> When do you expect XML to become mainstream?
I don't expect Microsoft Word format will disappear in a long time.
Microsoft Word has so many features that are very hard to express
in XML format, so I doubt that XML will become the main format for
Word documents anytime soon.
However, I'm sure that Microsoft Word will have XML support (if it
does not already have that), but I'm also confident that this XML
support will be similar to the HTML support: It works, but it's
not very nice.
My personal opinion is that LyX <-> Word coorporation is close to
impossible in the sense that one can work on the same document in
LyX and Word without thought and without mayor problems. The document
models of LyX and Word are largely incompatible, and as long as Word uses
a hybrid DTP and word processing model, the differences are too large
to handle.
Having said that, I'm also confident that it is possible to stick
to a common subset of functionality in both applications. This subset
is comparable in size to what is expressible in HTML 3.2, so therefore
having HTML 3.2 as the medium is probably as good as it gets anytime
soon. We need HTML import to handle that in LyX, so we are not there
yet. I.e. the Word -> LyX direction is still missing.
FYI I'm kind of investigating plugging the word2x converter into LyX
that supposedly can understand Word document files. That would hopefully
at least ease the troubles of exchanging documents with Word users.
However, don't expect this to be without problems, because if you are
observant to stick to the common ground in the applications, you will
be disappointed anyway.
And don't hold your breath for this feature.
Greets,
Asger
