configuration files

[James Frazer]

Just a hypothetical question I've been pondering lately:

I'm just wondering what the future holds for configuration files found 
in /etc (or wherever for that matter) ?  Are we ever going to see a 
shift towards an XML based config-system?  Or is the general consensus 
that 'if it ain't broke don't fix it' ?

I know there's a lot of merit/legacy in the standard *nix way of doing 
config files, but it seems kind of logical that an XML based 
config-system would be the next step.  It's still text based, and 
therefore can be edited by hand (if necessary), but it can also be 
validated to ensure correctness (in structure & syntax).

Is there any interest in this sort of thing?

I'm just curious,

--James