Microsoft Office set for change
Seattle PI | at | by Mike
Microsoft will change the standard document format in the next version of its flagship Office suite -- promising smaller file sizes, improved security and easier sharing of data among different computer programs and systems.
But some analysts warn that the switch won't be entirely painless for people and companies using older varieties of the ubiquitous Microsoft software.
The Redmond company says files in the next versions of Word, Excel and PowerPoint will come in a default Microsoft format based on XML, an industry standard that uses an underlying system of tags to identify the different elements and characteristics of a document while remaining invisible to the end user.