http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=163702981

When Office 12 debuts next year, the default “save-to” file format of the applications will be XML. Or at least a version which Microsoft is calling Microsoft Open XML Formats.
A company exec was quick to note, however, that the new applications will also support the traditional binary .doc, .xl, and .ppt formats, but unless users designate otherwise, their work will save to the XML choice. The default format can be changed during or after deployment, Microsoft said. With this version of Office, PowerPoint is brought into the XML fold, along with Word and Excel.

The current Office 2003 allows users to save Word and Excel documents to its own WordML and SpreadsheetML (XML) formats. The new version adds PowerPoint to the mix. Numoto said those formats, as well as the upcoming iterations, are completely compliant with the XML 1.0 standard.

Granted, the cynic in me wonders how much MS will keep in line with what they’re saying. However, if this goes anywhere like I think it would, this could be a very good thing, especially as far as other programs like OpenOffice.org and WordPerfect having full MS Office compatibility. I’ve always believed MS should open the formats and compete on features, just like Adobe does with Acrobat and its PDF format. Like it or not, even though I use OpenOffice.org at home, I would be foolish to say the best office suite right now is anything other than MS Office.

In any event, it should be interesting to see where things go from here.

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/bizarre/3201666

WASHINGTON – A Prince George’s County, Md., jury would not convict a man accused of stabbing his girlfriend to death because a half-eaten hamburger, recovered from the crime scene and assumed to have been his, was not tested for DNA.

Prosecutors say jurors are telling them they expect forensic evidence in criminal cases, just like on their favorite television shows, including CSI: Crime Scene Investigators.

Yet, increasingly, jurors are reluctant to convict someone without it, a phenomenon the criminal justice community is calling the “CSI effect.”

“There is an increased and unrealistic expectation that every crime scene will yield plentiful forensic evidence,” said Alexandria, Va., Commonwealth’s Attorney Randolph Sengel.

*sigh*

You know, I really do hope I’m never called on a jury in a case like this. I’d hate to be the one that has to sit there and agree with the prosecutor that, “I know you watch CSI, and it makes for good drama… but real forensics just isn’t like that!” One of my biggest peeves is how some of the stuff they show is outside the realm of possibility; a good example is taking a blurry or low-resolution photograph and turning it into a crystal-clear image. For that matter, I kinda know how the crime lab people feel; I’d end up watching movies or TV shows that feature such feats as using a laptop to hack into anything without a network connection or the like, and thinking, “It’s NOT LIKE THAT!”

It’s called artistic license, folks. The sooner you realize that, the better off we’ll all be.

*going back to my not-so-glamourous job sitting behind a desk, working with a Mac that can’t hack into an alien computer system and give it a virus no matter how much of a genius I might be…*