Needing Office 2000 or some SR version?

[mpr]

Hi-
I am using a rickety old desktop that has Windows 98 on it. I am not
ready to can the whole system yet, and would like to upgrade my Office
Software. From what I have read, I should be looking at Office 2000,
not 2003 or anything higher than 2000, because of my operating system.

Here are my questions:
1) what kind of criteria do I need to meet to be able to buy just an
upgrade package (I hold a license to Office 97)?
2) Should I avoid at all cost buying a version of Office 2000 that
doesn't have a subscript like SR-1, 2 or 3? I have read some of the
comments about Office 2000, and it sounds like it was really buggy when
first released. I HATE downloading the updates, but I will do it if
that ends up being an okay way to go.

Thanks

 

[Susan Ramlet]

Hi, mpr,

Any reason you wouldn't use Office XP? It will run onWindows 98 or 98SE.
Here are the system requirements:

http://www.microsoft.com/office/previous/xp/sysreqs.asp

I've run it successfully on an old Dell Latitude CPi PII machine with
Windows 98 SE and 128Mb of RAM.

The reason I ask is that it tends to update itself more gracefully, in my
experience. Office 2000 support expired in 2004, so you are on your own
with the updates and peer support, mostly. Office XP may also be more
readily available for purchase, though it's no longer available in the
retail channel.

Office 2000 Lifecycle:
http://support.microsoft.com/lifecycle/?p1=2484

Office XP Lifecycle:
http://support.microsoft.com/lifecycle/?p1=2533

If you do purchase Office 2000, I have found the SR-1 to be easier to deal
with, because subsequent patches rely on it in many cases. The feser
updates to have to apply, the better.