Adobe has created an "XML-friendly implementation of PDF syntax" through an effort it is calling The Mars Project.

ChimpKey's service uses advanced optical character recognition (OCR) technology to accurately extract data from PDF documents and then convert it into XML or EDI format.

PDF has qualities that justify its inclusion. However, many of those justifications also apply to Office XML, and Office XML has merits in its own right that make it better, in some ways, than PDF.

Office 2013 will, after years, finally fully support Open Document Format, Adobe's PDF, and, oh yes, Microsoft's own Open XML document standard.