We need a standardized XML format for hand histories.

[GrunchCan]

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I think it could be possible to standardize the format once and for all.

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I doubt it. And even if you could, it wouldn't live up to its promise.

I write stock & options trading software. There is a standard in my industry called FIX. Every exchange supports it, but only to the degree that they do. For example, one exchange might support a special kind of trade attribute that other exchanges don't. In other cases, the exchanges need a feature added to the protocol, but the standards organization are too slow to add it soon enough.

These kinds of things happen all the time, and not just in my industry. I know that FIX hasn't made life easier for the software developers in the financial industry. In some ways, it's made it harder. I'm quite sure this is nearly universal, whenever standard protocols are defined.