Ok so let's try to get some clarity around the various alternative formats and use sensible names for them now on - we can do a lot better than "Sam's GData XML" vs "My Simple JSON".
Yes, I agree we can do better than that!
* AtomPub: Atom meets REST or "a simple HTTP-based protocol for creating and updating web resources"
I do feel that this is the combination of a meta-model (AtomPub, decision 3) and a syntax (XML, decision 4), which are logically independent, as evidenced by the existence of both GData-JSON (same meta-model, different syntax) and POX (same syntax, different meta-model).
* JSON: JavaScript Object Notation or "a lightweight computer data interchange format"
So I would equally recommend that we distinguish GData-JSON from POJSON, where POJSON is a direct rendering of nouns, verbs and attributes, by analogy to POX. Richard.