Dear Microsoft Office for Windows users:

In Office 2007 Microsoft introduced a new file format called the Microsoft Open Office XML Format (.docx). This format is not compatible with older versions of Microsoft Word or with alternative operating systems like Linux or Mac OS X. Nor is it compatible with other word processing applications like OpenOffice (apparently OO can handle them now), Lotus 123, or NeoOffice.

In other words, and no one except Microsoft Office 2007 for Windows users can open those files, and that includes Windows users who are using an earlier edition of Office. Please take this into consideration when saving your files--it's easy to save them as plain old .doc files.

For the rest of us, since clearly we can't either a) tell everyone in the world about this, or b) make anyone do anything, a few people have suggested this website: Docx Converter. You upload the docx file, type in your email, and it sends you a link to the converted file.

I have no experience with them, but a lot of people I trust do, and they say it's the place to go.

Possibly flinging myself on a grenade, but what the hell.

Stolen from everyone:

If I came with a warning label, what would it say?