Office 97 Pro compatible with Vista?

[Nate Goulet]

Just wondering if anyone has tried Office 97 with Vista?

If so, have you tried Access?

Any offical word on compatibility from Microsoft?

I have several users running Office 97 Professional with Windows XP
Professional. No problems besides some glitches with installations,
all of which Microsoft provides solutions for (and by doing so, claims
XP compatibility) but I have those figured out. If Microsoft provides
similar solutions for 97 under Vista, then I will know it's status.
But I have a hard time with telling people to use software that the
manufacturer says is not compatible. I wouldn't want it to start
crashing after they have made all kinds of data entry.

I have some people using Office 2007, and so far see little advantage
over 97 for this particular customer. But i'm sure some users will
switch to Vista before long, and I wanted to know if they will be
forced to upgrade at that time.

Thanks for any info.

 

[Jupiter Jones [MVP]]

Nate;
Since this is a Windows Vista newsgroup, you should ask this in an
Office newsgroup:
http://aumha.org/nntp.htm

Support for Office 97 ended long ago so if there are an issues with
Windows Vista, do not expect Microsoft to resolve then whether they be
functionality or security related.

Since support has ended, if a vulnerability arises or has already
arisen, the fix is to upgrade to a newer version.

You have a hard time telling them to use incompatible software, how
about unsupported?

In any case, the people in the Office newsgroups will be able to give
you the best compatibility information as well as anything related to
patches.

 

[Peter Foldes]

No it is not

Description of Office versions that are supported with Vista

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/932087/en-us

 

[jonathan perreault]

well, as a user, personnaly it works for me am running office 97 pro with no
problem although i never tryed access but excell, word, and powerpoint are
running fine with no glitches. i think what they were trying to say is that
microsft doesn't give support(what is new about that) to people using office
97 pro on vista system, and don't listen to the mvp, your question was about
vista, and i think you were right to post here. your question was in a
question, if you understand what i mean. your question was not as much as
office 97 pro but also vista

 

[Jupiter Jones [MVP]]

"...not as much as office 97 pro but also vista"
It is about both.

Sure, go ahead and ignore the fact that the people in the Office
newsgroups may have better information about Office 97 and Windows
Vista compatibility and support.
After all, what better place to get information about one product
than another newsgroup not specific to the product as you suggest.
Compatibility and especially support issues for Office 97 are clearly
better asked in an Office newsgroup.

One of my concerns, which you seemed to ignore, is support for the
users.
If this is a business, there are potentially serious issues using
older software past the lifecycle since there is no expectation
vulnerabilities or other issues will be resolved.
While 10 year old software is good for some, others need to upgrade
for various reasons.
The less an issue of safe and secure computing, the more likely older
unsupported software such as Office 97 will perform satisfactorily.
The OP needs to make that decision possibly with input from the users.

People in the Office newsgroups will be more aware of potential
Office vulnerabilities and other Office 97 issues.
They will also more likely be aware of pitfalls and advantages of
using 10 year old software.
That is simply the type of information best retrieved in an Office
newsgroup.

 

[jonathan perreault]

my concern was that i though the way you replied to him was rude, all you
said basically was "can't help you your in the wrong newsgroup", may be not
in those words but that was the way it sounded, and FYI no i didn't ignore
the fact that i'm sure they probably could help him better than this
newsgroup, but i didn't want him to get a bad taste of theses newsgroup and
go ask someone else who as no idea what he's talking about and give him
wrong info and get more problem, and by the way, the sarcasm you used to
reply to my comment is exactly what i was talking about by: "being rude", at
first i though mvp meant that you were a microsoft employee or working for
them, all i can say is if you are you need to learn how to treat customers
whether it was a previous customers or current one, if your not well.....
you won't get much friends. Also my post did answer part of his question
because he asked "Just wondering if anyone has tried Office 97 with Vista?"
and i told him yes, something you guys seemed to skip when you answered.

well, don't want to start a fight so i'll leave it at that.

 

[Jupiter Jones [MVP]]

Jonathan;
MVPs do not work for Microsoft and Microsoft has no expectations other
that the same as expected of everyone:
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/gp/mvpfaqs
Q5 in particular.

