SP3 Downgrades Office 2003

"For inexplicable reasons, there has been news this week that Office 2003 SP3 blocks some older file types. Considering that Microsoft released SP3 in September, the file format controversy has taken a while to bubble up. The update prevents Office 2003 from opening some older Microsoft and other competing formats, some of which are absolutely ancient.

Yes, Microsoft behaved stupidly here. Let me emphasize: stupidly. File format compatibility is a hugely sensitive issue with many IT organizations. Microsoft should have issued an explicit warning that Office 2003 would break file compatibility."

http://www.microsoft-watch.com/content/business_applications/sp3_downgrades_office_2003.html