Windows 7: Install Office '03 + '07?

I just upgraded from 32 bit 2GB RAM to 64 bit 4GB RAM. Under the 32 bit Excel, Word and Outlook were very slow loading and frequently went not responding. The problem could have been memory, my old Windows 7 installation or...

1. Can I install both '03 and '07 to determine differences, if any now, in performance?

2. Whereas Mail is 32 bit under Office '03, is it 64 bit aware in '07?



3. Can I mix modules between the different versions of Office (e.g. Word '03 + Outlook '07)?

Mark

To avoid potential problems & slowing down of your system I would advise against having both 2003 & 2007 Office downloaded at the same time.
Should you go ahead I believe you can only use one version at a time.

FYI -

Quote:

Microsoft Office 2007, Microsoft Office 2003 and Microsoft Office XP are designed to run on 32-bit versions of Microsoft Windows operating systems. When you run any of these programs on a 64-bit version of a Windows operating system, the program runs in the 32-bit layer of the Windows operating system. Microsoft supports running the versions of Office 2007, Office 2003, and Office XP that are listed in the "More Information" section in the 32-bit layer of 64-bit versions of Windows.

A summary of the support boundaries for Office programs that run on 64-bit versions of Windows operating systems

I don't care for '07 and '10 myself. I've been running 2003 on my 64-bit (as well as my 32-bit) systems with no problems. O2003 was the best version, IMHO, and I'm keeping my copy under lock-and-key. :-)

I uninstalled '03, installed '07 (only what I use, not what I thought I might use--Word, Excel and Outlook). There's a night and day load and response with '07 on this new setup (4GB + 64bit + clean install) vs prior 2GB 32 bit. I still can't stand the ribbon but the feature of the new Outlook make the effort worthwhile.

So all is now well there?

Provided one is able to tolerate ribbons--yes.

Which of the new features of Outlook weren't you able to live without? I have O2010 at the office and I can't think of anything about it that's enough motivation for me to upgrade from 2003 on my own equipment. The only reason I use 2010 there is it integration with VS2010 but I don't have any such issues with my installation, fortunately.

-Max

Small things mainly--

click to open an email or task from contact that carries information to target

better RSS in Outlook

better automatic task ordering Outlook

ability to customize quick icons at the top of forms

more complete Outlook 'to do' bar at right column

There's a lot more but off the top of my head this list comes to mind. There were Excel features that I don't remember now but missed when helping my wife with her '03 installation.