But isn't this Lisp?

[Update:Sean McGrath comments on XML as a syntax for a programming language.

Update:James Robertson doesn't get the point (see his answer to Ziv Caspi's first comment). XML is markup of data, and in Lisp as, apparently, in "Morphyc", code is data. So the approach is, as demonstrated by Lisp, undoubtedly powerful. It is also, as demonstrated by Lisp, nothing new. The article was actually syndicated from IT-Analysis, which supports comments.]

The Register have been waxing lyrical about a new patent pending "technology" which allows both programs and data to be expressed in XML.

In all this gushing, never once is Lisp mentioned. If this isn't just Lisp in XML syntax, I want to know how it differs. If it is, I want to know why a patent is pending.

The simple answer is yes, because if you can develop an XML machine that can process XML data based on XML programs you have a higher level machine than a von Neumann machine. The practical effect of this is the ability to develop new applications with less code.

Paul Graham has been saying this about Lisp for years.

The proof that this is an interesting idea is in the fact that a company with only eight full-time employees have built a product that functionally is in the same league as many of the much bigger and more established players.

Likewise.