Microsoft turns to XML

[CT Witter]

from Money.CNN http://money.cnn.com/2005/06/02/technology/microsoft_xml.dj/index.htm

Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) said it is adopting XML technology for the default file formats in the next version of Microsoft Office editions to give users improved data interoperability and dramatically smaller file sizes.

So my question is how will this affect developers? I know that I haven't done too much XML in the past and am interested in how this will play out for importing/exporting processes.

 

[Bubbis Thedog]

I have implemented Excel 2003's XML capabilities in my coding, and it's bloody awesome. I create URLs using WebSmart containing dynamic XML documents, and then query them using Excel. This allows me to get away from having to import text files and the like to produce Excel reports. For instance, I'll have a cell that allows the user to input a number, and that cell is a variable in the code that is part of the URL. I then use Excel formulas to lookup the XML values and, voila!, everything's real-time.

I think it's definitely a move in the right direction.

 

[macleanb]

But smaller - really?