DOWN TO THE WIRE: For now, the grand vision of standard document formats is still just a dream.(Microsoft's XML plans bode ill for the standard)(Company Business and Marketing)(Column)

READERS HAVE ASKED on numerous occasions for me to pressure vendors to adopt and publish standard file formats. I've started that column a dozen times, but always found it too difficult to write. I'm just too pessimistic to think that anything I say on the topic could make a difference.

Most of these readers complain about file formats because of problems they have had sharing documents created with different versions of Microsoft Office. What these folks are really saying, therefore, is that they want Microsoft to adopt a set of consistent file formats. Really demanding readers want Microsoft to release these formats into the public domain so that other office suites …