Adding an X doesn't make it any better.

Around a year ago, clients started sending me .doc and .ppt files like they always had, only there was one tiny difference.

An X.

.doc became .docx, and .ppt became .pptx.

What is this new file type? I wondered. Shortly before my computer hiccuped and froze.

Then I soon discovered that Microsoft Word couldn't open these new WordX  files.

What?

That X was apparently the newest cockroach in the Microsoft suite of office tools. And I just want everyone out there to know that the X doesn't make Word or Powerpoint or Excel any more badass.

If anything, it makes them worse. Because now they've got an X. A letter which used to mean "cool," "edgy," and "untamed."

Now it's just another fad adopted by corporations in order to appear young, fresh, an alive.

Or maybe it's just supposed to make some accountants feel badass.

Whatever the reason for extending the extension with a ridiculous x ("doc x" sounds like a comic book character as opposed to a creative brief), it's lame. Just like everything Microsoft does.

Besides, iWork, Apple's version of the office suite, is far less buggy, easier to use, and prettier.

And it opens those ridiculous .docx files. Unlike every version of Word I already have (which, being a writer, is quite a few).