M$ do it again!

[BOAC]

Why these geeks do not test things properly before @@@@:mad:

Apparently, due to one of the latest 'M$ 'updates', there are now problems opening some doc files. My problem this am is from a MAC and 'appears' to be a 'doc' file, not 'docx', but stalls because 'Windows cannot open the converter mswrd632.wpc'. I have unregistered this file as per guidance, but now have to save a (?MAC?) Word attachment to disk, 'open' and select Word 2007 format to open it.

[cats_five]

The fix that causes the problem is old - from 2009. But Google digs up lots of useful-looking URLs including these:

MS09-073: Description of the security update for Windows XP, Windows 2000, and Windows Server 2003: December 8, 2009 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/973904)

When opening the Word document users are getting error ?Word cannot start the converter mswrd632.wpc? or ?Cannot load Word for Windows 6.0 files? - Microsoft Office Word OneNote Support Team Blog - Site Home - TechNet Blogs (http://blogs.technet.com/b/wordonenotesupport/archive/2009/12/10/when-opening-the-word-document-users-are-getting-error-word-cannot-start-the-convertor-mswrd632-wpc-or-cannot-load-word-for-windows-6-0-files.aspx)

Word cannot start the converter mswrd632.wpc - microsoft.public.word.newusers | Microsoft Newsgroups (http://msgroups.net/microsoft.public.word.newusers/Word-cannot-start-the-converter-mswrd632.wpc)

Word cannot start the converter mswrd632.wpc error | Windows Certified - A place of IT News and a helpful windows community Forum. (http://www.wincert.net/tips/1786-word-cannot-start-the-converter-mswrd632wpc-error.html)

[rgbrock1]

BOAC:

Your stated geeks at M$ don't test things properly because they rely on many end-users to do it for them. It makes for a quicker and easier beta cycle!! :}

[Simonta]

I am very familiar with the Microsoft test and development regime. Their development and testing is as good as any in the industry and includes a huge amount of 3rd party, independent testing (including Veritest). Most product groups have 2 testers for every developer. That's a ratio most software providers cannot get close to.

Windows and Office must survive in a mind boggling matrix of millions of combinations of software and hardware. It is impossible to test them all or to release complex software without bugs. To expect otherwise is living in dream land. Sorry, but that's the reality of humankinds ability to engineer software - which is the most complex thing, by far, that we do.

When parts of the W2K source code were leaked, there was wide spread surprise (although there shouldn't have been) about the quality which is generally classed as excellent and it's had 12 years to mature/improve. After all, Dave Cutler fathered it.

It's an industry problem, not Microsoft's.

[The Nr Fairy]

And sometimes the testing is TOO good.

About 4 years ago, a Debian (Linux) developer kept getting error messages about stuff referencing uninitialised memory, so fixed it.

Great - except the reason for using the uninitialised memory was to use it as a high source of entropy for random number generation for cryptographic keys. Removing the source of entropy weakened the key strength enormously and reduced the time taken to crack them to something practical. New keys were needed to be generated for machines out there to make sure they were secure - the fix the developer made had been around for 2 or so years at this point.

See Debian and Ubuntu OpenSSL generates useless crypto keys (http://www.zdnet.com.au/debian-and-ubuntu-openssl-generates-useless-crypto-keys-339289012.htm) for more detail.