Trilight Zone

[digital8]

Good bye DOC and XLS type files (at least as default settings), two of the well known type files we have been using for many years in Microsoft Office programs.
As part of its revamped version, Microsoft is introducing new XML file formats in its upcoming Office 12.

Now do not start panicking that your current Word documents and Excel spreadsheets will not be accessible! For the existing versions of Office —Office 2000, Office 2003 and Office XP—Microsoft will make available software downloads that will allow them to read, edit and save using the new file formats. So we are coverd here!

Microsoft also plans to release a conversion tool that will allow users to point to files in an older format and convert them all to the new Office 12 XML format. And for users who want no part of the new formats, Microsoft also will provide as an option in Office 12 the ability to continue to use the existing Office 2003 file formats as their defaults.

In a nutshell, Redmond folks want to make sure the new version will be backwards-compatible and keep everyone hooked up in its Office suite of products.

Why do I dedicate a separate article to this aspect? It is because I consider it a major milestone in Microsoft Office development, and implicitly in technology overall. We have been accustomed with new versions and upgrades that do not radically change our daily routines.

For the end users, having a memo, an essay or a quarter end spreadsheet sent out as a XML file versus a DOC or respectively XLS type files it is a big-big change, at least from the receipient prospective!
As any change, I expect not to be very very easy from the support prospective.

As for me, I can not wait to get my hands on that Office12 beta!