[epistasis]

If you think that, do you think Word should start refusing to open .doc documents at some point?

Code is sometimes alive and changing, and sometimes an artifact. Requiring that code become alive after being an artifact carries significant risks. One might say "code should never be unmaintained" but I think that ignores the reality of limited resources that all of us deal with.

[jolux]

Well, we can either have continuous innovation and improvement with proper security, or we can have long-term support for code that is unmaintained, but it currently seems impossible to have both. I don’t think anyone would consider the .doc format a paragon of design elegance or security.

[BlueTemplar]

I'm willing to bet latest Word will have issues opening earliest Word documents ?

[abiogenesis]

It is phenomenally good: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21451713