Thanks for all the comments.
Tried the viewer, but it wasn't able to open the file. Something about a
"text converter not installed" I think. Forget the exact error, will
report later.
I do understand and appreciate the issue of "moving on". Its just a shame.
Bit like having a great 1987 model of Toyota Corolla, say, and loving the
car...but eventually the manufacturer stops making spare parts for it.
With software, though, it should really be different, especially for such
a large corporation as Microsoft.
Spent some time reading about some of these new and (supposedly) wonderful
features that Office 2007 brings to the party. The fundamentals of
creating great slides, spreadsheets and documents haven't changed and I
for one remain unconvinced that these new features actually add much.
Certainly nothing springs out at me and says "Wow, I need that feature!".
I'm suspicious that breaking backward compatibility with its own products
is a commercial decision. Not aimed at legitimate Office 97 users such as
myself, but aimed squarely at competitors of Office, like Open Office. I'm
just an unfortunate casualty. I think this is unfair, but sadly an all too
common, business practice. MS dominates the OS market and by virtue of
that dominates the office-style programs as well (we remember Lotus 123
and Word Perfect, I hope!). They should win the office-style program
market by producing great programs, not changing proprietary file formats
to prevent competitors writing readers.
Not totally unrelated, this reminds me of a serious problem I heard a
lecture on recently - the issue of "bit rot". The lecturer, who did
consultancy work for Google and NASA, pointed out that we'll soon get to a
stage where the only way to open old files is to preserve the program, the
operating system on which the program ran, the media to load both, the
hardware to support both and perhaps even an electrical supply to run that
hardware! If we don't then 20 or more years from now, nothing we've
created today will be usable, it'll be "rotted bits", a pile of useless 1s
and 0s. I'm sure we all hope this doesn't apply to some fundamental file
formats, like BMP or JPG or TXT, but its already happening very rapidly to
many other file formats. This PPT question I've raised is an excellent
example.
I bought a private copy of Office 2000 for myself which I use on my
personal computer...hope nobody minds if I install that (illegally?) on my
work computer to get around the compatibility issues.
Thanks again,
Alain
Steve Rindsberg said:
All right, thanks, will suggest this to whomever gave me the PPT file.
Bit of a problem, though, because Powerpoint 97 and the rest of Office
97
are a nice set of programs. Why should I be pushed into installing
Office
2007? I know MS wnat to make more money out of me, but its not right
that
they do it this way.
Office 97 really was (and remains) a classic.
But in order to make needed improvements to the program and to support
new
features, MS had to change the file format. We can't expect them to do
all
that AND maintain backward compatibility with the old software as well.
The
fact that they've managed to do so through Office 2000, 2002 and 2003 is,
to
me, quite amazing, but it couldn't go on forever.
The problem isn't so much that you're being pushed into updating ...
after all,
you can continue to do what you've always done with the software. It's
more
that others around you have elected to update and are now incompatible
with
your software.
If we're happy where we are, we're free to stay there while the world
moves on,
but we have to accept that that can leave us a bit out of synch.
FWIW, the compatibility pack will run with Office 2000, and 2000's not so
wildly different from 97 that you'd have difficulty using it. If you can
lay
your hands on a copy, it'd be worth considering.
Regards,
Alain
I don't think you're going to be able to open the file, then, because
PPT
97 doesn't support the compatibility pack.
You can open the file at the office and choose Office Button | Save As
and
save as a 97-2003 format file (*.PPT).
--
Echo [MS PPT MVP]
http://www.echosvoice.com
What's new in PPT 2007?
http://www.echosvoice.com/2007.htm
Fixing PowerPoint Annoyances
http://tinyurl.com/36grcd
PowerPoint 2007 Complete Makeover Kit
http://tinyurl.com/32a7nx
I've got Powerpoint 97 installed. I can't read a PPT file from work
because of this error. I ahve the Office 2007 compatibility pack
installed. What do I do?
The first Google article on this is from Microsoft, but doesn't even
*mentino* Office 97, only going back to Office 2000.
I do not want to install Office 2007, if you're going to suggest
that.
Thanks,
Alain
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PPT Frequently Asked Questions
http://www.pptfaq.com/
PPTools add-ins for PowerPoint
http://www.pptools.com/
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