So, Microsoft intends to submit its Office 12 file formats to ECMA as a proposed standard..

I took a look at the files and they're in binary format. I thought that for most office applications, especially word processing, we were leaving behind the world of binary encoded formats and moving to XML?

Given the fact how the world is massing behind the Open Document initiative this move of Microsoft's seems to be nothing but PR and marketing. Especially given how the OASIS Open consortium and the Open Document community have now pushed this forward to become an ISO standard.