Compared to the alternatives, it's too bad that the publishing (Word/Excel) world is being led by its nose by Microsoft.

OpenOffice hasn't set a standard that's stuck. In fact, why hasn't anything replaced *.rtf, *.txt, *.doc, *.xls, *.pdf and *.ppt? Too much bellyaching, no solutions that will drive people away from MS Office.

If a better option were to truly evolve, it needs to be pushed out there. That just hasn't happened. I wonder why.