I think you probably wanted this thread: http://www.thevhive.com/forum/the-v/threads/help-me-im-stupid/1 although I approve of the assumption that it is somehow Nick's fault.
Sounds like it could be something on the network, any chance the folder permissions hae been changed there? Though if you can make changes on the Mac (I'm not quite clear from your posting), it could be as simple as a setting in Office there being turned on to save everything as read only.