RE: [xml-dev] Why is Encoding Metadata (e.g. encoding="UTF-8) putInside the XML Document?

> What might it look like when solved? 

Well, as a minimum, a decent operating system would allow you to specify an
encoding when a file is created, and it would then insist that people
reading and writing that file use a character (rather than byte) oriented
API which ensures that the encoding and decoding are done correctly.

I'd go further than that, and say that a decent operating system would allow
you to declare a file to be XML and would then ensure that it actually is
XML.

Michael Kay
http://www.saxonica.com/