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If you believe Jean Paoli, co-inventor of XML and a Microsoft senior developer, Microsoft hopes "to create an open standard that will enable customers, technology providers and developers around the globe to work with the Office Open XML formats without barriers, with or without Microsoft products."

Many, though, like Joe Wilcox, a senior analyst for Jupiter Media, are taking "a wait-and-see approach on Microsoft's announcement, because of past XML-based format shenanigans, where Microsoft: got behind XML, but restricted usefulness to most users; claimed to open up XML schemas, when less was the case; and touted its new Office 12 formats as XML—they're XML-based—and open—which they are not."