.docx, .xlsx, .pptx, XML Office formats?
 

so I was reading PCMag recently, and there was a small article about how Office 12(whatever it will be called) is going to use XML based formats. the article said something about the formats having a royalty free open license. Would this mean MS is making their formats open? Does this bode well for open office?

there's another article about this issue , maybe related , donno whether it's out-dated or not ,
it was in january ...

Microsoft seeks XML-related patents