Would XP run Office 97 OK?

[Felecha]

I'm about to order a new computer from Dell, looking at their special on the Dimension 2400. For what I need, it looks just fine.

What I want to know before it's too late to change my mind -- should I add in the Microsoft Office 2003 Basic Edition that they offer as bundled into the package? I have a copy of Office 97 that has been running on Windows 98 and I don't use Word for anything but simple documents. I can't imagine any enhancements in Office 2003 that would be worth the $188. So my inclination is to just load my old Office 97.

But would there be any problem in XP with such an old version? I would hate to find it full of pains in the *** and then decide I had to turn around and buy Office 2003 off the shelf later.

 

[biostud]

It worked fine with mine

 

[BlueWeasel]

Office 97 Pro (Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Outlook) is working just fine as I type this on WinXP Pro .

 

[Felecha]

Sounds good. Thanks a lot

 

[BFG10K]

It'll work fine but be sure to have the latest service pack for Office 97 loaded.

 

[Hadsus]

I didn't do anything regarding service packs and Office 97 works fine with XP for me....then again, it may be just a matter of time before I get hit with a bug.

 

[BFG10K]

In my experience it pays to keep things up to date, especially if you're running older programs on newer OSes.

 

[Hadsus]

If I used Office 97 more on my home rig, I'd probably be more diligent about updating.....will probably do it anyway. My philosophy has been lately, 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it.'

 

[Agamar]

If used in a corporate environment with Excel spreadsheets with lots of macros, you may run into quite a few bugs, even with Office97 fully patched. I have documented at least 3 "unfixable" problems with various levels of Win2k and WinXP over the last year. Of course, Microsoft doesn't care about this, since you technically shouldn't still be running a product from 1997 (really late 1996 I believe).

 

[BFG10K]

Yes, if you're planning to use it in a corporate environment that involves networking then you'll run into some issues. The biggest problem I had at work was files not closing themselves after you exited any Office 97 application.