Syntext has released Serna 2.6.0. a $268 payware XSL-based WYSIWYG XML Document Editor for Mac OS X, Windows, and Unix. Features include on-the-fly XSL-driven XML rendering and transformation, on-the-fly XML Schema validation, XInclude, and spell checking. A roughly $500 enterprise edition adds a Python API and WebDAV support. Version 2.6 adds support for DITA, the Darwin Information Typing Architecture Franlly, the appeal of DITA escapes me completely. Perhaps some people need it, or perhaps it's just another idea that got a large company willing to throw a bunch of dollars at it. Near as I can make out DITA merges the simplicity and intelligibility of architectural forms with the open process and patent savvy of Web Services. That sure sounds like a winning combination. :-)
