I’m doing an XMetaL-based authoring environment based on scripts and stuff from earlier projects. I already have the CSS and I have most of the macros. All I need is a rules file, that is, XMetaL‘s compiled DTD file for the documents I need to write using this new environment, a few customisations, and a toolbar. For this I need to install 3.6 Gigabytes of Visual Studio .Net and XMetaL Developer. Is it just me or does any of you reading this agree with me that this is like taking an eighteen-wheeler to buy groceries? I know, I’ve ranted about this before, but it still amazes me that the XMetaL developers can allow this madness to continue.

C’mon, JustSystems, give us a way to customize XMetaL without having to buy Visual Studio. Give us what we had before XMetaL 4 and the misguided Corel deal to shut out other platforms. It doesn’t have to be like this.