Question: I can't really tell what someone means when he says "you could do worse than [x]." [Live example](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/2058247/successor-of-msxsl-exe):

> 
> If you are just interested in a simple command line processor which uses MSXML 6 then you could do worse than using a simple JScript application.
> 
> 
> 

Does anyone know what, exactly, he is trying to say? What nuance is he trying to convey?

Answer: 
This is an example of *litotes*, which is stating a positive through a negative. It just means that [X] is not bad, that there are many alternatives that are worse.

In the sentence you link to

> 
> If you are just interested in a simple command line processor which uses MSXML 6 then you could do worse than using a simple JScript application.
> 
> 
> 

the person who responded is suggesting that using a simple JScript application is a good choice.
My favorite term for this sort of left-handed compliment (technically called a *[litotes](http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/litotes)*, as @Robusto pointed out) is "**[praising with faint damns](http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,924489,00.html)**", a humorous inversion of the better-known "**[damn with faint praise](http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/damn_with_faint_praise)**" (which is so old that [Alexander Pope is said to have stolen it from Wycherley](http://books.google.com/books?id=OnlWTPu62_wC&pg=PA286&dq=%22damn%20with%20faint%20praise%22&hl=en&ei=aHnxTerFFoH0tgOJ1bW1Dg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=8&ved=0CFYQ6AEwBw#v=onepage&q=%22damn%20with%20faint%20praise%22&f=false).)