Author Topic: Is MS Office 98 worth getting?  (Read 4233 times)

Offline stripedbass

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Is MS Office 98 worth getting?
« on: December 18, 2006, 07:09:57 PM »
I have a G-3, 350 Mhz iMac and recently moved from OS 9.2.2 to 10.2.8. It was a very big move for a novice like me and I'm REALLY enjoying it!

So far I don't have a word processing program.

Through helpful people on this forum, I learned of AbiWord. As soon as I get a chance to visit this place where they can download it and burn in onto a CD, I'll get it.

In the meantime, I've just come across the opportunity of purchasing 1998 MS Office. Should I purchase it or is it too old?

Any feedback will be highly appreciated.

Thanks!

Offline jcarter

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Is MS Office 98 worth getting?
« Reply #1 on: December 18, 2006, 07:31:19 PM »
Oh, my husband has the same iMac, but I didnt think that there was enuf room and speed to upgrade his old computer to 10.2.8.
He wants one of my 20" LCD iMacs badly, pushing me to get a new MacTel.

You really should have Appleworks on yours?
Why buy anything Microsoft, if you just want word processing, especially if its 8 years old.
I have almost never used Appleworks, as I dont really use word processing, but I wonder if I can send my Appleworks program to you?
Lets see what the experts say here, and If I can do so, I will stick it onto a CD and mail it to you if thats the easiest way. Im not good at figuring out stuff like this, but Ive had classmates send the old EyeCandy and KPT programs to me.
Jane

Offline kbeartx

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Is MS Office 98 worth getting?
« Reply #2 on: December 18, 2006, 07:44:37 PM »
You could run Office 98 in Classic [that is, not native in OS-X], so it will be quite slow.

I agree w/ Jane, get AppleWorks [you might even have it already on some system CD].

Offline Paddy

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Is MS Office 98 worth getting?
« Reply #3 on: December 18, 2006, 08:09:24 PM »
If you just need basic word processing with Word compatibility, forget paying for a rather old version of Word that only runs in Classic. I'd recommend NeoOffice - except that I now see it requires 10.3 or later. (it's free)

So, perhaps Appleworks is the way to go - it can be had pretty cheaply too:

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Offline Xairbusdriver

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Is MS Office 98 worth getting?
« Reply #4 on: December 20, 2006, 03:06:05 PM »
And why use an orphaned app that has many 'capabilities' that don't provide any usefulness? Try <Mariner Write>, I'm sure they have a version ( yep, get version 3.5.1 ) that will run on Jaguar and it won't bog down your processor while allowing you to open Word docs, also. Not the cheapest of apps, but they have a holiday special running right now, also...
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« Last Edit: December 20, 2006, 03:08:42 PM by Xairbusdriver »
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Offline Frances144

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Is MS Office 98 worth getting?
« Reply #5 on: December 20, 2006, 03:44:39 PM »
I have a copy of Word'98 that I would happily send to you from the UK (for the price of the postage).  Don't use it at all and you are very welcome to it.

PM me if you are interested.

Frances

Offline stripedbass

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Is MS Office 98 worth getting?
« Reply #6 on: December 21, 2006, 10:58:59 PM »
Hi folks,

Sorry for the late response. Work has just been crazy busy.

I want to thank all of you for your great feedback.

Today, I was finally able to get someone to download AbiWord (http://www.abisource.com/) onto a CD (I'm told that this is a great word processing program).

I then brought the CD home and loaded AbiWord onto my computer. I could not do the downloading from my home computer because I have a dial-up connection. I should point out that I've had very bad experience in the past when downloading applications. I always get disconnected.

Frances144: Thanks for your offer to send me a CD of MS Word '98, all the way from the UK. But the MS Word '98 CD that I had in mind was being sold so cheaply that it would not have been worth it to bother you. But thanks for your kind offer. I really appreciated it.

I don't know why I don't have AppleWorks.

Anyway, to make a long story short, I'm going to try AbiWord and see what happens.

My real concern is whether I can read my old documents which I did on MS Word 5.1 and saved on diskettes before I upgraded my computer from OS 9.2.2 to 10.2.8. I also upgraded the hard drive that came with my 350 Mhz iMac to a Seagate 80 GB hard drive. I also upgraded my RAM from 64 MB to 516 MB.

We'll see how things go with AbiWord.

Again, thanks so much for your advice. I love this forum.