Specifications of Microsoft Office Binary File Format

If you are ever curious (it would be a whole different story if you are serious :D) about the specifications of file formats for one of most profitable software product, you could take a look at the documents recently released by Microsoft describing the Microsoft Office Binary (doc, xls, ppt) File Formats at http://www.microsoft.com/interop/docs/OfficeBinaryFormats.mspx,  .

They are quite heavy duty stuff and just plain overwhelming, a clear reflection of accumulated complexity of the product (just imagine how long to master how to use significant features of Word alone) and the debt of backward compatibility.

They are specifications, apparently tedious but not difficult. In fact at a glance (I could be wrong because I just belong to the curious group and am not really into inspecting an Microsoft Office file or determined to hack interoperate tasks such as import/export :p), the specification is well structured and flows very logically, which reflects the maturity of the product and the stability of features. It also contains detailed design decisions, all those necessary evils.

I wonder who would be the first determined enough to take advantage of these information? Will these earn a nod for Microsoft's attempt to ratify OOXML as an ISO standard?