Microsoft Corp has come up with a creative way to say bug fix without using those words. Try co-existence converter, a term it’s coined for a routine that will finally convince Office 97 users to save files in the old Word 6.0/95 format, a necessity since the older version of Word can’t read Word 97 files. Office 97 was supposed to save files in the old format in the first place, but it doesn’t. Instead, it saves them in Rich Text Format, which isn’t fatal but can be awkward. The situation has sparked a flood of complaints from corporate users. The co-existence converter will be part of a melange of tools – and, some suspect, other disguised bug fixes – due out by the end of March that are intended to help with Office 97 migration.
