> Let's say we have small app A and B.
> If app A doesn't implement parts of the standard they don't use,
> and app B doesn't implement parts they don't use,
> then chances are you will have incompatible files between app A and B.

Why?  If app A and app B did nothing in common (so no parts of the file were 
implemented in both programs) then why should the files be compatible?  App 
A might be a simple word processor with no support for images, App B might 
be a utility that cuts out all the text and just leaves you with the images. 
Nobody would expect the files from App A to do anything useful in App B.

> This incompatability is what standards are meant to help avoid.

Which it does.  It says that if you are going to include text, you do it 
like this, if you are going to put in an image, you do it like this, etc. 
If your App A doesn't need images, you just ignore those parts in the file, 
and if you're writing App B, you better make sure you implement the part of 
the spec that deals with images.

> Adopting a standard that is difficult to implement doesn't help
> A and B, but it will help MS.

Sure it helps A and B, in the past they wouldn't be able to write these 
programs without reverse engineering the .doc file type.

> MS will be able to load files from A and B,
> and save them in a format that is not readable by A or B.

Why should the file saved by Word not be readable by A or B?  A and B will 
just ignore the parts they don't need.

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