Backward Compatibility for Open XML

So you're not sold on buying Office 2007; that's fine. But you're friends and/or coworkers are. Perhaps a business partner uses it. And now you're getting Office 2007 documents, but you can't open them because they're in Office 2007's new Open XML format. What to do?!

Lucky for you (and me), Microsoft has provided a compatibility pack to make Office XP and Office 2003 compatible with Open XML.

Here's what you do:

1. Make sure Office is up-to-date
   
   The Office compatibility pack requirements are the following:
   
   • Office 2000: Service Pack 3 or better
     
   • Office 2002/XP: Service Pack 3 or better
   • Office 2003: Service Pack 1 or better
   
   To get these packs, you can download them manually (links above, respectively), or you can go to Office Update.
   
   
2. Download and Install the Microsoft Compatibility Pack
   
   You can download it from here. Then, just run the installer.
   
   
3. You're Good to Go
   
   Now you'll find an option to save your documents in the Open XML format in the Save dialog box, along with all of your other options. You can also open Open XML documents the same way you do other documents.

So, now you can "benefit" from using Microsoft's new document format. Wasn't that easy?