<p>D got a brand spanking new laptop for grad from a generous family friend and it is loaded with Vista. It does not have a MS Office program on it yet - her school had told me previously not to purchase Office because she can pick up a disk when she goes to orientation next week - but I'm thinking the disk will be Office 2003 as opposed to the newer version, 2007. I not real computer savvy - will 2003 work with Vista?</p>
<p>abasket (and all the other self-described computer-challenged individuals): Google is your friend. I google'd 'vista office 2003' and clicked on the first link. It led me to Microsoft's own site, which as an expert blog on the subject. This is what he says:</p>
<p>The short answer is yes, you can run Office 2003 on Windows Vista. For that matter, you can run many other applications on Windows Vista too. For those who want details on how to do this, go to <em>this</em> page:
<a href="http://uksbsguy.com/blogs/doverton/archive/2007/03/12/loading-office-2003-into-vista-and-fixing-the-problem-with-the-eula-always-coming-up.aspx%5B/url%5D">http://uksbsguy.com/blogs/doverton/archive/2007/03/12/loading-office-2003-into-vista-and-fixing-the-problem-with-the-eula-always-coming-up.aspx</a></p>
<p>Lets start from the top - most Windows applications run unmodified under Windows Vista. Some have been designed to, others have been certified to ensure they do. Details of this list can be found at <a href="http://support.microsoft.com/kb/933305%5B/url%5D">http://support.microsoft.com/kb/933305</a> and includes products like Office 2003 (and 2007) and so on including those by Corel and so on. There is also then community maintained lists, such as <a href="http://www.iexbeta.com/wiki/index.php/Windows_Vista_Software_Compatibility_List%5B/url%5D">http://www.iexbeta.com/wiki/index.php/Windows_Vista_Software_Compatibility_List</a> for software that people believes does or does not work. Microsoft have released patches to Vista to increase the number of applications that run without any changes or user interaction. Details of this patch at <a href="http://support.microsoft.com/kb/932246%5B/url%5D">http://support.microsoft.com/kb/932246</a></p>
<p>Thank you - still looks a little complicated to install - not just the usual put the disk in and click install. While this may look simple to those with better than average computer skills, people like me look with trepidation at the multiple steps!!!</p>
<p>Has anyone actually installed MS 2003 w/Vista? How successful were you?</p>
<p>Actually, it's exactly like you installed it before. Put in the disk, click install, and follow the directions. You have always had the End User License Agreement screens.</p>
<p>I'm using an older version than that on my Vista computer, and it seems to work well.</p>
<p>Thank you people...comfort comes in small ways sometimes!!!!</p>