This paper merely scratches the surface of Office 2007 compatibility issues. Many more issues exist that are application-specific.
Organizations should avoid a mixed environment of Office versions at all costs, even if it means staying with a previous version until Microsoft addresses the compatibility issues.
If Office 2007 must be deployed, then it should be deployed to users as rapidly as possible to avoid:
* Risks of content loss * Increased training requirements and compatibility-specific end-user reference materials for BOTH Office 2007 and previous office version users. * Increased strain on I.T. support staff * Decreased realization of the benefits of the new features of Office 2007
This binary part supports the storage of arbitrary user-defined data.
<Relationships xmlns="…"> <Relationship Id="rId7" Type="http://.../customProperty" Target="CustomProperty.bin"/> </Relationships>
[...]
Conclusion: Since there is no requirement on the format of the content, any vendor can put its proprietary binary extensions in there.
Good Bye Interoperability!