Experts say Microsoft's XML play won't backfire

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But Markham said Microsoft is certainly not blind to that fact. The company fully recognizes that by introducing a file format based on a published specification, it's giving rivals a chance to create Word equivalents that mirror its software's functionality. However, Markham said, Microsoft is counting on the fact that creating such products may not be as easy as it sounds.

In fact, rather than giving rivals ammunition, the XML move could steal it away.

Peter O'Kelly, analyst with Burton Group, said the XML formats introduced in Office 12, which is due out sometime in the second half of 2006, could detract from the arguments Microsoft's rivals have been able to pitch to potential customers regarding the software maker's existing applications.

"Microsoft has surely raised the level of debate, as no one can accuse them of having an XML format with technicalities, as they could before when the formats were incomplete and not well documented," said O'Kelly.

And Microsoft said the transition to XML formats in Office eliminates one of the chief complaints about its products: that they lock in customers by failing to allow people to integrate them with other tools.

The potential benefit for Microsoft doesn't stop there. Customers will also lose some ability to use the rise of open-source Office alternatives as a bargaining chip when negotiating licensing fees with Microsoft, O'Kelly said.

"Many organizations have used alternatives as a tool in negotiating contracts with Microsoft, and that probably gets toned down with this," O'Kelly said. "So Microsoft has figured out that this is good for themselves as well as their customers."

Another important aspect of the file formats in Office 12 could be the creation of opportunities for third-party software providers looking to tap into demand for new applications made possible by the XML design.

Forrester's Markham said it's likely that a new software segment could evolve from the demands created by businesses embracing Microsoft's new strategy, including companies making conversion tools for translating documents and data in and out of XML, and companies looking to address compliance issues raised by more flexible document access.

"Microsoft already has a whole industry in open source that supports variants of their products and documents created from those products," Markham said, "and this will just accelerate that."

[technewsjunkie]

Missed the point!

My concern on a previous post was not that Microsoft could make
XML useful - it was that they would invariably "tweek" it (like they
did with Java, etc, etc,!) and people would "wake up one day" and
be locked in. That's what I meant by hasn't "history taught us
anything"!

Why Sould There Be Concern About MS's Open XML Strategies!

"Only the strong survive" is the words of a song that reminds us about facts of life. If an aircraft's structure is not properly and efficiently designed and manufactured to recommended airworthiness "standards" we all do know what can be the circumstances of the aircraft having to endure all those "turbulences" during flight; just so I believe that as the world advances in the computer industry... companies like "Microsoft" must realize that as computer users and programmers around the world become more and more aware of the "tools" (FUNCTIONALITIES) available to them adherence to specific standards (XML Standards) will become the norm if individuals located in different parts of the world while using disparate systems are to be able to communicate, collaborate and communicate with each other efficiently and effectively.

The advent of the internet (on which the world now depends) and the subsequent applications development has certainly not been strong points in Microsoft's case and just as Java Technologies have emerged as "industry class" standards... the same will be the case with the XML Standards for Office and other products within the context of the global computing industry; as a matter of fact Microsoft may have already been late for the "party" with regards to XML Standards since IBM Workplace Products <a class="jive-link-external" href="http://www-306.ibm.com/software/swnews/swnews.nsf/n/nhan6cgpwd" target="_newWindow">http://www-306.ibm.com/software/swnews/swnews.nsf/n/nhan6cgpwd</a> are already dressed up for the fun. Windows with its 90+ percentile global marketshare may very well see its half-brother OS/2 Warp at the party - thanks to OpenSource "Eclipse" Standards. "Microsoft" and "SAP" can "tweek" as much as they like, the battle lines are now drawn in "Cloudscape" and "Managed Client" <a class="jive-link-external" href="http://www.lotus.com/products/product5.nsf/wdocs/workplaceclienttech" target="_newWindow">http://www.lotus.com/products/product5.nsf/wdocs/workplaceclienttech</a> this time around!

;-)

[unknown unknown]

RE

You as though the story is a direct reply to your post.

[Mendz]

XML Matters...

Does using XML really matter to consumers? Straight to the point: not really. If I use Word to retrieve and save documents, for as long as the document looks the way I want it to be, that's it. That's good enough for me.

XML is a techie's technology. If you are a developer of software products, XML matters. If you are a business and application integration service provider, XML matters. If you are reading the actual XML code, NOT just how Excel or Word displays them on-screen, then XML matters.

What matters really is that consumers get to enjoy the benefits of XML -- specifically in this case, XML-based Office documents.

Looking forward, we'll see the products of the developers who worked with XML-based Office documents. We'll see the solutions of the integration service provider's who supported XML-based Office documents. And perhaps we'll see the great and wonderful inventions of the person who read the XML code of XML-based Office documents.

XML is here now. I've already seen and done really great and really wonderful things with it. Add XML-based Office documents in and you have more great and more wonderful things to expect...

[bigjim01]

XML&

What can I say about XML, well I think that it is pretty much the latest "thing" to cure all problems. Java made promises, but never delivered. The program that Java was to solve was to write the program once, and run it on any platform. Well the problem lies in that Java can't produce real programs. Java "programs" are runtime programs and since we have the horsepower, it don't really matter. XML was to solve the problem of integration between different platforms and enable business communication. In software development you view hiding the data as encapsulation, and don't allow anybody direct access to the data. The reason that you do this, is because if somebody were to have complete access to the data and muck it up, then you could not rely on it being correct. XML file formats are only useful for transmitting data to other parties. From what I see, open source packages need to be much better in order to take the place of the closed source packages that everyone uses today.