Rubiconic Crossings
07-01-2008, 19:12
http://it.slashdot.org/firehose.pl?id=443210&op=view
In Service Pack 3 for Office 2003, Microsoft has disabled support for many older file formats, so if you have old Word, Excel, 1-2-3, Quattro, or Corel Draw documents, watch out! They did this because the old formats are "less secure", which actually makes some sense, but only if you got the files from some untrustworthy source.
Naturally, they did this by default, and then documented a mind-bogglingly complex workaround (KB 938810) rather than providing a user interface for adjusting it, or even a set of awkward "Do you really want to do this?" dialog boxes to click through. And, of course, because these are, after all, old file formats, many users will encounter the problem only months or years after the software change, while groping around in dusty and now-inaccessible archives.
One of the better aspects of Office is its extensive compatibility mechanisms for old file formats. At least the support isn't completely gone—it's just really hard to use. Security is important, but there are better ways to fulfill this goal.
This was also covered by the Windows Secrets newsletter, although I can't find a story URL for it.
Ouch!!! I mean that is pretty damn bad!
BUT!!!
http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9055618
Microsoft apologizes to Corel, users for Office 2003 SP3 muck-up
It also offers downloads to ease unblocking of old file formats
January 05, 2008 (Computerworld) -- Microsoft Corp. yesterday apologized to rival software vendor Corel Corp. for saying that Corel's file format posed a security risk. Microsoft also issued new tools to let users of Office 2003 SP3 unblock a host of barred file types.
In a posting to his own blog, David LeBlanc, a senior software development engineer with the Microsoft Office team, admitted the company's mistake in attributing security problems to certain file formats, including the one used by CorelDraw.
....(its a 2 page article so hit the link...)
Good god! MS .....apologise????!?!??!
Incredible!
In Service Pack 3 for Office 2003, Microsoft has disabled support for many older file formats, so if you have old Word, Excel, 1-2-3, Quattro, or Corel Draw documents, watch out! They did this because the old formats are "less secure", which actually makes some sense, but only if you got the files from some untrustworthy source.
Naturally, they did this by default, and then documented a mind-bogglingly complex workaround (KB 938810) rather than providing a user interface for adjusting it, or even a set of awkward "Do you really want to do this?" dialog boxes to click through. And, of course, because these are, after all, old file formats, many users will encounter the problem only months or years after the software change, while groping around in dusty and now-inaccessible archives.
One of the better aspects of Office is its extensive compatibility mechanisms for old file formats. At least the support isn't completely gone—it's just really hard to use. Security is important, but there are better ways to fulfill this goal.
This was also covered by the Windows Secrets newsletter, although I can't find a story URL for it.
Ouch!!! I mean that is pretty damn bad!
BUT!!!
http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9055618
Microsoft apologizes to Corel, users for Office 2003 SP3 muck-up
It also offers downloads to ease unblocking of old file formats
January 05, 2008 (Computerworld) -- Microsoft Corp. yesterday apologized to rival software vendor Corel Corp. for saying that Corel's file format posed a security risk. Microsoft also issued new tools to let users of Office 2003 SP3 unblock a host of barred file types.
In a posting to his own blog, David LeBlanc, a senior software development engineer with the Microsoft Office team, admitted the company's mistake in attributing security problems to certain file formats, including the one used by CorelDraw.
....(its a 2 page article so hit the link...)
Good god! MS .....apologise????!?!??!
Incredible!