Simply put, we create standards following a set of formal rules, which is
strictly necessary if you are to have any hope of getting Netscape, Micrsoft,
Sun, et al, to go into a room and come out with a real result. The rules
do not, at this point in time, leave room for the introduction of major
new features.
Having said that, I think that it would be a good idea for someone to
write up a proposal for the use of a reserved attribute or namespace to
signal, as a convention in XML 1.0, that the contents of an element are
base64 encoded. This could be destined for XML 1.1 or perhaps serve
as a standalone recommendation layered on top of XML.
Nobody disputes that there is a real need in this area. -Tim