Thats my initial thought after reading the linked article. Sure would be great if they finally get round to implement a improved data interchange format, and it sounds like that they will include cartographic formatting as well. Let's see how this pans out and if this gets any traction.

http://blogs.esri.com/Info/blogs/arcgisexplorerblog/archive/2009/02/18/arcgis-explorer-at-the-federal-user-conference.aspx

Spatial Knowledge, my personal blog.

Looks similar to the "bind" or "wblock" command in AutoCAD (or one of those commands); also looks like it could be similar to a Manifold "map" file.

__________ jaburn