Office 2007 SP2 breaks Publisher files

I know what you are thinking, "Why would Microsoft release a major Service Pack that might cause an issue?" It does happen every so often and its not usually known in the public because of course that would make the company look bad. But that is not even the issue here, let me give you the whole story:

Within the past month, Office 2007 SP2 was released through Windows Updates. Most likely, everyone installed the update without any trouble. But suddenly, you attempt to open one of your MS Publisher files and get an error message like this: "Publisher can not open the file." You click OK and then the application closes. Apparently, the Office 2007 SP2 install has somehow denied the ability to open Publisher files, including a brand new file that you save. Once that new file is saved and you attempt to open it again, NOPE, it doesn't open. Of course I started the usual google search for this problem and I came across a forum (actually its the Microsoft Technet forum) and beginning around the end of May is when people starting complaining.

Well almost a month has gone by and yup, you guessed it, no public word from Microsoft on the issue. So I contacted them and this is exactly what they said: "We are aware of the Office 2007 Publisher issues after installing SP2. This issue will be resolved and released into Windows Updates by the end of June." The end of June??? That is basically 2 weeks from now! The only possible workaround they mentioned was to remove SP2 but then it will just reinstall itself again through Windows Updates unless you block it until the fix is released.

I understand things break sometimes, but just be honest about it. The fact that Microsoft has not publicly responded just shows that they could care less about customer service. Not to mention we (the Office 2007 users) have to wait for a fix that they broke to begin with. Maybe its time to be reminded of other office suites, free ones for that matter.

Has the installation of Office 2007 SP2 affected you at all? Let me know.

Update: Microsoft has released the Publisher 2007 hotfix