Brian Junyor The Blog

MS Office 2007 Backwards Compatability

Geoff @ Gearfire posted a great tip regarding backwards compatability for Office 2007.  Microsoft® released a compatability pack the will allow you to open the new formats in older versions of Office.  I haven't tested it out yet, but I look forward to giving it a whirl next week.

From Microsoft: 

By installing the Compatibility Pack in addition to Microsoft Office 2000, Office XP, or Office 2003, you will be able open, edit, and save files using the file formats new to Word, Excel, and PowerPoint 2007. The Compatibility Pack can also be used in conjunction with the Microsoft Office Word Viewer 2003, Excel Viewer 2003, and PowerPoint Viewer 2003 to view files saved in these new formats. For more information about the Compatibility Pack, see Knowledge Base article 924074.

Download the compatability pack here.

MS Vista.

As we know vista is the pride and joy (and pain) of Microsoft®.  However my experience was less than thrilling. When I tried this new OS it seemed to be well thought out and visually compelling, especially with aero being the new window look and feel. The bliss ended when I tried to actually accomplish something with it. You know that Mac tv add about security? Well I'm here to tell you that it is not far from the truth. When I tried to run the "app approved" Windows live the DEP declared it an unsafe application and refused to run it.. And so began my struggle and eventual dumping of Vista.

Even now, Dell is cautioning its business customers on upgrading to Vista. And I could not agree more.

--Oracle