Oldsaint,
Interesting question!
The short answer is: It *should* work.
The longer answer is: It *might* work, though with a number of known
glitches.
At least one tester has written an article claiming that he's had no
problems: http://computers.lycos.com/software/xp15.asp
Also, you need to make sure that you have the right amount of memory
and cpu power for Windows XP. In fact, take whatever Microsoft
recomends for cpu and memory, and assume that it is a bare, bare
minimum....you probably want more.
I was unable to find an article on Microsoft's Knowledge base (
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=FH;EN-US;KBHOWTO ) that
specifically described compatibility between Office 97 and Windows XP,
but I did find two articles which described how to perform tasks with
Office 97 while using Windows XP.
[ http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;q254250 ]
How to completely remove Microsoft Office 97 on Windows XP
[ http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;q290771 ]
Word 2000 or Word 97 stops responding when you try to start it
(includes information for Windows XP)
The fact that these two articles exists clearly implies that Microsoft
supports an Office 97 installation under Windows XP. I doubt they
would provide assistance to people using these two products together
if they required users to upgrade to a newer version of Office.
Unfortunately, Microsoft's site is not always the best place for
finding useful and detailed information on the subject, so I did a
search for you on Google's Usenet News site for articles describing
the interaction between Office 97 and XP. The results of this search
indicate that the two products are mostly compatible, though it might
be a good idea to find an experienced user or administrator to assist
with the installation.
(Please keep in mind that newsgroup postings are not "guaranteed" to
be correct by Microsoft or anybody else. These are simply people like
you or I discussing their experiences with the products.)
More than one user recommends applying all the Office 97 updates from
http://office.microsoft.com/downloads before attempting to run the
software. The most important updates are SR-1 (
http://office.microsoft.com/downloads/9798/sr1off97detail.aspx ) and
SR-2 ( http://office.microsoft.com/downloads/9798/sr2off97detail.aspx
). I doubt that you need the more minor updates available (such as
"More Euro Enabled Fonts for Microsoft Office 97"), but you should
probably install at least those two service releases I've indicated
above.
FYI, the Usenet article describing what I've just said above can be
found here: http://groups.google.com/groups?q=windows+xp+%22office+97%22&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&selm=Odv%23VbGoBHA.1604%40tkmsftngp04&rnum=17
If you read through the following Google Groups thread in its
entirety...
[ http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&threadm=OKUN7.19%24Ta1.2683%40eagle.america.net&rnum=8&prev=/groups%3Fq%3Dwindows%2Bxp%2B%2522office%2B97%2522%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26ie%3DUTF-8%26oe%3DUTF-8%26selm%3DOKUN7.19%2524Ta1.2683%2540eagle.america.net%26rnum%3D8
]
Google Groups thread on Office 97 and Win XP
...you'll see a discussion of potential conflicts that others have
seen while installing Office 97 under XP.
1)
Apparently, Outlook 97 may be a potential problem. In fact, this
specific product has been declared obsolete by Microsoft.
Note the following page which describes products that Microsoft
considers obsolete:
[ http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=fh;en-us;obsprodo ]
Obsolete product page
While Office 97 is not listed, please note that Outlook 97 *is* listed
here. Any product on this page is no longer supported by Microsoft.
Based on this list, it would not surprise me if Office 97 were
declared obsolete in the relatively near future. This shouldn't effect
its compatibility with the current version of Windows XP, but might
affect its compatibility with future XP service packs or releases.
2)
Some people have reported "Out of memory" errors, which seem to occur
frequently in this specific Office product. Another user explains how
spell check may not work properly due to user permission issues under
Windows XP.
(The solution to this is a Windows Registry change, which I don't
recommend that you try unless you understand the potential
consequences. In short, the Registry is a very powerful Windows
feature which allows you huge amounts of control over your operating
system and software settings. While the individual changes may be
simple to do, a typo of a single character can screw up your entire
Windows installation if you're not careful!)
The Microsoft support page describing this Registry fix (for Windows
2000, but supposedly it works under XP as well) may be found here:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;q257643
Again, please don't try this unless you really know what you're doing.
The fix page itself says, "WARNING: If you use Registry Editor
incorrectly, you may cause serious problems that may require you to
reinstall your operating system. Microsoft cannot guarantee that you
can solve problems that result from using Registry Editor incorrectly.
Use Registry Editor at your own risk."
3)
There appears to be a glitch in Office 97 which causes frequent "out
of memory" errors. This may also apply under XP.
4)
There are some reports of people who could not get the two to work
together despite all of what I've written above. Here's an example of
one of these: http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&threadm=ueI2EirTCHA.1900%40tkmsftngp13&rnum=12&prev=/groups%3Fq%3Dwindows%2Bxp%2B%2522office%2B97%2522%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26ie%3DUTF-8%26oe%3DUTF-8%26selm%3DueI2EirTCHA.1900%2540tkmsftngp13%26rnum%3D12
Finally, here's the entire list of Usenet postings on Google Groups
that generally has information about isues between Office 97 and
Windows XP:
http://groups.google.com/groups?as_q=windows%20xp&as_epq=office%2097&safe=images&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&lr=&num=100&hl=en
(Search terms: "windows" + "xp" + "office 97")
I did a similar search for the same terms on www.google.com, but
didn't get anything quite as useful there.
I hope this information will be useful to you.
Good luck in your upgrade!
/ephraim |
