Hi Gordon,

Closed source software does NOT give you any assurance that the source
will be around when the company that developed it goes out of business.

In fact it's happened with MS - the Outlook 2003 pst file format is NOT
backwards compatible!

No, but Outlook 2003 still supports the older file format, so that you can
bring *.pst files forwards (and continue to use them with older versions,
or convert them).

File format compatibility has always been a big discussion, for any
software (not just MS). I remember the uproar when Word changed file
formats, going from 6.0 to 97. (There was also a change from 2.0 to 6.0,
but somehow, that didn't throw as many waves; maybe because 6.0 was so
clearly an improvement.) The thing is, if a program is going to develop,
and be able to do new things, sometimes internal structures MUST change.
I've heard discussions among MS people about: should/can we go forward,
will it break backwards compatibility, and is it worth it.

I suppose we react more strongly / are more sensitized to this with
Office-type products because that's where we're most likely to exchange
files with other people. Used to be, the biggest concern was whether "the
other guy" could open my WP/AmiPro/Word/QuattroPro/1-2-3/Excel file. Now
it's more a version, rather than a product question.

And BTW, when discussing MS vs. other products, this is another reason why
big companies choose MS: highest chances for compatibility when exchanging
files.

Cindy Meister
INTER-Solutions, Switzerland
http://homepage.swissonline.ch/cindymeister (last update Jun 8 2004)
http://www.word.mvps.org

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