Let's talk about Word, per Chris Pratley
These are some great articles, written by Chris Pratley, a group program manager at Microsoft, (Blog, Bio) about the history of MS Word. These articles are too good for me to pass up.
Very interesting history and perspective.
Let’s talk about Word
https://weblogs.asp.net/chris_pratley/archive/2004/04/27/120944.aspx
Word Myths and Feedback
https://weblogs.asp.net/chris_pratley/archive/2004/04/28/122004.aspx
In the second article, I think, you’ll find one possible origin of the belief that Microsoft will try to “Lock people In” to their file formats, etc.