Solved Office 2003 updates

[jimroad471]

I have office 2003 and the updates will stop along with xp. How is MS office 2003 vulnerable? I can delete the mail account but are there other issues?
thanks
jim

 

[Ranger4]

Yes there are. The problem is that when the updates cease any security improvements will also stop, so Office 2003 may become vulnerable to virus & other attacks. While these may not become apparent to you, until your computer actually stops working or has problems, you may inadvertently transmit infections to other users via email attachments etc..
Even if you are using another email program, Office 2003 is still on your computer. Using a good anti virus program will help, it may not stop eventual infection.
For peace of mind & safety it would be best to update your Office suite to a later version.

 

[ignatzatsonic]

For peace of mind & safety it would be best to update your Office suite to a later version.

Yep.

But unfortunately, the current versions of Office have licensing differences compared to Office 2003, 2007, or 2010. I don't recall all the sordid detail, but I think you are forced into a subscription or the dreaded "cloud", unlike earlier versions.

That's fine if you are OK with that stuff.

If not (like me), you need to get Office 2010 as it uses the traditional licensing model. Problem is, Office 2010 on a standard disk is in short supply, at least from known good sources. I had to scour the net to find it six months ago. Two days later, that source no longer had any more copies of it.

If I'm not mistaken, the "Product Key only" versions that you download and burn to a disc are restricted in some way, unlike the standard retail disk.

 

[Ranger4]

You are correct ignatzatsonic in that Office 2010 is almost impossible to find, but there are versions of Office 2013 that are not subscription versions.
Office 2013 Home & Student. Office 2013 Home & Office & Office 2013 Professional are available without having to use a subscription with a once only purchase price.
It does depend on which version of Office is needed, so the OP needs to visit the MS Office website & read up on the versions available & select one that suits them. MS quote prices if you wish to buy from them.

 

[ignatzatsonic]

Ranger:

Do you have any further info on the issue shown in the 2 links below? The implication is that Office 2013 is NOT transferable to another PC. I think that's why I decided I needed 2010.

Office 2013 licence confusion continues as Microsoft backtracks on broken PCs | News | PC Pro


"In a blog post outlining the licence for Office 2013 and how it compared with the 2010 version, Microsoft admitted that the 2013 licence was tied to one PC".

Office 2013 and Office 365 installations and transferability | Office Blogs

 

[Ranger4]

ignatzatsonic:

No I do not have any info on those items. I bought a retail copy of Office 2013 Professional, which I installed & a short time later I updated my motherboard, CPU & GPU & of course had to reinstall Office. I did not have any activation problems except I had to use phone assistance, which I think was due to the short time interval between installations.

I have not had any experience with OEM versions, so I cannot comment on those. But from the websites you quoted it certainly looks like Office OEM's may have the same problems that Win 7 OEM's have.

 

[ignatzatsonic]

I have not had any experience with OEM versions, so I cannot comment on those. But from the websites you quoted it certainly looks like Office OEM's may have the same problems that Win 7 OEM's have.

Yeah, that's the way I read it.

To clarify, referring to the version you bought (2013 retail pro):

Did your receive it on an ordinary DVD, just like Office 2007 or 2010 would have arrived?

Can that license be used on the PCs that you might own in the future, as long as it's on one PC at a time?

Did it come with multiple licenses, so it can be installed on more than 1 PC at the same time?

Does it have anything at all to do with the cloud or a subscription model?

I might have bought 2013 if I could have found a version with Word and Excel (nothing more required) that came on a disc, was transferable to future PCs I might own, was not restricted in any OEM-like way, and had nothing to do with the cloud or subscriptions. But I couldn't confirm that, so I went with 2010 Home and Student.

 

[Ranger4]

I have not had any experience with OEM versions, so I cannot comment on those. But from the websites you quoted it certainly looks like Office OEM's may have the same problems that Win 7 OEM's have.

Yeah, that's the way I read it.

To clarify, referring to the version you bought (2013 retail pro):

Did your receive it on an ordinary DVD, just like Office 2007 or 2010 would have arrived?

Can that license be used on the PCs that you might own in the future, as long as it's on one PC at a time?

Did it come with multiple licenses, so it can be installed on more than 1 PC at the same time?

Does it have anything at all to do with the cloud or a subscription model?

I might have bought 2013 if I could have found a version with Word and Excel (nothing more required) that came on a disc, was transferable to future PCs I might own, was not restricted in any OEM-like way, and had nothing to do with the cloud or subscriptions. But I couldn't confirm that, so I went with 2010 Home and Student.

The version I bought was on DVD & came with an activation license for only 1 PC. As I mentioned I have reloaded it again after changing the motherboard etc. so I assume I can use it in the future on a new computer as long as it's only used on 1 PC at one time.

Some free cloud use is included at no extra cost, but I don't use the cloud facility at all as I prefer to have all my files on my computer.

There is no annual subscription.

Office 2013 Pro comes with Word, Excel, Power Point, One note, Outlook, Publisher & Access. Both 32 & 64 bit versions are on the DVD, but I elected to install the 32 bit version on my x64 Win 7 OS.

Customer support is also provided as it is a retail copy. I bought the suite at one of my local stores that retails computers & other electrical items so it is a genuine MS disc. My main complaint was the cost of au$539.00, but that was bout au$60 cheaper than buying from MS here in Australia.

 

[fireberd]

I have Office 2003 (Pro) and FrontPage 2003. I'm in the process of converting my web sites to a different program so the FrontPage 2003 is not an issue. I am going to migrate to some other program for WordProcessing and e-mail, my two main uses for Office. Libre Office is the one I'm looking at now. I'm not sure about e-mail, whether I will change to Windows Live Mail or some other e-mail program such as Thunderbird.

 

[Ranger4]

fireberd:

I was using Windows Live Mail before I installed Office which has Outlook, which I now use. I found WLM very satisfactory & easy to use & I had it set up for 2 email addresses.

I can't offer any advice on Libre Office as I have never used it. I did try Open Office but I had problems getting my head around setting up their database & it required Java as well, which also put me off it.

 

[bigmck]

This is a pretty good article on MS Office 2003 and the end of support.
Office 2003's burial will resurrect hacker activity | CSO Online