Terence Eden:

the web works because browsers are tolerant...Yes, it takes an awful lot of effort from browser manufacturers to make "do what I mean, not what I say" a reality. But the world is better for it.

That's the crucial mistake that XHTML made...It had an intolerant ideology.

Can you imagine what the web would be like now-a-days if XHTML had won? Everywhere you go you’d see: “XML Parsing Error: mismatched tag…”

Instead, everywhere you go you see “Application error: a client-side exception has occurred”, lol.

If your laptop and phone both got stolen - how easily could you conduct online life through the worst browser you have? If you have to file an insurance claim online - will you get sent a simple HTML form to fill in, or a DOCX which won't render?

What vital information or services are forbidden to you due to being trapped in PDFs or horrendously complicated web sites?

A great story. What the web was meant to be at its core: universal accessibility.