Thanks for all the responses to the article, it's great to have so many people obviously take the time and trouble to read it properly and respond both here and via mail.

I'm mildly horrified at the notion that anyone might think that I was suggesting HTML-via-mail-via-SSIS as the best or only way to serve this functional problem. My starting point was quite different, much more like, "look, you can do this with SSIS too". Not just simple data pumping from A to B, say. The XML/HTML demo was a means to this end, not a recommendation.

I'm quite in agreement with those who've suggested that there are better tools for and simpler ways of achieving the same ends, and am absolutely in favour of choosing the simplest approach to any particular requirement. You know the saying that goes something like "when all you have is a hammer, everything becomes a nail"? Well, this article was started with the thought that SSIS would be the only tool I'd use, and all else followed from there.

I'm very grateful for all the responses. I'm afraid that detailed technical answers to the various questions that have been posted aren't practical right now; the article is around two years old at this stage, written and submitted at a point when I had more spare time.