Need just a basic version of MS Word

I've been using Lotus WordPro for eight years; IBM has issued no upgrades or even updates during this entire time and it still remains far superior to Word. However, I'm a writer/copyeditor and it's tough to find freelance work due to Microsoft's ongoing monopolization efforts involving sweetheart deals with manufacturers to bundle Word with its new computers. Thus, I find myself being strong-armed into having to install Word on my system due to publisher's virtual insistence on the submission of text in Word formatting.

From my research so far, it seems that my needs would be conformably filled by the 2002 version and its tracking-and-reviewing features; but trying to zero in on the right download has my head spinning because of Microsoft's compulsion for version-du-jour upgrades. So far, it seems that my best option is "Word version 2002, the Office XP word processor," which I can buy for only $19 -- except for the minor detail that the product description says that this "XP word processor" does not work with my XP platform. Huh? (Its System Requirements: 2000 Pro, 98, 98 2nd Edition, ME, and NT)

I don't need any of the largely redundant bells and whistles that MS always piles on to "upgrades" in order to continually pick our pockets; so I'd greatly appreciate guidance from someone who can advise me on how and where to get the best basic version for my system, since I plan to create all my text with WordPro and simply copy it to Word for submission and further editing. (My WordPro plugins end with Word 2000)

Thanks much,
Rob

XP Home sp3

Forget about MS...

http://www.openoffice.org/

\0/
-Sec

Have you considered using a freeware office application such as Open Office or Libre Office? Both of those office applications work with MS Office file types.

Do either of those have the track changes feature? I haven't found it on my version of Open Office, and that is a feature that editors and proof-readers are frequently looking for. This is so the author can accept or reject the changes.

Orange Blossom

If all you're after is a good MS Word compatible word processor, you might take a look at Kingsoft Writer.

If you want an entire suite there is the Kingsoft Office Suite.

Edit:

Oh, and there is a tracking feature in Kingsoft. Just click on the tools tab and select "Track Changes", or use the keyboard shortcut "Ctrl+Shift+E".

Orange Blossom, in Open Office, from the "Edit" menu, highlight "Changes" for it's submenu. Is that what you're looking for?

Sorry I haven't responded to these posts sooner, but I guess I didn't subscribe so I have not been notified of your replies. I have come across the Word replacements mentioned here, and your replies seem to indicate that some of them can convert docs to and from Word's most recent versions, as well as Word's tracking feature. If anyone can verify this re any of these instead-of apps, I'd be much obliged.Your

After visiting the sites of the products mentioned above , both OpenOffice and LibreOffice use the same Writer word processor that does contain a tracking feature described as an advanced notes feature that "displays notes at the side of the document, so the information is easy to read while inspecting the document. For easier identification, notes by different users are displayed in different colors, together with the date and time of their last editing." However, there is no mention of either a review feature or it being interchangeable with Word's tracking and review feature. In short, Word's feature seems to be far more sophisticated than the Writer version.

All in all, I think I'd feel a lot more comfortable with Word 2002 but I'm having trouble finding one that's compatible with XP. Judging from the one I mention in my initial post, it seems I need that version plus an upgrade but I'd like to have guidance from someone who knows exactly how to accomplish adding Word 2002 to my system.

NOTE: Just stumbled upon this online. Way kewel. Document Converter

PS: I think I've put together a reasonable solution to my basic need: For $20 on ebay I can get Ms Works Plus, 2008; it includes Word 2003 which is compatible with Win XP. This, plus the Doc Converter widget I downloaded from the above site should be all I'll need. Thanks to everyone who jogged me into the further research that led me to this cheap solution!

Glad you got it sorted out and thanks for letting us know

-Sec

First, I want to say that I had this submission nearly completed and then pushed the backspace key to make a correction. Your site returned to the previous page and my submission was completely lost. This is an absolutely unacceptable way to have a blog site set up. I am starting again and am now typing into a text editor. When done, I will paste into your page.

Word 2002, aka Word xp is my choice.

All subsequent versions, starting with Word 2003 are top heavy and fall under my definition of bloatware. While 2003 is manageable for many systems, anything later is off the charts as far as I am concerned.

The reason I switched to Word 2002 from Word 2000 is that Word 2002 allows all open documents to be grouped together under a single taskbar icon. You can switch among open documents by clicking on "Window" and selecting the desired document. (You cannot use ctrl + tab to switch among documents, but you can return to the previous document using ctrl + F6.)

The other difference from Word 2000 is that the recovery feature seems to be improved. It is still not as good as it should be --- mainly because it sometimes presents a recovered version of a currently saved document. But losses seem to be decreased.

You can get at no cost a compatibility pack which allows you to open docx documents in Word 2002 (or Word 2000 for that matter). You can then save the document as doc or rtf and edit it in Word 2002 or Word 2000. Since the docx format is totally useless, I consider that the issue of dealing with docx is completely solved.

Also, I should note that Word 2002 and Word 2000 are a lot nicer that what I have seen of Open Office, Libre Office, and Abiword. Word 1997 is also pretty good but lacks some features you may want.

This contribution may be too late for some, but I hope it helps some people. good luck!

"the product description says that this "XP word processor" does not work with my XP platform. Huh? (Its System Requirements: 2000 Pro, 98, 98 2nd Edition, ME, and NT)"

 

The statement of "System Requirements: 2000 Pro, 98, 98 2nd Edition, ME, and NT" does not say explicitly that it does not work with XP. In fact, "NT" was a common designation that included NT, 2000, and XP --- essentially all the windows versions that used the NTFS file system at that time.

 

My guess is that the version in question will work fine with XP.

First,
I want to say that I had this submission nearly completed and then
pushed the backspace key to make a correction. Your site returned to the
previous page and my submission was completely lost. This is an
absolutely unacceptable way to have a blog site set up.

Hate to burst your bubble. . . but your submission wasn't actually lost.

If something similar happens to you in the future, you can restore your lost content (or at least a good portion of it; the auto saver only updates every so often) by clicking 'View Auto Saved Content) in the bottom left of the reply window.
 

   
 
In any event, thanks for taking the time to recreate your post!