AES2, I've not got or want MS Crappy Office 2013,
I have used MSO 2010 and every version of MS Word and Excel prior to that. I know that MSO 2003, 2007, and 2010 could NOT open any documents saved in any version of Word or Excel prior to MSO 97 without getting extra apps downloaded and installed, yet Open Office and Libre Office can do so with the basic install. The reason for the problems was deliberately introduced changes in the formats by Microsoft that provided no benefit to the user. Like a lot of people I have documents created in version of Word and Excel prior to MSO 97.
Star Office, later name changed to Open Office when Sun gave its development control over to Open Office Org (from which Libre Office is derived), has been around since 1984 as a multi app package. Microsoft Word was created in 1983 as Multi-Tool Word for Xenix based on Bravo created by people at Xerox PARC. Word wasn't bundled with other apps as a package until 1997 as MSO 97, and Microsoft Excel came into being in 1985. Thus, technically MSO came into being in 1997, 13 years after Star Office came into being.
I should not need to have to keep an old system around just to be able to read these older documents. Thanks to OO and LO I don't have to as they can do things Microsoft Office can't do or refuses to do.
Microsoft support Open Document Formats NOW, but only since the US government forced them to, despite the ODFs being the Approved Industry Standards for many years prior to MS including them in MSO.
I know many US organisation still use MSO formats, and insist on getting documents in them, but that the number of people insisting on the use of MS formats worldwide is on the decrease, and I think you'd be surprised at how many organisation accept ODF and how many now prefer ODF.
