On Thu, 18 Oct 2007, Morten Torstensen wrote: > centos at 911networks.com wrote: >> Here is the basic problem with Linux! Over 1 million office 2007 >> users and they have to change their software because it does not >> conform to the "standard". > > It is not only a problem for Linux users. Office 2003/XP/2000 etc > can not read these files either. I know many Windows only shops who > are pretty annoyed with the upgrade churn Microsoft force on them. It's a decade-old problem. MS Office 97 altered the binary .doc format in ways unreadable by Office 95. Word 97 claimed it could save in 95's format, but in reality all it did was write an RTF file. RTF isn't nearly as capable as .doc, so anything other than extremely basic formatting instructions were lost in the translation. Only prolonged customer screaming led MS to offer true backward-compatible binary filters for Office 97 -- and even then it was never advertised. You had to know exactly what you were seeking to find it buried in the bowels of microsoft.com. Just get it out of your head that Microsoft's true customers are those who purchase MS products. Its true customers are the folks who own MS stock. -- Paul Heinlein <> heinlein at madboa.com <> http://www.madboa.com/