
Microsoft continues to slowly trickle out bits of information about its Office 12 suite. On Thursday the company announced that it plans to <A HREF="http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,1822685,00.asp?kc=ewnws060205dtx1k0000599">make XML-based file formats the default</A> in the version of Office due to ship in the latter half of 2006. Microsoft is introducing the new formats as part of Office 12, officials said, and will share more details about them at next week's Tech Ed conference in Orlando.