The latest from MicroSnot

Seems that in spite of what users of the software might think, MS is ready to release SP3 for MS Office 2003, but is Office 2003 ready for SP3? Well, not any of the versions that anyone I know runs...

In checking to see if SP3 has already snuck onto my system, I went to the Office update site and had it poll my workstation. Yes, I know I could have just checked the about section on the help menu, but I felt like reading some fairy tales. No, I'm still at SP2 and thank heavens I downloaded the full version of SP2 to my local drive so I can deploy that company wide rather than have to fight my way to configuring Office 2003 back to usefulness on 200+ workstations. I love the way MS describes SP3 on the update site: Microsoft Office 2003 Service Pack 3 (SP3) contains significant security enhancements that practically cripple your ability to work, in addition to stability improvements. Some of the fixes included with SP3 have been previously released as separate updates. This service pack combines them into one update. Note: the colored text is my own, not theirs.

Apparently one of the small drawbacks to installing SP3 is a complete and utter inability to open files that were created before you applied the service pack. In an effort to prevent you from possibly falling into one of the gaping security holes in the suite, MS has decided to prevent the software from actually opening or modifying any existing files. Well I don't know about you, but I've always wanted to have a $795.00 piece of software that just sits on my workstation and does nothing.

Rest assured, they have a workaround. Simply edit your registry to disable all the security features that the service pack just installed. Of course my favorite line in the page describing the download is not the list of things it fixes, nor is it the list of things that no longer work after you install the download. No, my fav section is the To remove this download section...there is no uninstall feature for this download.