Find What i Write

Office 12 To Boost XML Support, Document Security

When Office 12 debuts next year, the default "save-to" file format of the applications will be XML. Or at least a version which Microsoft is calling Microsoft Open XML Formats.

The default format can be changed during or after deployment, Microsoft said. With this version of Office, PowerPoint is brought into the XML fold, along with Word and Excel. Backward compatibility with current file formats is also important.

A document designated with a .docx suffix, for example, will neuter embedded .exe files while one with a .docm suffix will allow them to run.

The current Office 2003 allows users to save Word and Excel documents to its own WordML and SpreadsheetML (XML) formats. The new version adds PowerPoint to the mix. Numoto said those formats, as well as the upcoming iterations, are completely compliant with the XML 1.0 standard.

Microsoft partners say the company has to show users—who loathe change-- why they should upgrade. "For me, the compelling reason to move to Office 2003 was SharePoint integration. If, in Office 12, they go collaboration crazy by integrating more Groove technologies, that could be big," said one long-time Microsoft partner in the south.

The company is also reportedly still weighing Excel server functionality that would probably end up pairing the Excel calculation engine with SharePoint Portal Server functions. Right now, with the Excel client application, when results are sent out, they are sent with the underlying formula, a situation that could cause a security problem.

Office 12 is due to beta this fall and to ship in the second half of 2006.

Resource: CRN

posted by What I Write @ Article