A new XML-based file format will become the default in Office 12, Microsoft Corp. announced Thursday, as it prepares to discuss plans for its Office update at next week’s TechEd developer conference.

Microsoft said Thursday that XML would be the default file format for three applications when it ships Office 12 late next year. The company said its new Microsoft Office Open XML Formats would be ...

It's been 20 years since the Open Document Format (ODF) became a standard, marking a milestone in the push for open, vendor-neutral file formats — and the beginning of a long but largely unsuccessful ...