W3C Drops XHTML 2

News came yesterday that W3C plans not to renew the XHTML 2 Working Group’s charter when it expires at the end of 2009, in order to increase resources on HTML 5, as (quietly) reported in the W3C news archive:

…[W]hen the XHTML 2 Working Group charter expires as scheduled at the end of 2009, the charter will not be renewed. By doing so, and by increasing resources in the HTML Working Group, W3C hopes to accelerate the progress of HTML 5 and clarify W3C’s position regarding the future of HTML.

An FAQ can be found here to help the public understand the future development of XHTML. My heart goes out to the developers; so much hard work only to come in second…

Time to bone up on HTML5. Frankly, I for one am relieved that a decision was made one way or the other. Now I won’t need to learn them both — that seemed excessive to me. How do you feel about the subject?