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An Open Letter To All Microsoft Office 2007 Users

All you folks with newer computer and IT departments that have more money that ours: Please save your Microsoft Office 2007 files in a format that the rest of the world can open easily. Not everybody can afford (or really feels the need) to spend the money on the upgrade, and can't open the files you e-mail us. Yes, we can (and I do) install compatibility packs so we can read those*.docx and *.xlsx files, but would it just be easier for you and the clients you send files if you would just save it in the standard Word or Excel format? Or even as a PDF? I work at a real estate office where I get freaked out agents who can't open up "a critically important document" that somebody has e-mailed them, forcing me to carry around that stupid compatibility pack on a USB key so I can avoid the nearly thirty-megabyte download. I also have vendors send around documentation to their clients that were all in *.docx format, and I know at least 75% of the folks who received the docs couldn't open it as I just ended up converting it to PDF with CutePDF (after loading the document with the compatibility pack in Office 2003) and it worked fine. I shouldn't be caused more work to deal with stupid crap like this.

OK, done ranting.

Posted by Jake on 08/28/08 @ 09:31 PM
Posted in Geekdom, Randomness, Rants | 9 Comments | Permalink
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9 Comments

Nameless One said on 08/29/08 @ 06:53 AM:
Since most end users don't really know how to or want to take the time to learn how to save a file in a different format, wouldn't the best solution be to make sure all who have Office 2003 have the compatibility pack, have it installed the same time as security updates?

Nathan said on 08/29/08 @ 07:50 AM:
Nameless: It's a rant, the man cannot be negotiated with.

Jake said on 08/29/08 @ 08:21 AM:
Really, my life would be easier if the compatibility pack would be included in an Office service pack instead of an optional download. Of course, that assumes that people actually install service packs, and we all know what assuming does...

The reality is that the people who are sending me those files are at companies where they *should* know better. They're talking up their tech prowess, and then send those around.

Alex said on 08/29/08 @ 08:59 AM:
Thank you thank you thank you thank you Jake. It's just as bad for us Mac folks ho haven't got the moolah to get Office. Almost anything made in Word or Excel *will* convert fine in Appleworks, *except* some of the files made on the 2007 release, with which we'll get "cannot read file" errors.

PDF is so much easier.

Richy C. said on 08/29/08 @ 11:36 AM:
Openoffice 3.0 supports opening of docx files etc ( http://marketing.openoffice.org/3.0/featurelistbeta.html ), allows you to save as PDF (along with normal word and Excel formats) and is FREE. It may be worth upgrading to OpenOffice instead of keeping with the current Office installation: less resources, less cost, more compatibility. It's only a 116Mb download of the entire office suite (and Alex, it's available for the Mac as well!)

amanda said on 08/29/08 @ 08:13 PM:
u tell em jake !!

i upgraded to 07 from my 03.. and after a month of anger.. i downgraded back.

stupid microsoft

The Dren said on 08/29/08 @ 09:31 PM:
Want to go one better? Our Firewall blocks the 2007 Office Formats as Malware becuase they have Active Content. So I have to approve by Domain or Sender to be able to send this type of stuff into our domain. Yay!

Peter said on 09/01/08 @ 11:30 AM:
Office 2003 SP3 has compatibility pack integrated. As a sysadmin at my company, I have created a GPO to force users to save into *.doc format just because I knew, there will be shit like this..

Richy C. said on 09/08/08 @ 08:08 AM:
We actually had this issue today. A client sent in a .XLSX (Office 2007 Excel file) which we couldn't open. I therefore downloaded and installed the Compatibility Pack direct from Microsoft: and we still couldn't open then file. I installed OpenOffice 3 and the file opened perfectly!

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