The structured-document software world has moved on significantly since the virtual replacement of SGML with XML. Some of this is due to improvements in hardware, especially in speed and capacity, and in software capability and compatibility (or at least interoperability), and in language development, particularly Java and Javascript. XML deliberately cut out a lot of facilities from SGML which were underused or added complexity for little gain — the Design Goals of the XML Specification emphasise ease of use and simplicity techreport. The number of people (and companies) using XML is much larger than it ever was for SGML, so there is probably more software available to meet the demand. With better frameworks and raised awareness, vendors, developers, and programmers have generally been paying more attention to usability, so installing and using current software is easier and more reliable than it was in the days of Windows 95/XP and SGML. Modern applications tend to make less fuss, a lesson learned from the so-called Web 2.0 paradigm which emphasises obviousness. So have we learned anything else?
Reports of the death of the command line are greatly exaggerated. People still use it, and its availability in OS X and Windows 10 means that programs originally restricted to UNIX or GNU/Linux are now available on any platform. Most users may not need it, but developers, administrators, and other technical users do, especially for scripted document management functions and for the bulk processing of documents in a workflow.
People do still use SGML. Several consultancies, including the author’s, have publishing clients still maintaining SGML systems, for a variety of reasons.
Lots of the software did still install and execute,
which was a surprise. Of those which failed, some were due
to faulty media (having been kept for several decades) and
some to the OS environment. The clock had
to be reset to 1998 for some of the
MS-DOS utilities, and there was one
unresolved oddity in executing
RulesBuilder, which consistently
gave a Windows Divide by zero or Overflow
error.