One of the more exciting things about the upcoming Microsoft Office 2007 applications is the new default file format in Word, Excel and PowerPoint. Based entirely on XML, the new OpenXML file formats are smaller, safer, and more flexible. Gray Knowlton, a Senior Product Manager in the Office division spent some time with me on the phone discussing the benefits of the new file formats.
Gray highlights how the new formats will save disk space on your network (Word and Excel documents are approximately 50% smaller than previous versions), make your networks safer by not running macros by default, and will make it easier to recover data if necessary. He also explores how you can now inject XML data INTO an Office document, making it easier to automatically create or update information, without even opening the Office application. Gray also talked about the "Save as PDF" feature and ability to create XPS (XML Paper Specification) documents.
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For more information on the OpenXML file formats, please visit the Microsoft website. If you're a developer, you can learn more on the OpenXML specs at the OpenXMLDeveloper.org site.