New/old problem with Powerpoint in Update 2

[FrankRP]

Version: 2008
Operating System: Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard)
Processor: Intel

When MS Office 2008 first came out, Powerpoint was unable to open files created by Powerpoint 2004. This was fixed in Update 1.

Update 2 brings the problem back. I cannot open presentations that I created just a few days ago in Powerpoint.

This is a MAJOR problem for me. I'm developing several courses and need access to those materials.

The first time this occurred I was able to open the presentations using Keynote. Unfortunately I have to send these courses to the university for more processing so that's not an option this time.

I'm going to have to go back and reload Office 2008 and update 1.

Does anyone have any suggestions?

 

[MarcosM]

Hi Frank,

Can you send me a sample file that has this problem? You can email it directly to me at (e-mail address removed). Can you also provide a brief history of the file?

Thanks,

Marcos Montenegro
Macintosh Business Unit
Microsoft Corp.

This posting is provided *AS IS* with no warranties, and confers no rights.

 

[ErolK]

I've encountered a similar problem after installing the update 2 on a MacPro running 10.5.7. All PPTX files created in the earlier version could not be opened.

Strangely, these files could not be opened by PowerPoint 12.2 installed on a MacBook Pro, but PPTX files created on that MacBook Pro in an earlier version of PowerPoint could be opened.

I transferred the files to another MacPro with Office 12.1.7 installed, and the files opened without any problem.

I copied the PowerPoint Application (12.1.7) from the second MacPro onto the first MacPro replacing the 12.2 version. This restored the first MacPro's ability to open the PPTX files.

 

[bspielman]

Marcos,

I have e-mailed you a .ppsx file created in Office 2008 version 12.1.9 that will not open in version 12.2.0. PowerPoint's error message states it cannot open the file and suggests getting the latest update, which is, of course, what has caused this problem.

A colleague will need a similar file for a presentation at a client this Thursday. If I had not monitored www.macfixit.com, where this problem is being reported by others, she would have been dead in the water on Thursday without any notice from Microsoft. We will be forced to uninstall all copies of Office 2008 and reinstall from the product disc. Is this level of productivity typical of Microsoft products?

Nice job, Microsoft. Did anyone there so much as try this?

"I'm a PC." Yeah, right.

Burton A. Spielman
Vice President
The Writing Exchange, Inc.
466 Southern Boulevard
Chatham, NJ 07928
973-822-8400
www.writingexchange.com

 

[bspielman]

I believe my e-mail was kicked back from your mailbox. Here is the text of what I received:

Warning: This message has had one or more attachments removed
Warning: (Wtg Tech Papers-Mac.ppsx, image2.wmf).
Warning: Please read the "Mail-Filter-Gateway-Attachment-Warning.txt" attachment(s) for more information.

Marcos,

I read your request for sample files on the Mactopia Office 2008 forum here: <http://www.officeformac.com/ms/ProductForums/Office/3921>

I've attached a PowerPoint presentation I cannot open in version 12.2.0. I created and could open the file in 12.1.9.

We need to use a similar .ppsx presentation on Thursday, but will have to remove this latest update and reinstall Office 2008 from scratch.

Nice job, Microsoft! What were you thinking?

Burton A. Spielman
The Writing Exchange, Inc.
Chatham, NJ 07928
973-822-8400
www.writingexchange.com

This is a message from the MailFilterGateway E-Mail Virus Protection Service
----------------------------------------------------------------------
The original e-mail attachment "Wtg Tech Papers-Mac.ppsx"
is on the list of unacceptable attachments for this site and has been
replaced by this warning message.

At Wed Jul 22 02:28:14 2009 the virus scanner said:
Possible format attack in Windows (image2.wmf)

 

[Michel Bintener]

Hi Burton,

your e-mail might get through if you compress it first. Right-click it in
the Finder, then choose Compress from the contextual menu. Try e-mailing the
resulting ZIP file instead.

 

[bspielman]

Michel,

I've sent the zipped file. Why didn't Mr. Montenegro mention this requirement?

More time-wasting. Some of us have business to conduct and don't have the time to futz around with this nonsense. Why don't you put 12.1.9 back up so we can download it directly?

Or would that be too simple a solution for Microsoft?

