Are you still using Microsoft Office 2003? If so, get ready to have problems opening older file formats with it once SP3 is applied: Microsoft has decided to disable file parsers for the older file types (Word 95 and older, Wordperfect, Lotus etc.) by default. Why? Security reasons.

Last week, Microsoft published the binary file formats for Office. These formats appear to be almost completely insane. The Excel 97-2003 file format is a 349 page PDF file. But wait, that’s not all there is to it!

Bordeaux 1.4 was released today and its a significant upgrade over the prior 1.2 release, version 1.4 comes with support for Microsoft Office 2003, Visio 2003 and Project 2003. Version 1.4 has improved Office 2000 menu support and Cellar support fixes.

Under the name Sun ODF Plug-in for Microsoft Office, Sun has released its import/export filter for the OpenDocument format (ODF), which the ISO has recognized as a standard, for versions 2000, XP, and 2003 of Microsoft's Office suite; the plug-in can be downloaded via our software repository.

The average user probably hasn't even heard of Open Document Format (ODF) or Microsoft Office Open XML (OOXML). But to factions in the free software community, these formats for common office files such as text documents and spreadsheets are the poles on which a violent controversy centers.

In a resounding victory for Microsoft Corp., bills seeking to mandate the use of open document formats by government agencies have been defeated in five states, and only a much-watered-down version of such legislation was signed into law in a sixth state.

OpenOffice and Symphony are compatible with the Open Document Format, an industry standard that allows programs from different developers to read each other's documents and preserve typefaces, paragraphs, indents, tabs, bullets, numbering and so forth. Both free suites also support the proprietary but widely copied formats that Microsoft used in its basic Office products until the 2007 version.

"Microsoft is trying to push new file formats that are using ZIP and XML. Are those new file formats any good for Office developers ? In other words, should anyone feel safe to make direct access to file parts, and start getting free of running instances of Microsoft Office and its COM object model, usually through VBA ?"

Although Microsoft publicly testifies from every available pulpit of their deep longing for multiple document formats, a quick glance at reality shows that this love remains unrequited in their products. For example, what new formats does Office 2007 include out of the box?