Microsoft just did something very smart

Microsoft just announced that future versions of Microsoft Office will use completely open, XML-based file formats by default. This is very big news, and it's very good news.

What this means (or seems to mean, at this early stage) is that people will no longer be forced to use Microsoft Office programs to open or save Office files. Gone (in theory) is the "lock-in" effect that Microsoft had going with Office, where people were forced to use Office because everyone else was using Office and exchanging Office files- and only Office could effectively open or save the proprietary Office files.

(Technically speaking, some non-Microsoft programs do have the ability to open and save the current proprietary Office files, but by making the native Office file format completely open XML, Microsoft is making it much, much easier for programs to do this. Also, technically speaking, currently available versions of Office can save files in an XML format, but these formats are not the "real-deal" standard Office formats.)

Removing the file format lock-in will force Microsoft to truly innovate with future versions of Office, because users will no longer be forced to use the Office programs themselves to deal with Office files. If I can download OpenOffice for free, and it's 100% compatible with Office, then Microsoft's going to have to do some really cool stuff with Office to make me want to pay several hundred dollars for it.

And that's great news, because I'd like to see Microsoft's success earned more through innovation, and less through lock-in.