Ways to open MS Office 2007 docx files for free

What's the deal?

When bringing out Office 2007, for its wordprocessor documents Microsoft introduced a new '.docx' file type, replacing the familiar '.doc' files. If you've not got Office 2007, you won't be able to open them.

Yet there are now a variety of free add ons to let you do just that.

• Windows PC user with an older Microsoft Office?
  
  Get Microsoft's own compatibility pack to edit files.
  
  Thankfully the multinational corporation didn't entirely forget about users of previous MS Office suites upon releasing 2007, and made an Office Compatibility Pack, which when installed allows them to see and edit docx documents, as well as a bunch of other previously inaccessible types.
  
  Just click it and download it and its automatic.

• Windows PC user without MS Office.
  
  Viewing only. Online Converter.
  
  Microsoft also released a new version of Word Viewer which supports docx files. This is fine for those that just want to be able to view & print files, or copy the text into another word processor for editing.
  
  If for some random reason the software doesn't install, you can also convert .docx files back to simple html (for copying) using websites. Docx-Converter is a free example, and since it's web-based it'll work regardless of your operating system.

• Mac OSX user with MS Office 2004.
  
  Get Microsoft's Mac update.
  
  Microsoft's also released an update for its first foray into Office for Mac, the 2004 edition. It's free to download from its website (scroll down the bottom right window for the download link).

• Mac OSX user without MS Office.
  
  Viewing only. Converter widget.
  
  The Docx-Converter site above has also made a handy desktop widget for Mac users. Once downloaded, you can simply drag docx files on to the widget (press f12 while dragging) and it'll almost instantly produce a simple html version of them.

• Side-step MS Office and get a free alternative office suite for PC/Mac/Linux
  
  If you want to edit docx files easily without having to fiddle around with copying/converting them first, then consider downloading the beta (ie unfinished) version of OpenOffice 3. This open source, completely free, equivalent of Office now supports .docx files natively, adding another feather to its already attractive cap. Plus, it now also offers full support for Mac users too.
  
  In previous incarnations, OpenOffice has received almost universal praise from the tech community, and this version's touted to be even better. In short, it's a serious contender to Microsoft's expensive offering, yet it's free. So even if you're a dedicated Office fan, it's worth trying if only to see what all the fuss is about.
  
  One caveat though; since this is a beta version it's still being tested, so there may well be bugs that still need ironing out. Thus, it's not recommended if the work you're planning to do is particularly high profile.