Annotations vs XML

I wonder why people hate XML and trying to eradicate it with hacks like annotations and naming conventions.
All those approaches trying to challenge XML need recompilation of the code. Is it that people are ready for recompilation now? They used to hate it a few years ago.
Sometimes I feel that all the "new" technologies/concepts are nothing but propaganda gimmicks. People suddenly start playing opposite tunes. Why? Because some kool new thing is in the market and the so called big brains are supporting it? It is all about hype-oriented programming, dude!

packages and layers

Should high level packages represent layers of a system? The import list of a class belonging to a layer can be used to sanity check the class' calls to other layers. Obviously the only point to remember while designing or programming multi-layered system is to restrict calls amongst layers.