of the "Revision Marks" feature of MS Office/365 for example. The model Quanta is using for team collaboration on documents means for example you can post a big long question about a single sentence in a doc, and it doesn't get in the way of the main doc, or become visible unless expanded.
They way Quanta works is definitely the future, even if it's some other platform other than Quanta where this takes off.
XML is a data-format, not an enduser-format. It's used everywhere, what is there more to hear about it?
> All word processors should be hierarchical rather than monolithic (linear)
No, they should not, it's just a pain. Word processors have hierarchical view, but enforcing it would be a harmful. In the first place, word processors are not note-systems. It's not their job to manage your files.