MS Office 2003

mitchell65

mitchell65

Gold Level Poster
Most have heard that there will be no more security patches for Windows XP after April 2014 but the real bad news is that the last patches for Office 2003 will be on Tuesday, April 8, 2014.
It will be a bit of a security risk to continue to run any Office 2003 applications after this date. there are still thousands of people out there still using this very popular version. I have the Professional version and it does all I ask it and more. I use Publisher a lot but if it means a £300 investment I don't know if I can justify that. The work I do with it is a charity and is my contribution to their work. i could buy just Publisher for about £110 I think but that seems a bit short sighted, and I'm far too long in the tooth to pretend i am a Student!:wacko:
 
DeadEyeDuk

DeadEyeDuk

Superhero Level Poster
Thank the High Heavens!

Finally will be able to make an indisputable case to get rid of 2003 off all the machines that currently have it. It is a ridiculous pain in the bum that some still use 2003, as most use 2007 (not quite got the resources to get 2010..or 2013...). There are so many compatibility issues between 2003 and the later versions, that we sometimes have to either duplicate work so they can use it, or worse still, ONLY do things that work in 2003.

I mean please, its OVER 10 years old! You wouldn't still be using your PC from 10 years ago (I mean properly) :D

Hurray for progress :)
 
mitchell65

mitchell65

Gold Level Poster
I'm still using software that I had for Windows 95 and it serves me well. (It's never been updated either)
 
nathanjrb

nathanjrb

Prolific Poster
I'm afraid I'm with DeadEye on this one!

The new MS Office is fantastic :) Or I think it is anyway...
 
tom_gr7

tom_gr7

Life Serving
I use MS office 2010 professional plus (pretty much got everything with it)

I got it from software4students in a sale n was only about 35 quid!

You do have to be a university student though.
 
steaky360

steaky360

Moderator
Moderator
I use 2010 at home and at work currently and have no issues with it, don't think I'd move to office 360 seems like a gimmick all this cloud nonsense... No good at all if you're trying to do stuff where you cant access the interweb.

However I'm all for progress and Microsoft cant be expected to continue to support products forever, I think however there should be some kind of benefit to having owned an older version of office if you did upgrade though. Currently you don't get brand loyalty with microsoft stuff (or any kind of PC software).
 
mitchell65

mitchell65

Gold Level Poster
Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against the newer versions in fact I do get to use a 2010 version from time to time and took to the new ribbon idea like a duck to water. I like it! My personal gripe is that I shall be put to considerable expense just to be able to continue to support a very small local charity. The £300 or so that it is going to cost me could be much better spent by the charity.
If suddenly there were no more brake pads for all the cars in this country over 10 years old ????????????
 
M

mdwh

Enthusiast
mitchell65 said:
Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against the newer versions in fact I do get to use a 2010 version from time to time and took to the new ribbon idea like a duck to water. I like it! My personal gripe is that I shall be put to considerable expense just to be able to continue to support a very small local charity. The £300 or so that it is going to cost me could be much better spent by the charity.
If suddenly there were no more brake pads for all the cars in this country over 10 years old ????????????
Click to expand...
But you don't get a new brake pad for free, you still have to pay for it.

Similarly, Office 2003 isn't going to stop working - you're free to keep using it, but if you want another 10 years of support (security fixes etc), you have to pay (as it costs MS time and money to deliver that). I suppose yes, it is a shame that one can't simply pay a smaller amount for extended support in Office 2003, without having to buy a whole new version. On the other hand, supporting older versions isn't necessarily cheaper for MS, and indeed may be more costly having to support ancient versions indefinitely. And computers/software changes at a far greater rate than the car industry does - at some point with things like cars, it is no longer possible to buy replacement things that work with them, just at a slower rate.

You may be a charity, but then the same argument could be made of any costs that a charity has. If Office is too expensive, one possibility is to seek out alternative cheaper or free solutions - would Open Office work for you?
 
steaky360

steaky360

Moderator
Moderator
mitchell65 said:
If suddenly there were no more brake pads for all the cars in this country over 10 years old ????????????
Click to expand...

This kind of thing does happen, it is really difficult to get parts for older cars however the analogy is probably not a fair one (mostly because 10 year old cars tend to be readily available). It's like the motor companies not producing any new parts for a 10 year old car which happens all of the time :)
 
ubuysa

ubuysa

The BSOD Doctor
Software is funny stuff, it's quite unlike any other "product" ever developed because, no matter how much you use it, it doesn't wear out. Not only that, but old software has already had most of the functional bugs ironed out, so it's about as perfect as you can get!

The only problem with old software is that it lacks features that you find in the latest versions, but if you don't need those features then who cares? Since most functional bugs have long since been removed the dropping of support by the vendor thus isn't much of a problem, with one glaring exception - that Internet thingy.

The dropping of support means that any security exposures in the software will no longer be fixed. The solution I would have thought is to use old versions of products on a computer (or in a virtual guest) that does not have Internet connectivity. That way any security exposures are more difficult to exploit.

Certainly in the case of Mitchell65's Office 2003 Internet access is probably not necessary for it's continued use? So stick it in a VM or on a computer with no access to that 'orrible Internet doohicky.

Thoughts?
 
DeadEyeDuk

DeadEyeDuk

Superhero Level Poster
ubuysa said:
Software is funny stuff, it's quite unlike any other "product" ever developed because, no matter how much you use it, it doesn't wear out.
Click to expand...

I'd dispute that...I swear blind the copy of Coral Draw that we have in the office gets slower every year...I think it has wrinkles too...
 
mitchell65

mitchell65

Gold Level Poster
mdwh said:
would Open Office work for you?
Click to expand...

Unfortunately no as I use Publisher for a large part of the work. I daresay I will find an alternative. I have an old XP PC which still works OK albeit 'tis a bit slow. I never go on the internet with it so will put 2003 Publisher on that perhaps and carry on using it!
 
Kalisnoir

Kalisnoir

Super Star
Am I missing something? How is continuing to use Office 2003 after they stop supporting it going to be a security risk? (Genuine question because I'm quite computer savvy but I can't see how this is a problem.)
 
steaky360

steaky360

Moderator
Moderator
It's not going to be suddenly a security risk but the theory (or so I understand it) is that newer versions (which are inevitably based on older versions) will get patched as security flaws get pointed out. The issue is, it is a fair assumption (at least in some cases) that these flaws exist in the older versions too, which will remain unpatched/unfixed.

However I would guess this is a small issue in reality.
 
DeadEyeDuk

DeadEyeDuk

Superhero Level Poster
It is a small issue, but then think about what people store/have in Excel spreadsheets, and then think if what is in them could be open to whatever security flaw might exist.

Sure you can still use it, but I think its just their gentle way of saying MOVE ON PEOPLE! :D
 
Kalisnoir

Kalisnoir

Super Star
DeadEyeDuk said:
It is a small issue, but then think about what people store/have in Excel spreadsheets, and then think if what is in them could be open to whatever security flaw might exist.

Sure you can still use it, but I think its just their gentle way of saying MOVE ON PEOPLE! :D
Click to expand...

But who is stealing microsoft office files. If say a hacker has compromised a system with a RAT then what difference does it make. To get the file in the first place, protected or not (who actually password protects their files?) the hacker has to compromise the system meaning they will also get the theoretical password if they wait long enough for you to type it in...
 
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