A computer question (Bill Gates not returning my calls)

[Ron Mummert]

With the average age of SVX owners becoming significantly younger, I thought I'd throw myself on the mercy of you young'ins who are certainly more plugged-into bits & bytes than I.

I recently upgraded my 6 year old Dell to a new HP Desktop with Windows 7. It has a terabyte of memory which is more than have stored in my 70 year old head. It seems "new & improved" means "you now get to spend extra bucks to get MS Word". I had a semi-guru download all my word files to a memory stick about a year ago. The first thing I wondered was will my files from a 2006 Word version be downloadable to the newest version that I haven't purchased yet. However...NOW, (lucky me, maybe), I found my 2006 MS Works Suite CDs in a shoebox. Of course the CDs say "Do not lend, make copies of.....for distribution with a new computer only...blah, blah. The Dell used Windows XP. Is there any sane reason why I can't just load these CDs in the new 'puter without blowing something up?

Your professional advise welcome.

Ron.

[immortal_suby]

disclaimer: I don't have windows 7 so YMMV

Advice: Try openoffice. It's free and it's should work with any type of document.

http://www.openoffice.org/

[steamer99]

I left the PC world for Mac during the Vista days so someone else will have to directly answer your question.

But you could download "OpenOffice" from openoffice.org, it will read the MS Word documents and is free to download and use. I have been using it for years, great program, and available for Windows, Mac, and Linux.

oops Immortal answered while I was typing ... lol ...

[icingdeath88]

Open office has come a long way. If you don't need Word for work/school/etc, then I'd go with that since it's free.

[Hocrest]

+1 for OpenOffice.

If MSworks is the same as it was 10 years ago. Your MSWord documents will be easier to work with in OpenOffice than in Works.

[Ron Mummert]

+1 for OpenOffice.

If MSworks is the same as it was 10 years ago. Your MSWord documents will be easier to work with in OpenOffice than in Works.


Wow, thanks for the instant responses, guys. So you're all saying I can download my memory stick, & OpenOffice will come to the rescue?
Just double checking.

Ron.

[Chuckls]

Yes.

12345

[Sean486]

You also buy a student edition of Microsoft Office. The cost can be very reasonable, but truth be told Office 2007/2010 is pretty annoying. Office 2003 was a lot better.

[Chuckls]

or....download it

[B 4 You]

I own a mac, and I have office on it. Anything later than office 2006 bugs the living piss out of me. I can only thing of what it would do to an old-tymer.

If I were you, I would just try to run the new program. As far as "blowing up," I don't see any chance of it. I don't think you would be able to register your product to receive updates or other online tools, but who uses anything like that anyway? I have never given openoffice a shot. When I got my mac for college, it came with MS Word. It's blatant use of grammar correct sends my temper to kingdom come multiple times a minute.

[wdb]

1. MS Works is a horrid, malformed subset of MS Office that should never have been allowed out of the attic. Always has been, always will be.

2. If you have 64-bit Windows 7, MS Works may have to be loaded in "Windows XP Mode". Trust me when I say that you do not want to start down that path. [To find out what version of Win7 you have, click the Windows start menu (or hit a Windows key on the keyboard), then click 'Computer', then select 'System Properties'. About halfway down the page there will be a 'System' section; look for 'System type:'.]

3. I haven't used openoffice but I know a lot of MS haters who do. With the other recommendations here, it sounds like a reasonable course. I'd almost guarantee that it will be less painful than "Windows XP mode"!

[Green1995SVX]

Originally Posted by Sean486

You also buy a student edition of Microsoft Office. The cost can be very reasonable, but truth be told Office 2007/2010 is pretty annoying. Office 2003 was a lot better.

This is the truth! We just upgraded the computers in our office from 2003 to 2010, and it's so difficult to figure out. I don't understand why they didn't leave it the way it was.

[Ron Mummert]

Originally Posted by Green1995SVX

This is the truth! We just upgraded the computers in our office from 2003 to 2010, and it's so difficult to figure out. I don't understand why they didn't leave it the way it was.

Sounds a bit like the automobile industry. BMW's "I-Drive" is a perfect example.
Gimme' analog, & real knobs to control the radio volume.

Thanks all for the continued advise. Looks like I'll be scoping out OpenOffice.

ALSO, while we're in the geek mode, what preferences do we have for "free" photo services? Again. I don't need the intricacies of a PhotoShop etc. - just a good program to arrange, & occasionally tinker with the zillions of pics sittin' on them SD cards. Picassa, Irfanview, MS Digital Image etc.? Also, anyone using Snapfish?

Bless you again, Ron.

[wdb]

Originally Posted by Ron Mummert

ALSO, while we're in the geek mode, what preferences do we have for "free" photo services?

Picasa. 10char.

[Chuckls]

Picasa, photobucket, Illustrator, and Photoshop are what I use.

But I'm young, and have lots of time to kill.