Early Retirement Extreme Forums

Hi everyone,
I own a computer running Windows 10 (OS Build 15063.138/Version 1703). It comes with a preinstalled up to date version of Microsoft Office. If I choose, I can run MS Office for a month and then buy a license from Microsoft. My preferences are to:
1) Delete the preinstalled version of MS Office
2) Purchase an older version of MS Office at low cost
3) Install the older version.
Are there any reasons I shouldn't try to do this? Any recommendations on making the process go smoothly?
Thanks!

Open office.

LibreOffice has implemented a lot of advancements from OpenOffice as my vote is for that.

But yeah the main reason I got Microsoft Office for my old computer was because I got it for free.

Hi,
I've been using Office Libre but it is proving glitchy. I should mention I do freelance writing so I need a fully functional word processor. So I'm looking for MS Office which is relatively reliable.

I've avoided upgrading windows for this reason. I'm running Word 2010. It's my favorite version of the software. When I can't run it anymore I'll give up Word. I'm not 'subscribing' to Word. Photoshop either.

If you write professionally, it's hard to avoid using Word and the older versions are best/cheapest. Libreoffice is nice but no substitute. I also use Scrivener but it has a learning curve since it's not exactly a word processor. At least Scrivener is inexpensive.

Is anyone using WordPerfect? I used to love WP before I had to switch to Word. The last time I checked it wasn't subscription based.

I use Open Office on my Windows 10 machine because A) it's free (though you can make donations to the project) and B) it seems perpetually locked into a Windows 98-like appearance/interface which is easier on my aging brain than keeping up with all the changes they roll out.

I would think you should be able to do what you describe. I did similar on Windows XP. I didn't even uninstall the newer Office. That caused an inconvenience because I had to open Word first to open a document. Just double-clicking the document defaulted to the newer version. Probably could have fixed that, it just wasn't enough of a burning platform.

Not sure how to do it in Windows 10. My laptop running 10 didn't come have a DVD drive so I couldn't put my old Word on there at first (and I'd already been using Open Office for their excel knockoff) so I just made the switch then. I suspect it's just a matter of installing in compatibility mode. Windows 10 might be able to do that transparently.

Google also has a free service that isn't bad if you don't need all the bells and whistles of Microsoft Office, which most people don't.

+1 to LibreOffice/OpenOffice or Google Docs

If you are a professional and your clients demand Word specifically, I doubt that an obsolete version of Word will be acceptable for very long. Microsoft tends to intentionally break backwards-compatibility to force users to upgrade. In this case Word is a cost of doing business.