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Office 2003 update blocks older file formats

Summary: The latest service pack for Microsoft Office 2003 has made a range of older file formats inaccessible, including Word documents, Excel spreadsheets and PowerPoint presentations

Richard Thurston

By Richard Thurston |

The latest service pack for Microsoft Office 2003 has made a range of older files inaccessible, including Word documents, Excel spreadsheets and PowerPoint presentations, it emerged this week.

Office 2003 Service Pack 3, which was made available in September, blocks a lengthy list of word-processing file formats, including Word 6.0 and Word 97 for Windows and Word 2004 for Macintosh. It also blocks older versions of Excel, PowerPoint, Lotus Notes, Corel Quattro spreadsheet and Corel Draw graphics package.

On releasing the service pack, Microsoft said one of its main benefits was that it would make it easier to interoperate with Microsoft's latest operating system, Vista, and its latest productivity suite, Office 2007. The older file formats that are now blocked are in decreasing day-to-day use, but the blocking of them will make retrieval of archived material more difficult.

The changes were revealed in a Microsoft support document, which was uploaded to its site in December. Users were given no warning of the effects when they downloaded SP3.

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In the support document, Microsoft said SP3 blocked access to those formats because they were less secure than newer versions. "By default, these file formats are blocked because they are less secure. They may pose a risk to you," it said.

Microsoft released details of a workaround to restore access. The workaround requires changes to the registry, which could render a PC unusable if carried out incorrectly.

The workaround was branded by one critic on tech website Slashdot.org as "mind-bogglingly complex".

Other users responded negatively to the change. A system administrator at a UK university, who asked not to be named, called it "a money-making exercise". Talking to ZDNet.co.uk on Thursday, he added that it would cause a problem to the central IT resource not to have access to some older file formats, but that the effect would be greater on other less "progressive" departments within the university.

Microsoft could offer no comment at the time of writing on why it had blocked access to the file formats.

Topic: Apps

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5 comments
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  • I would enjoy being in hell more than being in the Registry !!!

    Not that i've ever had a disaster or anything when in there, its just the stories are always going through your mind when you're messing around in our good freind Regedit. Recently i had to go there to get office 2007 to work properly, although i cant remember why, If i do remember i'll tell you.
    Its bad of Microsoft to not make you aware the update will do this. They are being very aggressive pushing there office software, but recently i have been using Open Office for all my Uni work and it s Brilliant for what i need. Be carefull Microsoft or your plans will backfire.
    chrishocking@...
    Reply Vote

  • Just adds more weight to MS Office competitors

    Microsoft have shot themselves in the foot once again by trying to force the market in the direction they want. There is a huge amount of archived material in these old formats which will now have to be converted. This is just another nail in the Microsoft coffin as people are really staring to get rather sick of these tactics with all the associated effort involved on the users part every time they pull a stunt like this. I have quite a lot of archived material in these old formats, which I can't now open after applying this update, and will be converting them to an open standard for future storage. I don't think Microsoft understand the responsibility that comes with producing a document storage format and acts like this just prove that they don't. Will I be converting to OOXML, I think not.
    Of course once all my documents are in a true open format paying for the next copy of office looks a whole lot less attractive.
    pround-bf9cc
    Reply Vote

  • A while to wait for a truly open format

    I have to say I agree with your comments Chris and pround, but I fear it will be a long long time before true open documents standards take off. There is some excellent work going on around ODF, but adoption is still low. Interesting to note that the Groklaw legal/technology blog recommends in the light of this story that users convert their files into OpenOffice, before converting them back into a format recognisable by Office 2003. As for messing with the registry, I have to agree that many users will prefer not to, and sensibly so.
    RichardThurston
    Reply Vote

  • Why convert back into office formats?

    With reference to Groklaw legal/technology blog recommendation, after converting into openoffice I really can't see the point in converting back into an MS format. After all in another few years MS will probably drop these formats too. If my documents go to ODF they are going to stay in ODF and Microsoft can keep their next version of office.
    pround-bf9cc
    Reply Vote

  • Users were given no warning.

    Just another typical Microsoft move, do it our way or else. Well, there is an alternative and I suspect Microsoft will find out the hard way. I have converted all of my documents to ODF and MS can KMA. This has always been their path, don't fix what's broken, replace it with an update. Got to feel sorry for them.
    ator1940
    Reply Vote
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