XP vs Windows 7

[Tom]

Hi,
This isn't a specific Excel question But..., I currently own Office
Professional XP. I have to buy a new machine that will have Windows 7
as the OS.

Will I still be able to install my software on this new machine w/o
any issues? Or will I be forced to buy a newer version?

Thanks

Tom

 

[Joe User]

I currently own Office Professional XP. I have to buy a
new machine that will have Windows 7 as the OS.

Will I still be able to install my software on this new
machine w/o any issues? Or will I be forced to buy a
newer version?

Excel(lent) question! ;-) I rue the day when I will junk my old WinXP
computers and the replacements will force me to go Windows 7 or the version
du jour.

If you do not get a satisfactory answer here (but I suspect you might), I
would suggest that repost to microsoft.public.office.misc, and perhaps
crosspost (not multipost) to microsoft.public.windows.vista.general.

(I don't see any NG for Win7 per se. But I think the same question/answer
would apply to Vista.)

 

[Mike Middleton]

Tom -

On a Windows 7 32-bit installation and on a separate Windows 7 64-bit
installation, I have the following Excel components installed: 97, 2000,
2002 (XP) SP3, 2003 SP3, 2007 SP2, and 2010 Beta.

- Mike
http://www.MikeMiddleton.com

 

[Joe User]

On a Windows 7 32-bit installation and on a separate
Windows 7 64-bit installation, I have the following
Excel components installed: 97, 2000, 2002 (XP) SP3,
2003 SP3, 2007 SP2, and 2010 Beta.

Wunnerful that they can all coexist! But I'm a little surprised. I thought
I asked somewhere some time ago, and I was told that multiple versions of
Excel (maybe Office) share some common files, potentially resulting in some
incompatibilities.

If true, did you have to pull some shenanigans to overcome that problem?

Or was I simply misinformed, or do I recall incorrectly?


----- original message -----

 

[JLatham]

You will absolutely NOT have to upgrade Office just because of Windows 7.
Office XP (also known as Office 2002) will run just fine on Vista and/or
Windows 7. I have Office 2003 running on a Vista Ultimate and on a Windows 7
Ultimate system(s) and the OS are even 64-bit versions. Runs just fine.

And with the higher-end versions of Windows 7 you get the added safety-net
of the "XP Mode". XP Mode is available (as a separate download/setup) with
Windows 7 Professional, Enterprise or Ultimate. It also requires hardware
that supports virtualization (and most new machines do, but they have a test
to check for certain). Once the XP mode is installed, it is available as a
"virtual machine" within Windows 7 running Windows XP, and no extra license
required for it.

And finally, as the mattress under the safety net, there are always options
such as Microsofts Virtual PC or VMWare Player that allow you to create
virtual machines and install pretty much any (licensed) copy of an Operating
System you want into them and run software compatible with that OS within the
VM.

How 'crazy' can it get? My Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit version is set up with
an XP Mode virtual machine, and over on the Vista Ultimate 64, I have VMWare
Player with another copy of Windows 7 Ultimate 64 running in which I have
been using the Beta version of Office 2010, 64-bit!

 

[Mike Middleton]

Joe User -

My initial description was not totally complete: As I recall, on Windows 7
64-bit, if you want Excel 2010 Beta 64-bit, it cannot coexist with the older
32-bit versions of Excel.

I now do most of my work on Windows 7 64-bit with all those versions of
Excel but specifically with Excel 2010 Beta 32-bit (which can coexist with
the older versions of Excel).

On the same computer, I use VMware Workstation for several other operating
systems. I have separate virtual machines running Windows XP and Windows
Vista. Also, I have another virtual machine running Windows 7 64-bit with
Excel 2010 Beta 64-bit (but without any older versions of Excel).

- Mike

 

[glesgalady]

Joe User -

My initial description was not totally complete: As I recall, on Windows 7
64-bit, if you want Excel 2010 Beta 64-bit, it cannot coexist with the older
32-bit versions of Excel.

I now do most of my work on Windows 7 64-bit with all those versions of
Excel but specifically with Excel 2010 Beta 32-bit (which can coexist with
the older versions of Excel).

On the same computer, I use VMware Workstation for several other operating
systems. I have separate virtual machines running Windows XP and Windows
Vista. Also, I have another virtual machine running Windows 7 64-bit with
Excel 2010 Beta 64-bit (but without any older versions of Excel).

- Mike


.

 

[Joe User]

This is all terribly off-topic, but I am intensely curious about the
details. So I hope people will indulge (or simply ignore) our conversation.
Alternatively, we can take it off-line. Write to joeu2004 "at" hotmail.com.

