Office 2003 on Vista?

[bhurley]

I just got a new ThinkCentre A61e desktop (I've been using ThinkPads as desktop replacement machines but decided to go desktop for my main machine and keep a ThinkPad for travel), and it came with Vista Business. It also came with a trial version of Office 2007. But I purchased Office 2003 with my previous computer and have the CDs. Will Office 2003 run okay on Vista? Can I safely uninstall the Office 2007 trial and then install Office 2003 without running into problems? I've heard good things about Office 2007 but as my company's not planning to upgrade anytime soon and I'd have to pay for this myself, I figured I'd save myself a few hundred bucks.

[ryengineer]

snip.........Will Office 2003 run okay on Vista?.......snip

Without considering any legal restrictions, there shouldn't be any problem.

snip.........Can I safely uninstall the Office 2007 trial and then install Office 2003 without running into problems? I've heard good things about Office 2007 but as my company's not planning to upgrade anytime soon and I'd have to pay for this myself, I figured I'd save myself a few hundred bucks.

Sure. Please do create a set of Product Recovery disks for just to be on a safe side by all means in the future.

You can refer to the following thread to analyze what other users has to say about Microsoft Office 2007:

Do you prefer MS Office 2007 or previous versions?

[bhurley]

Thanks. Unfortunately now that I look more carefully at my license for Office 2003, it clearly states that I can use it only on one machine (and it's already installed on my ThinkPad, which I plan to keep). I thought in the past I remembered seeing licenses from Microsoft that allowed me to run two copies, one on a laptop and one on a desktop, but that's not true in this case. I may have to rethink the financial wisdom of owning two computers instead of using my ThinkPad as a desktop replacement.

[KristianJ]

I thought in the past I remembered seeing licenses from Microsoft that allowed me to run two copies, one on a laptop and one on a desktop, but that's not true in this case. I may have to rethink the financial wisdom of owning two computers instead of using my ThinkPad as a desktop replacement.

The copy of Office XP Pro that runs on the family desktop and my old Dell Latitude that I gave to my sister had such permission as part of the License Agreement. The following is taken from Point 1.1 of the EULA as found on a copy of Office 2003 Pro on a computer I'm currently using at my local university campus (I went into Excel, then Help >> About >> View end user license information):

1.1 Installation and use. You may:
(a) install and use a copy of the Software on one personal computer or other device; and
(b) install an additional copy of the Software on a second, portable device for the exclusive use of the primary user of the first copy of the Software.

[bhurley]

The following is taken from Point 1.1 of the EULA as found on a copy of Office 2003 Pro on a computer I'm currently using at my local university campus (I went into Excel, then Help >> About >> View end user license information):

Right, I remember seeing licenses like that in the past from Microsoft, but as I said my copy of Office 2003 Pro does not have that same language in the license. It says: "The Software may not be installed, accessed, displayed, run, shared, or used concurrently on or from different computers, including a workstation, terminal, or other device."

The only explanation I can think of is that I must have purchased an OEM version of Office 2003 Pro, because I ordered it installed on my ThinkPad. Maybe OEM versions have different license conditions than off-the-shelf versions. Microsoft loves to make things complicated, so this would make sense to me.

[KristianJ]

Right, I remember seeing licenses like that in the past from Microsoft, but as I said my copy of Office 2003 Pro does not have that same language in the license. It says: "The Software may not be installed, accessed, displayed, run, shared, or used concurrently on or from different computers, including a workstation, terminal, or other device."

The only explanation I can think of is that I must have purchased an OEM version of Office 2003 Pro, because I ordered it installed on my ThinkPad. Maybe OEM versions have different license conditions than off-the-shelf versions. Microsoft loves to make things complicated, so this would make sense to me.

Having looked through this [urlhttp://office.microsoft.com/en-gb/products/HA102103671033.aspx?pid=CL100796341033]list of EULAs for Office 2003 products[/url], I couldn't see any specific mention of OEM editions. This page though seems to indicate that OEM editions are indeed restricted to the one computer, as do several random discussions in other forums found by typing "office 2003 oem eula" into Google.

[markos]

Sure. Please do create a set of Product Recovery disks for just to be on a safe side by all means in the future.

As far as the execution is concerned, I have done it with no problems whatsoever on my new T60 with Vista Ultimate. It came with Office 2007 trial and without even trying the trial version I uninstalled it and installed my Office 2003. I didn't have any issues with licensing because I transferred from my old laptop. I didn't create a restore point and there wasn't any problem but maybe I was just lucky, so don't come after me if your machine dies after you do the same .
I'm sure Office 2007 is great but a) I don't want to pay for it and b) at work (where I use Office way more than at home) I have 2003 anyway, so what's the point in teasing myself with 2007 at home and not having it where it would be more useful?

As far as the license, a couple of other potential solutions:
- call MS and ask them if you can extend the license (and at what cost)
- buy another license second hand. It's surprising how much old software gets thrown away. I'm sure there are people that bought 2003 and then 2007 and didn't bother selling their 2003 (or put it on ebay - check that as well). You only need the license anyway, so your options are (should be) plenty.
- get 2007!
- install OpenOffice. 90% of MS Office users use only 10% of its features anyway, features that exist (for free) in OpenOffice.