WHY use anything other than an XML backend?

[Carpet Nailz]

I don't know about anyone else, but I've been frustrated for years by
the difficulty of flexibly developing reports in GnuCash. As a
"non-programmer," I'm totally dependent on their front-end options and
then having to manipulate the html report into usable spreadsheet
format.

I haven't gone to the alternate backend yet because I haven't invested
the time to make the move. But what I find promising is the opportunity
(if I've properly interpreted what I've heard) to access the backend
directly with some SQL to get the kind of reports I want.

Furthermore, (again, if I've correctly interpreted what I've read), the
XML option will still be there, won't it?

On Tue, 2011-04-19 at 09:56 -0700, gbguy wrote:
> I've seen that for a few releases GnuCash supports other backends than XML. 
> However, nowhere have I been able to find out WHY you would want to do this? 
> What would be the advantages and disadvantages?
> 
> Not to sound negative, but the GnuCash developers should consider their
> non-programmer audience when announcing new features.
> 
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