Tools for those who need to fetch, store or transform XML, including in Word 2007 and Excel 2007.

Microsoft and the Digital Accessible Information System consortium plan to cooperate on a tool to make Open XML documents accessible to users with print disabilities.

Microsoft already has a patch for the patent problem in Word and is telling U.S. OEMs to apply it, removing the ability to strip out custom XML from files before allowing users to edit them.

The plug-in is supposed to translate Open XML-based documents into DAISY XML in order to assist blind or print-disabled computer users to read and publish navigatable multimedia content.

For Microsoft Word users, publishing just got a little easier. Quark released Quark XML Author 4.0 for Microsoft Word, which allows users to more easily create structured XML content.

Mary provides a beginner's walkthrough of new functionality for using XML, allowing you to separate the data in a document or worksheet from its presentation in Word 2003 and Excel 2003.

The Open XML Translator allows Microsoft Word documents based on Open XML to be translated into ODF and vice versa, Matusow said. Once downloaded, it can be used as a plug-in for Microsoft Office ...

Microsoft already has a patch available that strips out XML technology the company is barred from using after Jan. 11, in Word 2007 and Office 2007, according to a Microsoft Web site.

A recently granted patent, however, reveals that the entire effort took place while Microsoft had a patent pending that covers nearly any use of XML for storing word processing documents.