Microsoft restores Office 2003 users' access to old file types

Microsoft, justifiably, has come under a lot of criticism for blocking Office 2003 users' access to older file formats -- even if it was in the name of security. But it looks like the public outcry did some good, as Microsoft has detailed options to allow users continue to access the old formats.

David LeBlanc, a Senior Developer with the Microsoft Office Trustworthy Computing Group, published to his personal blog on January 4 a number of links via which Office 2003 Service Pack (SP) 3 users can continue to use the older formats. LeBlanc pointed to the .reg files customers can use to change the security settings for the patched apps, as well as links restore the blocked Word, Excel, PowerPoint and CorelDraw file types. And on January 4, Microsoft updated the Knowledge Base article about these file types to reflect ways users can continue to access the older formats.

LeBlanc said:

"I want to emphasize that we're not removing support – we're making the default safer. If you're among the users who do need to be opening these formats, we will continue to support you. We also recognize that we have not made any of this as usable as we'd like, and we apologize that this hasn't been as well documented or as easy as you need it to be. We're also going to take a hard look at how we can do better in the future."

Given that Microsoft's initial decision to block the older Office formats made it look like the company was trying to force customers to use the newer Office Open XML (OOXML) ones -- perish the thought! -- Microsoft's file-format about-face was an especially savvy decision. Microsoft doesn't need any more bad press about OOXML before the February ISO standards vote than it has already gotten ....

There's no question that Office increasingly has become a hacker target. Microsoft is looking for ways to make the product more secure. But mucking with users' access to their own files isn't the way to go.