 

[Michel Bintener]

Hi Burton,

please keep in mind that we MVPs are volunteers and do not work for
Microsoft. I can't tell you why Marcos did not include that detail (perhaps
he was not aware of the extensive spam filtering for e-mail messages outside
of Microsoft), and it is certainly not up to me to decide which downloads
should be made available and which ones should not. That being said, 12.1.9
is still available, even though it cannot be found on Mactopia anymore. Just
go to the Microsoft Download Center by following this link, and download the
updater:

<http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=583
26da2-eb75-4b42-b1bc-e70319defb58>

Or, if the above link does not work:

<http://tinyurl.com/me8qmt>

Hope this helps.

 

[bspielman]

I hope you can understand the frustration and wasting of time this so-called "critical update" is causing me and may other users. Many of you volunteers answer on these forums with very defensive replies, suggesting that it's not the update but some problem with the user's system. "Did you try this?" or "Did you try that?" Why can't Microsoft offer clear instructions if they are necessary to get this to work properly?

Thank you for pointing me to 12.1.9. I have downloaded it and am re-installing it. In the meantime, I have auto-update turned off.

 

[William Smith [MVP]]

I hope you can understand the frustration and wasting of time this
so-called "critical update" is causing me and may other users. Many
of you volunteers answer on these forums with very defensive replies,
suggesting that it's not the update but some problem with the user's
system. "Did you try this?" or "Did you try that?" Why can't
Microsoft offer clear instructions if they are necessary to get this
to work properly?

Sorry if we sound defensive. Believe me, this caught the MVPs by
surprise too.

Not knowing how widespread this problem really is, I don't want to
completely condemn Microsoft if after a week we discover this has only
impacted a handful of folks and a very small number of files. I
understand that when the problem affects "me" then it seems to be
widespread and apparent to everyone.

We cannot speak for Microsoft but we can speak honestly for ourselves. I
believe something broke in their testing process that let this slip
through. Mistakes happen but Microsoft really needs to step up an fix
this quickly. The last time a major problem like this happened, they had
a fix out in three weeks. I wouldn't expect anything sooner.

My suggestion is that you downgrade. Use the Office uninstaller and then
install:

Office 2008 from your DVD
Office 2008 12.1.0 (SP1) combo updater
Office 2008 12.1.9 combo updater

This sounds like a lot of work but you can have it done in under 30
minutes without fear of losing your data.

Hope this helps!

--

bill

Entourage Help Page <http://entourage.mvps.org/>
Entourage Help Blog <http://blog.entourage.mvps.org/>
YouTalk <http://nine.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/youtalk>
Twitter: follow <http://twitter.com/meck>

 

[FrankRP]

To BIll Smith,
No, it can't be done in under 30 minutes. I had to completely uninstall Office 2008 (including all the files that uninstaller doesn't touch), reload from the original DVD, install Update 12.1, and then reinstall the last update prior to Update 2.

It took a couple of hours. Time I could have used productively. This isn't the fault of you volunteers, but it's a good argument for me to use Keynote unless necessary.

 

[bspielman]

Also to Bill Smith,

I agree with FrankRP that the uninstall and reinstall from the disk, then the SP1 update, then the 12.1.9 update takes far longer than a half-hour. Then multiply this by the number of Macs you have Office installed on, and on which you blindly and innocently updated to SP2, trusting Microsoft not to screw up your work.

Well, trust Microsoft no longer!

The very least Microsoft can do is offer a unified one-step update from the original disk installation to 12.1.9. Too late for me. I've already spent the better part of a full day downgrading Office on our Macs. Apple provides unified downloads for all of its system updates. Why can't Microsoft offer as productive a solution? Oh, that's right, they're the folks that brought you Windows.

"Life Without Walls," huh? If you have no walls, who needs Windows?

 

[robor]

Marcos,

I have e-mailed you a .ppsx file created in Office 2008 version 12.1.9 that will not open in version 12.2.0. PowerPoint's error message states it cannot open the file and suggests getting the latest update, which is, of course, what has caused this problem.

A colleague will need a similar file for a presentation at a client this Thursday. If I had not monitored www.macfixit.com, where this problem is being reported by others, she would have been dead in the water on Thursday without any notice from Microsoft. We will be forced to uninstall all copies of Office 2008 and reinstall from the product disc. Is this level of productivity typical of Microsoft products?

