I’ve had more than a couple of people e-mail to ask how they can open these .docx files. The .docx format was introduced by Microsoft beginning with Office version 2007 (that’s the version with the ribbon, rather than the toolbar; more info here).
So, the .docx files don’t open easily in versions of Microsoft Office prior to 2007. Here’s one fix: Microsoft has released an update that converts the .docx (and .pptx and .xlsx) files for use on earlier software.
There is another fix, however. I am a proponent of free open source software (FOSS). The OpenOffice.org suite is a free office suite that includes word processing, spreadsheets, presentations and drawings. OpenOffice.org will open, edit and save the .docx (along with .pptx and .xlsx) files without even blinking. Read more about OpenOffice here.
