Oh, and neither will the older Windows versions be readable in the latest Windows Office...
If you want on or off the Mac Ping List, Freepmail me.
Oh, and neither will the older Windows versions be readable in the latest Windows Office...
If you want on or off the Mac Ping List, Freepmail me.
I’m the average user who is now very nervous. I have Word 6.0 for all my business documents.
bfl
I just read the Microsoft article, and I think the ZDnet article got it wrong.
It appears to me that the ZD author saw the entire list of "Word File Versions", and ASSUMED that they were ALL being blocked.
THIS IS NOT TRUE, at least as I read the Microsoft article.
What it looks like to me is that they have blocked files created with versions OLDER THAN 97. The table of -all- file type codes is near the bottom of the Microsoft page. It is NOT a list of blocked versions!
Read this and see what you think:
Ping
Update Microsoft has threatened to release a fix for an Office 2003 update that may well have the productivity suite work as intended once again.As reported earlier Service Pack 3 for Office takes the unprecedented step of barring access to files created with earlier versions of the product. Install the Service Pack and your stash of documents (the ones you may be keeping for legal reasons) are suddenly just so much wasted disk and tape space.
We are talking seriously restrictive measures here. Office offers no warnings, the SP cannot be rolled back and there are no options that an average end-user can take to fix the problem.
Yes, that does indeed mean the lack of a dialog box saying:
"I am a sentient human being. I can assess risk. I can spell ‘responsibility’ and even, occasionally, assume it. I really, really want/need to open this old Word document. So go ahead, make my day.”
Just:
It's not a bug . . . .
Microsoft did issue a registry hack but covered it with dire warnings about how dangerous hacking the registry can be.
The word draconian seemed appropriate, so we used it with Reed Shaffner, Microsoft Office Worldwide Product Manager. Very disarmingly, he agreed.
“Yes, I agree, it was too draconian.” he said. We hate it when Product Managers do that.
He then went on to say that in response to the user feedback, Microsoft plans to issue a new fix in the very near future. The fix will come in the form of a link that you can follow which will hack (sorry, modify) your registry for you so that the problem goes away. And we'll be providing that link as soon as possible.
Still, Shaffner was at pains to point out that using the fix leaves the machine open to the very vulnerability that the measure was designed to stop, so Microsoft would still advise people not to do this unless they have a very good reason.
He also supplied more information about the vulnerability. He said that the problem wasn’t in the file format as such; it was in the code that is used to parse these earlier files. We were just about to point out that this was Microsoft’s code (and, therefore Microsoft’s fault) but he beat us to it. We hate it when they do that as well.
So, zero out of ten for the heavy handed SP but grudging respect for actually listening to users and fixing the problem. ®
Update
Since we filed this, Microsoft has in fact managed to post the Office fixes. Travel over to this support site and look for the "How to enable blocked file types" heading.
UnblockWord.reg. Lovely.
No. These problems might require you to simply import the registry copy that you exported before you started doing any editing on the Registry.
Or at the very worst, restore that image you made of your system last night.
You did export the Registry and take a snapshot of your system, didn't you?
But, in general, it sucks that MS has seen fit to remove this backwards compatibility. Security reasons? Yah. right.
While MS should making turning the default off easier their explanation is fine. For years people have harped that MS needs to be more secure out of the box and now that they are taking steps towards that people complain again..
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.
