Excel 2003 Installation Limit Reached: Now What?

[Clueless in Seattle]

I'm a low-income disabled senior, so I get by with hand-me-down hardware and software.

A decade or so ago, when I could more easily get out and around, I managed the ordeal of taking a bus trip (three buses each way!) over to Microsoft for an afternoon of product testing. I was rewarded with a copy of Office 2003 which I've been using ever since.

Recently some friends passed on to me their old laptop to replace a laptop with a dying display that I'd been using for the last couple of years.

One of the first things I did was attempt to install Office 2003 on my "new" (to me) laptop. But I got a warning that I'd reached the installation limit. I tried calling the phone number in the warning message but got a recording saying that support for that product had ended.

Even though I have two unopened copies of Office 2007 (or some such year, I can' really remember) in a box of software somewhere in the back room, I'd prefer to just keep using Office 2003 because I've just gotten too darned old to try to keep relearning how to use the latest iteration of Office.

So, I'm wondering if there's a practical, ethical and legal way to keep using Excel 2003 on my "new" laptop.

I plan to recycle the "old" laptop as soon as I get this "new" one up and running satisfactorily. So I would still have the same number of installations of Office 2003 in use as before.

If this isn't feasible. Then I'd be grateful for advice on which way to go from here:

1. Bite the bullet and struggle with learning how to use Office 2007?

2. Switch to one of the descendents of Open Office or similar open source productivity software?

3. Something else altogether?

Will in Seattle
a.k.a. "Clueless"

 

[FDibbins]

I was reluctant to "upgrade" to 2007, i was quite happy with my old 2000/2003, just as you are. However, where I work, upgraded to 2007, so I had no choice. It took me a few days to get used to the new look/feel, but most of the changes are pretty easy to get used to, and some are just down-right intuitive. Now, I have a hard time remembering where "this" or "that" is in the older versions.

So my suggestion to you (from an older user), is find that bullet and take a chunk out of it, I would be very surprised to find out that you were sorry you did.

Best of luck and keep us informed on how you make out, and if there is any other assistance we can offer

 

[Macropod]

Support for Office 2003 has not ended. It doesn't end until April 8! Not that that's much comfort. At this stage, I don't know what plans MS has to permit re-installation after the support expiration date, but I don't believe they can legally prevent you installing it on another PC, provided you're working within the license provisions.

 

[Clueless in Seattle]

Hi Ford!

Thanks for the encouragement!

I'm afraid that my chronic health problems along with those unavoidable problems that life keeps throwing our way have kept me distracted from dealing with my worsening computer problems for the last few weeks.

I finally got back on my feet long enough to try use Word 2007 to print an old file created in Word 2003, but it wouldn't print.

This MrExcel forum is such a helpful place, I'm wondering if you could recommend a comparably helpful web forum for Word 2007.

 

[Macropod]

AFAIK there are no dedicated Word support forums, the way there are dedicated Excel forums. Even so, extensive support is provided at:
Office - Microsoft Community
Microsoft Word Forum

 

[FDibbins]

I finally got back on my feet long enough to try use Word 2007 to print an old file created in Word 2003, but it wouldn't print.

Have you been able to print anything else from Word 2007? (Just trying to see if it is the file or the program)