XML (Extensible Markup Language) is a set of rules for encoding documents electronically. Although XML is often used in consideration of Web page design, it isn't specifically a Web-related idea. It is the default format for both iWork from Apple and Office 2008 (for Mac) from Microsoft. It is used for RSS feeds. In some ways Apple has made their implementation of XML for iWork transparent so that even in Windows, you can see any iWork document as a simple folder, and open the contents as individual files such as a JPG image or a PDF file. You can't say that the Microsoft implementation is as open or useful.
Before we can understand what you think is not "XML-ing" on your computer, you need to tell us. What application or document is causing a problem for you and what exactly is the document failing to do? Give as many details as possible, such as where you found or how you created the document.
Sometimes the term "XML" is thought to be the same as "Office Open XML". The latter is a proprietary format developed by Microsoft. The standardization process was fraught with bitter objections from various firms including IBM who saw it as a way for Microsoft to monopolize a format that would never be fully accepted by others and would allow Microsoft to force an inferior "standard" into acceptance, not share design data with others to keep them lagging behind, and promote their Office suite of applications as the only fully "OOXML" compliant choice for office software. The Ecma formed a technical committee that was chaired by two Microsoft employees. The discussion of the 6,000 page specification document was severely limited and appeals for further discussion were nipped in the bud. Some sources even accused Microsoft of out-and-out bribery to influence the vote, and of attempting to keep Sun Microsystems (developers of the OpenDocument format of OpenOffice) representatives away from the conference table by claiming there were not enough seats. It's no wonder these rough tactics were used with so much of the office software business at stake.
If you find you are stuck with dealing with these controversial "Office Open XML" documents, here is the current state of compliance including systems other than OS X and Windows:
* AbiWord includes an input filter for Office Open XML text documents beginning with version 2.6.0. Export of Office Open XML text documents is supported beginning with version 2.6.5.
* Adobe Buzzword beta, the online word processor by Adobe Systems, imports and exports Microsoft Word (DOC), Office Open XML (DOCX) and Word 2003 XML files. Compatibility is limited due to beta status of development.
* Apple Inc.'s iWork '08 suite has read-only support for Office Open XML word processing file formats in Pages.
* Apple Inc.'s iPhone has read-only support for Office Open XML attachments to email.
* Apple Inc.'s TextEdit, the built-in word processing program of Mac OS X, has very basic read and write support for Office Open XML text files starting with Mac OS X v10.5.
* Atlantis Word Processor includes input and export filters for Office Open XML text documents (DOCX) beginning with version 1.6.3.
* Bean 1.1.0+ for Mac OS X is basic word processor and use limited Office Open XML support for text documents implemented in Mac OS X by Apple.
* Butler Office Pro X 2.2.0+ has built-in support for reading and writing Office Open XML files. It is available for Mac OS X.
* Corel WordPerfect Office X4 includes import-only support for Office Open XML.
* DataViz' Documents To Go for PalmOS, Windows Mobile and Symbian OS (UIQ, S80) supports Office Open XML documents.
* docx4all is an open source wordprocessor (GPL license), written in Java's Swing, which uses docx4j to edit docx documents.
* Evermore Software EIOffice Word Processor has import only Office Open XML support for text documents. It is available for Windows and Linux.
* Go-oo (OpenOffice.org variant) has built-in support for opening Office Open XML files. Version 3.x is available for Windows 2000/XP/Vista and for most of Linux distributions. Go-oo Version 2.4.1 with basic Office Open XML import support is available also for Windows 98/ME.
* Google Docs, a web-based word processor and spreadsheet application supports importing Office Open XML text documents.
* IBM Lotus Symphony includes an input filter for Office Open XML text documents beginning with version 1.3.
* Jarte 3.0+ for Windows has import only Office Open XML support for text documents.
* JustSystems Ichitaro 2008 (Japanese) has built-in support for Office Open XML files. It is available for Windows and Linux.
* Kingsoft Office Writer 2009 for Windows has (from version 6.3.0.1731) import only support for Office Open XML text documents. The support is marked as "beta" in program's file browser.
