Why Not Default to ASCII When Open Fails?

Question

I recently received a file with a ".doc" extension that would not open with either Word 2007 or an installed converter.  Analysis showed the first byte in the file to be "0C" and the remaining content to be simple text.  The file opened in notepad, wordpad and OpenOffice without any problem.  Why does not Word default to ASCII mode when it fails otherwise?

Answer 1

Hello GesOwnLive,
                           The purpose of this forum is to support the Open Specifications documentation. You can read about the Microsoft Open Specifications program here, http://www.microsoft.com/openspecifications/en/us/default.aspx. The library of Open Specification documents is located here, http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd208104(PROT.10).aspx. Your question may be more applicable to this forum, http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-us/word/threads

Regards,
Sreekanth Nadendla
Microsoft Windows Open specifications