Do you run Microsoft Office 2003 and can’t read files created by Office 2007? it isn’t necessary to update to Office 2007 to be able to read these files.

Microsoft has a “Compatibility Pack” which makes it so Office 2003 users can read and write to Office 2007 created files. It is a pretty simple install and works quite well.

This will work for files created with MS Office 2007 products Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.

You can tell a file created with an Office 2007 flavor as it will have an “x” added to the file extension; for example, a Word document will show .docx, while a file created in Word XP/2003 will have a regular .doc extension, such as .doc. This is due to the XML extensions now part of Office 2007 files.

Find the download here.

Do note that you will need to have your system fully patched through Windows Update.

This could be pretty big news, depending on how Apple sends it out. Starting in June, the iPhone will be able to work with Microsoft ActiveSync to allow for ‘push’ email. This is what has made the BlackBerry what it is, and why it works so well.

If this works as Apple plans, then the iPhone could connect directly to a corporate Exchange mail server and get your business email in nearly real time. For those of us using BlackBerrys, this is it: It is what makes a smartphone ‘smart’, and what makes it so you really are ‘connected’.

This could be a pretty big deal, and we’ll keep an eye on this one.

Here are two stories:

The iPhone made easy for business customers

and

Apple iPhone set for major improvements in a bid to beat out rival BlackBerry

This is a story from Tech Republic that has some unsettling news: Be Careful of “free” hotspots.

See the story below…

Study shows viral SSIDs could be creating a massive wireless botnet

The moral of the story: free hotspots are never, ever secure in any fashion. Best used in a non-interactive manner…use it to read CNN.com, but refrain from doing banking or work from your office unless you are using a VPN. and if you don’t know what a VPN is, you probably don’t have one. So…stay safe.