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Actually no. Microsoft at least (this thread mainly targets them) doesn't lock you into any file formats. Why?

a) I've always been able to export/extract data at will.

b) All their protocols and formats are specified openly here: http://www.microsoft.com/openspecifications/en/us/default.as...

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a) You only have been able to do it in the way they want you to: by clicking the File menu and saving as a different type.

b) Just because there's an "open" specification, it does not mean their implementation follows it, which is exactly the case for OOXML formats: there are a number of features which Microsoft Office treats differently from what the standard suggests/says, making interoperability/getting things to show up in Office hard as hell.

This is coming from someone who has to use the OOXML SDK daily.

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