I was giving the OP a source of Office information, both for support
and compatibility.
We know from your experience Office 97 can work with windows Vista,
but for many that is not enough, that is why the recommendation to
check with the Office experts.

"can't help you your in the wrong newsgroup"
Some truth to that but certainly no intention of being rude.
Simply suggesting the OP go to the Office experts for Office issues.
If my intention was to simply be rude, I probably would have left off
the suggestion of where to get better information as well as the parts
about support and vulnerabilities.

"...something you guys seemed to skip when you answered."
Not so much as skipped as I had no personal experience and could not
recall if anyone had posted a success or failure of Office 97
installation.
Often with this type of question, I will install the appropriate
operating system and program to see first hand and report the results
to the OP.
However in this case I lack time and I am not even sure if I have
Office 97 available.

"Also my post did answer part of his question..."
And that is one of the best features of newsgroups.
One can give what is known while another can add to it.
The sum of the available knowledge is often more than one person knows
or is able to recall at the time and that is a benefit.

"...the sarcasm you used to..."
But there was no sarcasm in my first post.
And you are correct, I should have made my response to you somewhat
milder and for that I apologize.

Hopefully the OP gets all the needed information in this or the Office
newsgroup.
After all, that is what these newsgroups are all about.

 

[jonathan perreault]

apology accepted, alright, now that this is resolved let's go back to the
subject, i wish office 97 pro works for you, the way it works for me, and by
the way i tried access and even though i didn't try all the features it
loads pretty well. hope this help you

 

[Earl Dunham]

Isnt it amazing how many people think they are in charge of everything; the
poster asked a question about vista. Old '97 works for me in Vista premium,
and so does Access, the best data-base program ever.

 

[Bruce Chambers]

I just installed Office 97 on my new system. The system was pre-loaded
with the lattest office... I ignored it and installed 97. Now whenever I
start up Word (or excel) I get this error.. "Word 8 missing file run
setup to repair.... I don't have Word 8 I uninstalled it.
Does anybody know how to elliminate this?

tx
Gilles

Word 8.0 is the version of Word that comes with Office 97. (The latest
version of Word, which comes with Office 2007, is Word 12.) What you
needed to have done was to have completely removed all traces of the
newer version of Office *before* trying to install Office 97.

You may still be able to recover by restoring the computer to the time
before you installed Office 97, uninstalling the newer version, and then
installing Office 97. (Though why you'd want to regress to such an old
version of Office is beyond me.)


--

Bruce Chambers

Help us help you:


http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/555375

They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. ~Benjamin Franklin

Many people would rather die than think; in fact, most do. ~Bertrand Russell

The philosopher has never killed any priests, whereas the priest has
killed a great many philosophers.
~ Denis Diderot

 

[Tom Ferguson]

Word 8.0 is the version of Word that comes with Office 97. (The latest
version of Word, which comes with Office 2007, is Word 12.) What you
needed to have done was to have completely removed all traces of the newer
version of Office *before* trying to install Office 97.

You may still be able to recover by restoring the computer to the time
before you installed Office 97, uninstalling the newer version, and then
installing Office 97. (Though why you'd want to regress to such an old
version of Office is beyond me.)

Just guessing but I suspect the "latest offive" referred to is a "trial"
version and the person does not want to purchase another version when Office
97 is satisfactory to him.

 

[Bruce Chambers]

Just guessing but I suspect the "latest offive" referred to is a "trial"
version and the person does not want to purchase another version when
Office 97 is satisfactory to him.

Possibly. I just wish people would learn to provide enough information
to get better answers.


--

Bruce Chambers

Help us help you:


http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/555375

They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. ~Benjamin Franklin

Many people would rather die than think; in fact, most do. ~Bertrand Russell

The philosopher has never killed any priests, whereas the priest has
killed a great many philosophers.
~ Denis Diderot

 

[Tom Ferguson]

Possibly. I just wish people would learn to provide enough information to
get better answers.


--

Bruce Chambers

Help us help you:


http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/555375

They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. ~Benjamin Franklin

Many people would rather die than think; in fact, most do. ~Bertrand
Russell

The philosopher has never killed any priests, whereas the priest has
killed a great many philosophers.
~ Denis Diderot

There is certainly no argument from me on that point!

Tom