Hi Richard -
I promised myself that I'd stay out of this melee but I simply can't resist
the temptation
It's not an assumption. One of the major points that many seem to overlook
(or choose to ignore) is that the WDBN file type was deprecated when Word 6
was introduced over 10 years ago and brought along a new format on both Mac
as well as PC. It's only those programs involved which have continued to
assign it to documents, and that's where the problem originates.
Simple question: How many people do you know who are still using the *same
version* of the *same email/browser* they were using 10 years ago? If the
involved software had been revised appropriately the number of affected
documents would be miniscule. Ergo, that's where the "fix" needs to be made.
I can't - and don't presume to - speak for MS, but FWIW there's no doubt in
my feeble mind that there will be no resurrection of that archaic, obsolete
file type by MS in any future update to Office 2008 - or ever. And even if
they did, it wouldn't change the fact that the affected document would still
have the same - more serious problem - of being incorrectly coded.
Why some seek to hold MS accountable for the irresponsibility of other
developers I simply can't fathom. Ironically, if MS *did* attempt to control
those developers they'd be taking just as much flak - if not more - for
that... And from regulatory agencies as well as from users.
I'm not unsympathetic to the inconvenience, but your decision is tantamount
to cutting off your nose to spite your face, throwing the baby out with the
bathwater, or any number of other platitudes one might choose to apply to
the circumstances. By staying at 12.0.1 you're depriving yourself of all the
other fixes & improvements provided by the 12.1.0 update - any of which
[IMHO] outweigh that one issue and are detailed in several of the posts
scattered among the various threads on the subject. If you missed them - or
can't find them - you might want to have a look at what those changes are:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/952331/en-us
Regards |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac
JE, do those same users have the issue of not being able to double click an
email attachment? If, like me, they have to save the attachment then go to
Word and then do a File/Open I'm sure they wouldn't 'get it'. Everyone is
assuming that MS have deprecated the WDBN file type, as far as I know there's
nothing in the release notes and I still say that either MS did not test this
properly or they have a blatant disregard for the usability of their software
on the Mac platform. I have gone back to 12.0.1 and will not upgrade until
this is fixed.