On the same computer, I use VMware Workstation for several
other operating systems. I have separate virtual machines
running Windows XP and Windows Vista.

Thanks for the pointer to VMware Workstation. I believe there are several
such products out there. Always good to hear from someone with first-hand
experience with one of them. Kinda like choosing a new doctor. (Which I
desparately need to do. Bad that's another digression ;->.)

How do you like VMware Workstation? Can the VMs share files? If not, is
there a provision for copying files from one VM to another without relying
on an external device?

(I ass-u-me you can always copy a file in one VM to a USB memory stick, then
read the file from memory stick in another VM.)

Can you run multiple VMs at the same time? Or do you have to reboot the
computer each time you want to switch between VMs?

Is there a good newsgroup for __thoughtful__ discussion of different VM
products and VM usage in general?

By "thoughtful", I mean the opposite of "mine, mine, mine!". If you've ever
been in a "discussion" (I use the term advisedly) of vi v. emacs, ksh v. csh
v. perl, C v. C++, or Intel PC v. Mac, you'll know what I mean ;-).

I have been procrastinating the move to VMs for a very long time. I really
should get serious about it. With disk capacities these days, there is no
reason not to -- at least, none that I can think of. (Okay: laziness.
Moi?!)

(Hmm, I can remember when I was thrilled to get a removable single-platter 5
Mbyte disk. It was the size of an extra large pizza box, and it weighed
nearly 10 pounds. But it could hold the entire O/S and basic applications,
and it still had room for some of my files. "An O/S smaller than 5MB? Get
outta town!" ;->)


----- original message -----

 

[Mike Middleton]

Joe User -

I'm just starting to use VMware Workstation, so I haven't explored all of
its features, but here are some preliminary replies to your questions.

How do you like VMware Workstation? <

I like it very much. It's amazing software.

Can the VMs share files? If not, is there a provision for copying files
from one VM to another without relying on an external device?<

You can Drag & Drop between the host and guests (the VMs) or between guests.
It's a Copy, not a Cut. Or, you can use a shared folder. A smart card reader
can be attached to multiple machines (unlike USB).

... you can always copy a file in one VM to a USB memory stick, then read
the file from memory stick in another VM. <

A USB device can be connected to one machine at a time. Switching requires
two or three mouse clicks.

Can you run multiple VMs at the same time? Or do you have to reboot the
computer each time you want to switch between VMs? <

Several VMs can run at the same time, and you click a window tab to switch
from one to another. No rebooting is required.

Is there a good newsgroup for __thoughtful__ discussion of different VM
products and VM usage in general? <

I don't know. I had used VMware Fusion on a Mac. I looked at a brief
discussion of VM products on the Association of Software Professionals
newsgroup. At the time it seemed that only VMware Workstation was (a) mature
enough to support Windows Aero and (b) able to support multiple monitors for
one VM or multiple monitors for multiple VMs. I haven't used these features
yet, but they're important to me, because when I'm not traveling, I work at
two locations, each with docking stations with dual monitors. My main
computer now is a dockable 3.3-pound Dell E4300 (2.53 GHz, 4 GB RAM, 256 GB
SSD). I'm disposing of several noisy desktop machines as soon as I offload
some archive files.

- Mike

 

[Joe User]

Thanks for info.


----- original message -----

Joe User -

I'm just starting to use VMware Workstation, so I haven't explored all of
its features, but here are some preliminary replies to your questions.


I like it very much. It's amazing software.


You can Drag & Drop between the host and guests (the VMs) or between
guests. It's a Copy, not a Cut. Or, you can use a shared folder. A smart
card reader can be attached to multiple machines (unlike USB).


A USB device can be connected to one machine at a time. Switching requires
two or three mouse clicks.


Several VMs can run at the same time, and you click a window tab to switch
from one to another. No rebooting is required.


I don't know. I had used VMware Fusion on a Mac. I looked at a brief
discussion of VM products on the Association of Software Professionals
newsgroup. At the time it seemed that only VMware Workstation was (a)
mature enough to support Windows Aero and (b) able to support multiple
monitors for one VM or multiple monitors for multiple VMs. I haven't used
these features yet, but they're important to me, because when I'm not
traveling, I work at two locations, each with docking stations with dual
monitors. My main computer now is a dockable 3.3-pound Dell E4300 (2.53
GHz, 4 GB RAM, 256 GB SSD). I'm disposing of several noisy desktop
machines as soon as I offload some archive files.

- Mike