Microsoft Office 2003 - SP3 blocks common formats

» Microsoft hoses user data - again! | Storage Bits | ZDNet.com:
"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."

I think this is going to affect lots of people. Many folks have used Word 6.0 as the default save format for years because others could read those documents. We're going to have to open & Save As all of our documents before upgrading to SP3.

Frankly, I might decide that this is time to do all my personal work in Open Office which allows us to save as PDF for anyone to read.

. . . here is the complete list of blocked Word formats from the MS article.

Blocked file format:

* Word 11 saved by Word 12
* Word 2004 for Macintosh
* Word 11 for Windows
* Word 10 for Windows
* Word 9 for Windows
* Word X for Macintosh
* Word 2001 for Macintosh
* Word 98 for Macintosh
* Word 97 for Windows
* Word 95 Beta
* Word 95 RTM
* Word 6.0 for Macintosh
* Word 6.0 for Windows
* Word 2.x for Windows Taiwan
* Word 2.x for Windows Korea
* Word 2.x for Windows Japan
* Word 2.x for Windows BiDi
* Word 2.x for Windows
* Word 1.2 for Windows Taiwan
* Word 5.x for Macintosh
* Word 1.2 for Windows Korea
* Word 1.2 for Windows Japan
* Word 4.x for Macintosh
* Word 1.x for Windows
* All older formats

Update January 9, 2007:

Microsoft admits Office 2003 'mistake' :
"Microsoft updated the advisory on Friday evening and included links to four downloadable updates that would unblock the file formats. One update was provided for each of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and CorelDraw file types.
The downloadable updates should prove to be much easier to implement than a manual registry fix, details of which were retained in the updated advisory.
The software giant also provided four downloadable updates to reblock the file formats.
Shaffner said: 'For IT administrators, we recommend that they use the (registry) fix that was there before. For end users, if they frequently use the older formats, this (the downloadable update) is the way.' He suggested that if users did not frequently use the older formats, they should apply the update."