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Nightrider · Sep 25, 2004

Microsoft destroys user data - again!

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:

Word 11 saved by Word 12
Word 4.x, 5.x, 6.0, 98, 2001, X and 2004 for Macintosh
Word 1.x, 2.x, 6.0, 95, 97, 9, 10 and 11 for Windows
Any older 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.

Locate and then click one of the following registry subkeys:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Word\Securit y\FileOpenBlock

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Word\Security\FileOpe nBlock

Note This registry subkey may not be present. If the subkey is not present, you must create it.

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.
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.

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.

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