Posted on 01/07/2008 12:07:28 AM PST by Swordmaker
Update title to: Microsoft hoses user data - again!
For most users the Office SP3 means that they won’t be able to recover their old documents. They won’t know to install Open Office, access Microsoft support or edit the registry. But bowing to complaints that the data is not literally “destroyed” I’m updating the title here. But anyone who doesn’t think that most users will be baffled and hurt by this doesn’t know many average users. End update.
Will Microsofties ever learn?
Without warning the Microsoft Office SP3 update blocks over a dozen common document formats, including many Word, Powerpoint and Excel documents. Install the update and you can’t open the files. Why? Because they can!
We don’t care. We don’t have to.
What’s affected? Powerpoint formats prior to PowerPoint 97. Excel formats prior to Office 2003. Lotus, Quatro and Corel Draw. And the following Word formats:
Trust us. It is for your own good.
Microsoft forthrightly explains why in article 938810 buried deep in the support section of their web site:
"By default, these file formats are blocked because they are less secure. They may pose a risk to you."
So no whining, peasants.
Thank you sir, may I have another?
Of course, it would be irresponsible to block these formats without notification if a work-around wasn’t provided. All you have to do is edit the registry, a task so simple a child could do it. Do it correctly? Ah, that’s the rub.
Warning Serious problems might occur if you modify the registry incorrectly by using Registry Editor or by using another method. These problems might require that you reinstall the operating system. Microsoft cannot guarantee that these problems can be solved. Modify the registry at your own risk.
Alarmist? No doubt. Here’s a sample instruction:
To enable Office 2003 to open files that are saved in previous Word file formats, follow these steps:
Click Start, click Run, type regedit, and then click OK.Note This registry subkey may not be present. If the subkey is not present, you must create it.
Locate and then click one of the following registry subkeys:
- HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Word\Security\FileOpenBlock
- HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Word\Security\FileOpenBlock>
For example, the default value of this entry is set to “Word 6.0 for Windows” or “101.” This setting means that all Word documents that were created in Word 1.x for Windows through Word 2.x for Windows Taiwan are blocked from opening. You can increase or decrease the default version. The versions that are specified in the list are in ascending order.
- Double-click the FilesBeforeVersion registry entry, and then type the value in the Value data box that corresponds to one of the values in the following table.
Or you could just skip Office 2003 SP3. Perhaps that would be best.
The Storage Bits take
If anyone still trusts Microsoft with their data, this is reality’s final boarding call. We need open document standards that are NOT defined by Microsoft and that Microsoft is required to support.
Microsoft also needs serious file system competition (see How Microsoft puts your data at risk and Outlook’s risky archives - and how to fix them ) before they will get serious about reducing data corruption and protecting your data.
Oh, be sure to turn off automatic updates. And wait for them to fix Windows Home Server’s little file corruption problem.
Comments welcome. Please, Redmond spinmeisters, make me feel good about this!
Update: “Limp” best describes the early defenses of Microsoft’s indefensible action. Some have accused me of sensationalism for using “destroys” rather than “renders inaccessible” in the title. No apologies there: yes the data may be intact, but if you can’t read it how does that differ from destruction?
We’re all reasonably technical here. But think of the hundreds of millions of users who aren’t, the small businesses and grandmothers who rely on their computers for work and play, who’ll install SP3 and then maybe not realize for weeks or months that they can’t access their data. What are they supposed to do?
Update 2: A commenter placed an incomplete list of the blocked file formats so here is the complete list of blocked Word formats from the MS article.
Blocked file format:
Ah the micro-brains from micro-soft strike again!
I’m using Office 2002 SP1 on my Dells.
They came w/ the 2003 upgrade but I’ve never loaded it.
Haven’t seen 2002 mentioned so I guess I’m OK.
Neo Office is the Office program for a Mac?
I’d like to put an Office program on my Mac.
From the data we have on file opens, very few users open files in these formats, so we decided to modify the default behavior to this safer approach.Holy crap.
Don'tcha just HATE IT when it turns out your paranoia was justified?!?
...and exactly how do they gather these data???
There is ABSOLUTELY NO guarantee of privacy with ANY software you use. Any software, from the big Office suites down to the smallest utility, can get on the network and "phone home" to send anything at all.
That's the single biggest argument for open-source software. You can see any back-doors or privacy breaches, and avoid them.
With proprietary software (and I have to include Apple's here, of course), you are TRUSTING THE VENDOR COMPLETELY.
"Trust me." -- Bill Gates
You could install a bi-directional firewall and close everything down...
> You could install a bi-directional firewall and close everything down...
What's the point of being on the network then?
At home my perimeter router allows all outbound, and forward 22, 80, 443 in to my server, on which I run ipfw to only allow outside access from certain IP ranges (my office, a few known IPs where I have accounts). Outgoing is basically open; I could of course add rules to ipfw to close off whatever I wish. But most outgoing services pick random high ports, so I don't know how one could selectively shut off some "phone home" calls without effectively taking yourself offline.
I assume I misunderstand you. What did you mean?
Seems like it would be more effective to find and nuke the offending outgoing services, if one only could (in proprietary close-source software it's pretty tough).
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