Re: Why can Word 08 Open Password-Protected Files But Not PPT or Excel?

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Pale_Rider@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
Jim:

Thanks for taking the time to reply. However, I think you are arguing for the case that password protection shouldn't be in the product to begin with. At an abstract level, I agree.

But it IS in the product. it's in the Windows version, and I am sorry, it IS being used. I see this sort of passwording as a lot like an old-fashioned latch on a screen door: it might not keep the real criminals out, but it does help control the children and the small animals. The folks in my company use it to make it just a little harder to pry into sensitive documents. For most users, who might be tempted to click on a document, the password will discourage them. When we send important stuff out externally, we encrypt it; but for internal communications, where rapid-fire changes occur all day long, passwording is not a bad way to impose a level of inconvenience on eavesdropping.

I have no argument with your assessment of the weakness of passwording, and the PITA of certificates. But that's not really the point, is it? The reality is that passwording is in Word, and it is available on both platforms. it is also in PPT only on the PC platform. And once again, those of us Mac users who are in mixed environments are ghettoized.

"Hardly anyone"? According to whom? Trust me, all it takes is one time to have the chain of communication fail. I am the lone Mac user on my executive team. Every time one of these hiccups occurs, it means I have to go to my office, or fire up WMWare Fusion; it imposes delays and makes it that much harder to justify my usage of my Mac [which I pay for out of my own pocket].

Hi Pale Rider

If it's any consolation to you, there have been a number of similar complaints concerning password protection parity between PPT Mac and Windows. Those people, too, responded by sending feedback to Microsoft.

You'll be able to tell when the next full version of Office comes out, whether or not there was sufficient demand to cause MacBU to add that parity to Windows office. On the other hand, in the next round of Office, Windows office might ditch the password protection scheme and bring Windows PowerPoint in line with Mac PowerPoint. Either way, parity is achieved.

Incompatibility is a two-sided street. It's just as bad for the Windows team to be out of step with the Mac product as it is for the Mac side to be out of step with Windows. Given that you agree that file password protection is lame, it might be a better idea to complain about this to the Windows PowerPoint team and ask them to get rid this lame scheme altogether, noting both the lack of true security and the cross-platform problems that it has caused you for when the Windows side decided unilaterally to put file password capability into their product. As I said, newer "cloud computing" technologies such as office.live.com workspace sharing make that old password scheme look downright obsolete.

I wish I had the Windows Office feedback link handy for you, but unfortunately I don't.

-Jim

--
Jim Gordon
Mac MVP
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/
.

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