* MadCap Blaze is a desktop publishing (DTP) and word processing application for developing long printed documents. Blaze can publish documents in Office Open XML, XPS, PDF and other formats.
* MadCap Flare is a Help authoring tool that can generate multiple outputs including Office Open XML text documents, XPS documents and other formats.
* Microsoft Office 2007 for Windows uses the Office Open XML format as the default.
* Older versions of Microsoft Office (2000, XP and 2003) require a free compatibility pack provided by Microsoft. It is available for Windows 2000 Service Pack 4 and newer operating systems. The compatibility pack does not require Microsoft Office, but does require Microsoft Windows. It can be used as a standalone converter with products that read Office's older binary formats, such as OpenOffice.org.
* Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac supports the Office Open XML format. For older versions of Office on the Mac, open and run the "update now" option in the Microsoft AutoUpdate application that was installed with MS Office. If you don't find that, download the converter from the link below. Scroll in the frame to find the download link on that page (MS has hidden it well).To open Open Office XML files that were created by the newer versions of MS Office, open and run the "update now" option in the Microsoft AutoUpdate application that was installed with MS Office. If you don't find that, download the converter from the link below. Scroll in the frame to find the download link on that page (MS has hidden it well)..
* Microsoft Office Mobile 6.1 supports Office Open XML on Mobile devices.
* Microsoft's version of Wordpad included with Windows 7 supports opening and saving in the docx format.
* The Mac OS X-based NeoOffice office suite supports opening, editing, and saving of most Office Open XML documents since version 2.1.
* NextOffice Writer for Windows is OpenOffice.org variant and supports opening of Office Open XML text documents.
* OfficeSuite, a mobile office suite for Symbian devices, supports wordprocessing Office Open XML format.
* OpenOffice.org has built-in support for opening Office Open XML text documents beginning with OpenOffice.org version 3.0 (October 2008). It is available for Windows 2000/XP/Vista, Mac OS X (Intel/PowerPC), Linux, Solaris, FreeBSD (*BSD)
* OpenXML Writer is an open source text editor for creating WordprocessingML files.
* QuickOffice, a mobile office suite for Symbian and Palm OS, supports wordprocessing in Office Open XML format.
* Schreibchen 1.0.1 for Mac OS X can open and write Office Open XML text documents. It is a very simple word processor for ‘disabled’ persons, children and other peoples that can not use (or like) other word processors or text editors.
* Schreiben 4.0.1, a simple and fast word processor for Mac OS X supports Office Open XML text documents.
* The online Thinkfree Office supports Office Open XML word processing files.
* Online word processor Zoho Writer supports exporting to the Office Open XML WordprocessingML format.
Viewers, filters and converters
* Apple Inc.'s Quick Look, the built-in quick preview feature of Mac OS X, supports Office Open XML files starting with Mac OS X v10.5.
* Altsoft AltViewer 2007 is a free document preview application for Windows that supports Office Open XML text documents.
* Altsoft Xml2PDF supports Office Open XML text documents.
* Microsoft and Sonata Software created a plugin to convert Office Open XML text documents to DAISY XML, an open standard format used for creating spoken document for disabled people.
* DataViz MacLinkPlus Deluxe 16 supports Office Open XML file formats.
* docXConverter by Panergy Ltd. converts from WordprocessingML to Rich Text Format (RTF) and from SpreadsheetML to Comma-separated values (CSV). docXConverter can be used to transfer WordprocessingML data to other applications that read RTF data such as Word 97.
* Google search supports direct HTML view of Office Open XML files. Found files can be viewed directly in a converted HTML view.
* Intergen has released a Silverlight plugin that allows Office Open XML word processing files to be viewed within a web browser.
* Microsoft Office Open XML Converter for Mac OS X can convert Office Open XML files to the former binary file formats used in older versions of Microsoft Office.
* NativeWinds Docx2Rtf supports Office Open XML text documents.
* OpenXML Document Viewer is an open source command line utility that provides Office Open XML to HTML transformation to display WordprocessingML files in web browsers.
* OxygenOffice includes xmlfilter which is the code that OpenOffice.org 3 will use to process Office Open XML files, and xmlfilter is completely different than OdfConverter. This filter however is only for importing Office Open XML