# Microshaft might not repair defective older software



## Ryan (Apr 24, 2002)

Microsoft Word flaw may allow file theft

Software giant: Repair available for only newer versions

MS policy is to no longer repair Word97 software, even though there is a major security problem with it.

The government needs to force them to provide a patch to eliminate the problem.

Can you imagine an auto maker saying, "Oh, we're not going to repair that defect, because the new model year is out already?"
Crazy.

Another example of MS anti-consumer policies!


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## gcutler (Mar 23, 2002)

MS's poilicy has always been anything over 5 years and they close the door on it. OSes, Apps. Now what would make them less evil would be if they offered a free upgrade to Word XP for those people (not an upgrade for everything in Office 97, just Word 97.) That might be cheaper than a patch in their efforts?


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## Mark Holtz (Mar 23, 2002)

Where I work, we actively discourage people from running Outlook 97 because it's a headache and chokes on the malformed message headers. 

The best advice I can give is, unless you need the latest and greatest, you don't always need the latest version. Maybe every other version.


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## Mike123abc (Jul 19, 2002)

> _Originally posted by Ryan _
> *Microsoft Word flaw may allow file theft
> 
> Software giant: Repair available for only newer versions
> ...


Car makers do not fix old cars. Once the car is out of warranty you have to fix it. You have to pay for it. Well Microsoft will let you fix your old version of software... you buy an upgrade to fix it. At least Microsoft lets you upgrade any old version of the software at the upgrade price, many companies only allow upgrade to the prior version, anything older is full price.

The government only makes automakers fix old cars if there is a safety defect that would cause loss of life. If a car just had a bad transmission design that would cause it to fail after five years, and out of warranty, buyer beware.


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## James_F (Apr 23, 2002)

Writting software myself, I encourage all users of my products to update to the latest versions. I don't want to have to waste my time on 2 year old software that doesn't work well. I hope Microsoft DOESN'T provide support for these older products because it sets a dangerous precident!


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## Karl Foster (Mar 23, 2002)

> _Originally posted by Ryan _
> *
> The government needs to force them to provide a patch to eliminate the problem.
> 
> *


What is ironic about this statement is that the federal government (who some people believe should solve all problems for everyone) uses MS Word 97 as a standard.


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## Steve Mehs (Mar 21, 2002)

Moving to Computer Forum...


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