Office upgrade...

[Andilinks]

I just purchased Office 2003 since I never really had Office 97, just Word and Access. My Lotus 96 spreadsheet was fine while this web stuff was just a hobby but now I've got to deal with all this money nonsense and I was impressed with the Excel features.

The new software should arrive in a day or so, does anyone have any tips, cautions or comments about installing this over Word/Access 97 on XPhe/sp2? My Word macros and Access macros and queries are my biggest worries for compatibility.

Besides "get a Mac," which I will do. But in the mean time I have this. :)

Andi

[louyovin]

The new software should arrive in a day or so, does anyone have any tips, cautions or comments about installing this over Word/Access 97 on XPhe/sp2? My Word macros and Access macros and queries are my biggest worries for compatibility.
Andi
No direct experience but my "using Office 2003" book says that O2003 is very gentle to previous versions. In fact, it should offer to uninstall any previous versions and you can select any of the O97 programs you want to keep (except LookOut). That will let you run either version. It will, however, associate files like .doc with the new version. Obviously, it will eat up more hard drive space.
If you have a copy, it is sometimes handy to trial the installation in a guest OS under Virtual PC or VMWare. I always test patches and service packs this way. Kind of time consuming but avoids surprises. I even ran a backup domain controller out of a virtual NT server while we were cutting over to Server 2003. cool stuff, but you need a lot of RAM and horsepower.
The ultimate time waster: Running Internet Explorer in a SUSE linux OS running as a guest OS in VMWare on a Server 2003 system (using WINE).

"Everyone is entitled to be stupid, but some abuse the privilege."

[Andilinks]

Thanks Lou. I don't think I'll try a guest OS. It is good to hear that I can run both versions, I was thinking of using the laptop as a back-up but choosing on the same machine is even better.

Andi

[Randall]

Generally speaking, different versions of Office don't conflict as long as you install the new one into a different folder (see below for an exception).

Personally, I'd be inclined to keep Word 97 -- ie, choose not to install Word 2003. I've found Word 2000 tolerable (it does have the advantage of a 24-bit color palette), but later versions added more annoyances than useful features.

Also, I have some unresolved macro issues between Word 2000 and Access 97. Nothing horrible, just that Access can't tell if Word is already running, and it gives me an error if it guesses wrong.

If you're buying Office 2003 Pro, I recommend replacing Access 97 with the new version. The macro editing environment is up to the standards of Word/Excel now, and I've found that Access 2003 doesn't cohabitate well with Access 97.

Randall

[Andilinks]

Thank you Randall. I purchased the Standard Edition, I do hope Access03 works well. Word is less important, 97 is adequate. I will be careful to install '03 in a separate folder because I'll want to check out all of its features, or many of them--I don't think I've ever used all of 97's features.

It will probably arrive tomorrow so I'll update this thread over the weekend. Thanks again. :)

Andi

[Randall]

I purchased the Standard Edition, I do hope Access03 works well. Standard or Professional? Access is only included in Office Pro.

Randall

[Andilinks]

ooops, so it does. And Pro is an extra $100. I guess I'll be returning this for the Pro, there goes the shipping. I'm glad I learned this before opening the shrink wrap.

Thanks Randall.

Andi

[Randall]

If you mainly need Excel and the Access upgrade, it may be cheaper to buy them individually.

You're already entitled to the $90 Access upgrade price (all prices quoted are from Buy.com), and if you got Word as part of Microsoft Works you'd be eligible for the Excel upgrade as well. Otherwise Excel is $195.

If you're buying the full Office 2003 Pro, that's on the order of $430.

I wonder how many people know you can actually buy the Office programs separately, or that the upgrade prices are so bloody reasonable?

Randall

[Andilinks]

...how many people know you can actually buy the Office programs separately,Well I certainly should, that's how I bought Access and Word97 (in 1997 when I was so young and foolish).

But I figured I could afford the whole package this time, not thinking that "Standard" meant no Access. I've already paid for the Standard, and I would expect '03 should work for another decade (maybe not), it's another $100. I do want the whole integrated package this time.

Since I am switching to Mac in a year or so, so maybe I should just get Excel alone. It's so hard to look a year into the future...

Well I'll make this decision before I return the 2003 Standard ed.

Thanks again for your guidance Randall.

Andi

[Randall]

Thanks again for your guidance Randall. My pleasure. :smile:

This was the one part of my consulting business that I actually enjoyed (and the part I didn't charge for). In fact, my old clients still email me for advice on stuff like this.

Not sure if that's because they trust me, or because it doesn't cost them anything. :rasberry:

Randall