On Tue, 02 Dec 2008 18:06:57 +0000 Came this utterance fomulated by Tony Pursell to my mailbox:
> On 2 Dec 2008 at 10:55, Mike W. wrote: > > > I have a hybrid network with OOo on several workstations and > > Microsoft on several. I am migrating to OOo from MS gradually. All > > of the stored documents are in MS format and some are password > > protected. When opened in MS the user is prompted for a password; > > however, when opened in OOo the document opens! What's worse the > > user is able to modify the original! > > > > I am using the newest version of OOo. The MS versions are 2k3 Pro > > and XP Pro for the most part. Any ideas how to fix the compatibility > > (and security) issue? > > > > Any info greatly appreciated. > > > > I suppose if MS were 'open' enough to let us know how their > document passwords work, we might have been good enough to > honour them. > The binary format specs have been open and freely available since February: http://www.microsoft.com/interop/docs/officebinaryformats.mspx This was a result of the XML format ISO debacle, which itself was a result of other things. > If you want to protect any data, you need to encrypt it. (For > instance, you can crack NT 'security' wide open with an Ubuntu Live > CD!). I think the Government finally realised that encryption is the > only way to go. > Agreed, the fault is not with OO.o's ability to open password protected files without the password, but with the password not adequately protecting the file in the first place. To the OP. OO.o can and should be put on all workstations alongside Office as part of the migration, they don't clash other than deciding which is the default for any given file format. Migration Guide (not updated to OO.o3 yet) here: http://documentation.openoffice.org/manuals/oooauthors2/index.html As per another post, you should start using ODF for all new or modified internal documents. I do not however recommend the Word ODF filter, this will force the users to use OO.o over Word. You should keep one or more copies of Word for compatibility issues like macro's and externally generated documents that do not format well in OO.o. Just don't buy the next version of Office unless absolutely essential. -- Michael All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well - Julian of Norwich 1342 - 1416 --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
