[Bob-san]

On a similar note, can someone explain to me what the point of the .docx format is, other than being a pain in everyone's ass?

To make sure everyone is running a "genuine" OS.

[Dilmah G]

other than being a pain in everyone's ass?

QFT

[IceFire]

On a similar note, can someone explain to me what the point of the .docx format is, other than being a pain in everyone's ass?

Well they moved from completely proprietary encoded bull**** to XML proprietary bull****

Also I think the old .doc (and related files) were built within a certain set of limitations (for instance old Excel documents could only be a certain length before it would ...stop).  So they made new ones with new specs that didn't have the old limits.  Its not a completely bad idea either...different versions of Office, despite having "compatible" file formats weren't always 100% compatible.  Between Office 97 and Office 2003 was sometimes interesting when doing more complex operations.

As far as I'm concerned...once you're done with the source file it should be compressed down into a presentation format...like PDF.

[portej05]

Well they moved from completely proprietary encoded bull**** to XML proprietary bull****

Also I think the old .doc (and related files) were built within a certain set of limitations (for instance old Excel documents could only be a certain length before it would ...stop).

It's to do with the implementation of IStorage and IStream provided with the Compound File system that COM has. It's a nightmare (I've been trying to work out how to write an application using compound storage, and have almost given up)
The limit was 65535 cells, and it caused problems at work because we couldn't open some of the larger datasets we have. Someone must have used a short as a row index 

[Androgeos Exeunt]

What is XML anyway? All I know about it is that it's a script used to load webpages.

[portej05]

What is XML anyway? All I know about it is that it's a script used to load webpages.

HTML is a subset of XML.
XML is a way of describing the information in a set as well as giving the information.
It's a huge concept, and there are many variations on a theme. There are examples all over the place on what it can be used for.
One thing to note though, it does increase your file size many times over. But it is human readable.
Hope this helps!

[Grizzly]

Windows 7 IS the official name for it...

To be exact:
Windows 2000: NT 5.0
Windows XP: NT5.1
Windows Vista: NT6.0
Windows 7: NT 7.0 (i'd guess).

[Bob-san]

Windows 7 IS the official name for it...

To be exact:
Windows 2000: NT 5.0
Windows XP: NT5.1
Windows Vista: NT6.0
Windows 7: NT 7.0 (i'd guess). NT 6.1 (build 70__)

Fixed.