Mango drops support for old Office documents due to "an unacceptable risk of data and formatting loss"

Mango brings a lot to the table and definitely raises the overall functionality of the OS tenfold. However sometimes when an OS goes under the microscope before an update is planned, some existing features may be cut. In this case, it looks like Mango's Office Hub will be losing its support for older Office documents (the .doc, 97-2003 variety). It's a shame that it's being cut as old types of documents are still widely used to ensure broad support for everyone, so why is Microsoft cutting it? PocketNow talked to Microsoft's Office Mobile Product Manager, Guy Gilbert, to find out. Here's his response (emphasis ours):

Office Mobile on the next release of Windows Phone, codenamed Mango, will be available later this year and will deliver many improvements for customers. With Office Mobile on the Mango release, people will be able to open and view most Office files with the rich formatting they expect. In addition, newer Office files created with Office 2007 SP2, Office 2010 or the Office Web Apps (e.g., files with extensions .docx, .xlsx, .pptx) can be edited with Office Mobile on Mango. When it comes to older Office files (e.g. files with extensions .doc, .xls, .ppt), our testing revealed an unacceptable risk of data and formatting loss during editing, and therefore, these files can only be opened and viewed. Some newer Office files will also open as “read-only” if they contain certain elements, for example: documents that are marked final, digitally signed or have tracked changes; or Excel workbooks with macros, data tables or external references. We will provide documentation of these cases in a Microsoft support article before Mango becomes available to customers.

How do you feel about Microsoft completely dropping older document support? Would you rather accept that there's a risk of losing data and editing them anyway, or is Microsoft making the right call to protect us from ourselves?

Source: PocketNow