back to article MS to 'backport' Office 2007 security improvements

Microsoft plans to push security improvements made in Office 2007 down the food chain with the next major update for Office 2003. Service Pack 3 (SP3) for Office 2003 will "backport" some (but not all) of the security improvements built into Office 2007. "We're trying to take what we learned from building Office 2007 and …

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  1. Nathan Meyer

    May As Well Fire-Proof A Paper house

    MS Office is vulnerable because it is a cobbled-together collection of products with "interoperability" pasting them together in the illusion of a single product. The paths to hack the products are the same as the paths to use them together. Add to that the crumbling foundation of Windows upon which most installations of Office are built, and you have a tinderbox. Until MSFT limit interoperation and disgorge the registry, their products will be easy targets for firebugs.

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Office 2000?

    Anyone out there knows whether MS will ship some security service pack for Office 2000? I mean... the sole reason why I would want to upgrade would be the security holes reported against it (mostly the same ones that haunt 2003 and 2007).

    Otherwise I am perfectly happy with office 2000. Especially Frontpage 2000.

  3. Mike Moyle

    Slim and none...

    [QUOTE]

    Anyone out there knows whether MS will ship some security service pack for Office 2000? I mean... the sole reason why I would want to upgrade would be the security holes reported against it (mostly the same ones that haunt 2003 and 2007).

    [/QUOTE]

    ...And the question is: What are the odds of Microsoft supporting older software instead of forcing customers to "buy a patch"...?

    [QUOTE]

    Otherwise I am perfectly happy with office 2000. Especially Frontpage 2000.

    [/QUOTE]

    ...And it's exactly that sort of thinking that has kept them from their rightful place as overlords of the universe...!

  4. Giles Jones Gold badge

    All suites are like this

    Nathan's comment about multiple apps cobbled together applies to most productivity suites.

    People want the ability to move data between applications without having to first save them to a file. Open Office is much the same.

    Much of the weakness is just how powerful Microsoft made the macro and data access functionality. Power users can get a lot out of these features, but they are a risk to those who don't use them.

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