I have just purchased a new pc with Windows XP installed.  It seems
that all XP has is a word pad. Do I have to now purchase Word, Excel
Powerpoint etc. That was installed on my old PC?  Or can I get it free
as  a download somewhere or If I still find the original disks can I
reinstall it from my old pc?  Poogie Ga

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Clarification of Question by poogie-ga on 31 Dec 2004 20:07 PST

Dear grthumongous-ga

Thanks for telling me about www.openoffice.org This is so great, but
tell me will this run on my pc as well as if I have the Microsoft
Office stuff loaded or will I have to delete one to run the other?

Poogie-ga

If you have your Microsoft Office disks, you should be able to install
the programs on your new PC. If you do this, you'll need to delete
these programs from the old PC, unless your licensing arrangement
permits installation on multiple machines.

After spending the money on XP with just Notepad (and Wordpad too) you
may be suffering from lunchbag let-down.

Of course Pink is correct.  But, if you are forced to buy the MS
Office 2003 suite then you may want to contemplate an open source
alternative:

http://www.openoffice.org/

poogie,
The functions mentioned are part of the package. On my computer (older
version) the operating system came pre-installed. Words, Excel etc
required manual installation from a handful of discs supplied with the
computer (easily done by inserting the accompanying CD?s and following
screen prompts). Once all have been ?run? link to Windows update
(under start button) and download any necessary ?critical updates? or
other appropriate packages to bring your system to current
configurations (remember that your computer may be months, even years
old and not everything needed for its smooth operations would have
been available at manufacture).

If the above method is inappropriate (i.e. no additional discs held)
please advise and I will investigate further.

Kind regards,
gfmaster

Sorry poogie,
I do not know the answer to how well components of the the two suites
(Microsoft and open source) can co-habitate.

I have Office XP Professional which I bought for hundreds of dollars
and I have the disks.
It would be *my* natural first choice on a re-install.  
I have never personally used the open source offering but I would
certainly consider it if I was forced to buy Office XP all over again
for hundreds of dollars.

I am not a Researcher.