Nice job, Microsoft. Did anyone there so much as try this?

"I'm a PC." Yeah, right.

Burton A. Spielman
Vice President
The Writing Exchange, Inc.
466 Southern Boulevard
Chatham, NJ 07928
973-822-8400
www.writingexchange.com

Marcos,

Can you explain to us why we users have to debug Microsoft's products? Don't you have software engineers and programmers that are paid to do that? I thought that was what we were paid out a substantial sum of money when we bought OFFICE 2008.

That said, please fix this software even if you have to rely on us "amateurs" to do your work for you.

 

[FrankRP]

This is the kind of attack message that does more damage than good. The people monitoring this forum are volunteers, not MS employees. If you want to scream at MS, do it at them and not the people who are trying to help us.

Besides, MS has always expected their users to do a substantial amount of debugging, This has been true since they started Windows development.

 

[CyberTaz]

Valid points, Frank, but to be a bit more specific it isn't just MS... Nor
is it just the software industry. In fact, using the consumer as the acid
test is a practice that came into prominence before the microcomputer came
into existence. It's funny how so many people love to hate certain
entities, yet I personally know of some who have had to have several
components or entire new Mac systems replaced more than once who accept
*that* as being an acceptable course of events.

Virtually all mid to major software developers do the same thing because of
production schedules, budget considerations, ad nauseum... They can't afford
to do otherwise. If they tried to wait until it's perfect it would *never*
be "ready" to ship. Even the shareware/freeware utilities devs - who are
under no pressure of timelines or anything else - don't provide error-free
product.

It's interesting that some people seem to think that it's just a matter of
"some guy" scribbling down a few lines of code, burning it to a disk &
throwing it out the door ready for prime time

Regards |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac

 

[FrankRP]

Bob,
I'll admit to being old enough that I remember when software wasn't developed this way. Back in the mainframe era (think Fortran and Cobol) software development was planned out and done by guys in suits and ties. Quality was extremely high. The software that runs telephone switching systems is error-free to all extents and purposes. The software that does stock trades is essentially error-free (although the Tokyo stock exchange has had a couple of glitches). But error-free software is not limited to mainframes. The software that runs heart pacemakers must be bug-free. I teach IT Project Management and pay a lot of attention to this area.

Where we started to develop the environment we find ourselves in now began with the growth of personal computers. Development was done by code slinging cowboys working extremely long hours to produce features. There was so much competition to get new products to market first that careful planning was just thrown out the door. "Let's not spend time planning this, just put something together and we'll fix it later". Quality suffered accordingly.

The competition became so intense that companies didn't even do careful architecture that would allow the products to grow and evolve. Many current products are suffering from an initially poor architecture that just had new features kludged on occasionally (Quicken comes to mind). And don't even get me started on several MS products.

For a good read on the competition that developed and some of its effects, the book "Fire in The Valley" is pretty informative.

 

[bspielman]

This is the kind of attack message that does more damage than good. The people monitoring this forum are volunteers, not MS employees. If you want to scream at MS, do it at them and not the people who are trying to help us.

Besides, MS has always expected their users to do a substantial amount of debugging, This has been true since they started Windows development.

I would hardly characterize robor's message as an attack. And, it was not directed to the volunteers here, but rather directly to Mr. Montenegro, whose signature says "Macintosh Business Unit, Microsoft Corporation." Is he a volunteer, too?

The statement to the right of where I am typing this says, "The MVPs and other volunteers here welcome not only questions but comments, feedback, and criticism." If disgruntled users don't "scream" here, where should we.

While I have received a message from Mr. Montenegro that Microsoft has identified what they think is the problem with my un-openable file--that it is missing some bit of code that causes SP2 to reject it (deficiency I had nothing to do with)--I have yet to see a public statement from Microsoft that they acknowledge the problem, are working on it and will have a fix by a specific time.

This whole philosophical argument about whose responsibility it is to ensure that a product works as advertised is ridiculous. The current problem is not a minor bug; it is a crippler that Microsoft does not offer a clear, simple path by which to recover. That is irresponsible.