Install 2007 safe next tot 2003?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Guest
  • Start date Start date
G

Guest

Hi there,

I'd like to try de 2007 bêta, but want to keep on using my trusted 2003
version as well.
Can this be done safely, just by installing it in another folder, drive or
partition?
What problems can I expect? (OK, I will not use 2007 files in 2003;)

Thanks,

Frans
 
No, at some point your going to need to reformat the hard drive. Microsoft
makes this clear and says DO NOT install it on a production machine.


Austin Myers
MS PowerPoint MVP Team

Provider of PFCMedia http://www.pfcmedia.com
 
A side-by-side install of PPT 2003 and 2007 is possible (you have to
pick one Outlook version though). I have been running this configuration
since November and 2003 has been mainly unaffected by 2007. I don't
quite know why Austin is suggesting that you have to reformat your
harddrive eventually, which I definitely disagree with. Office 2007 does
uninstall relatively well (Outlook 2007 B2 seems to be the notorious
exception), so uninstalling it should remove it (almost) completely from
your hard drive and whatever remains on your hard drive (if anything at
all) is not going to be a big deal besides taking up harddrive space.
The MS warning to not install it on a production machine refers to using
beta software in a production environment. Beta software has bugs, is by
nature unstable, can "eat your data", etc. Therefore you should be very
careful in using it.
The best strategy is of course to install in a virtual machine or a
separate computer instead of your main production machine.

Patrick Schmid
 
Hi there,

I'd like to try de 2007 bêta, but want to keep on using my trusted 2003
version as well.
Can this be done safely, just by installing it in another folder, drive or
partition?
Click to expand...

Probably not. Microsoft recommends against installing this on a production
computer.

If you have a way to boot multiple independent copies of Windows, then it's
probably safe to install into your second/test (not main working copy).
 
The problem you will run into is uninstalling all the "support" files for
O-12. (If you have a read on the MS web site lots of folks have hit this
wall.) For me, formatting the drive is the easiest solution. Also be aware
that MS has NOT said you will be able to install the final release over the
beta.

I don't know about anyone else but I've been through several versions of the
Office betas and having learned from the past there is no way I would
install it on a machine that was in production use or that had other data
that was important to me. The exception of course being a virtual machine
but I think you will find many of the high end graphics don't work well in a
virtual machine.

All of that aside, it's your PC, go for it if you like. :-)


Austin Myers
MS PowerPoint MVP Team

Provider of PFCMedia http://www.pfcmedia.com
 
The problem you will run into is uninstalling all the "support" files
for
O-12. (If you have a read on the MS web site lots of folks have hit this
wall.) For me, formatting the drive is the easiest solution. Also be aware
that MS has NOT said you will be able to install the final release over the
beta.
Click to expand...
Probably won't be possible. However, all you need to do is uninstall the
beta version and install the release version. That is the recommend
"upgrade" procedure when moving from one beta build to another and it
seems to work fine the two times I did this so far. Office setup doesn't
delete your settings when you uninstall it, hence it is almost as good
as a clean upgrade.

Patrick Schmid
 
"seems to" .... "should" ... "relatively well" ...

That could be said of a lot of the betas and even of some Windows and Office
upgrades.

Then the odd little problems appear. Much later, sometimes. And nobody quite
knows why.

No thanks. I'm not going to *recommend* the beta to anyone who doesn't have a
disposable Windows installation to pop it into.

As you say, virtual machines are the way to go.
 
You sound like someone that has been there and done that. <g>
 
I generally am a lot more wiling to take a risk when it comes to beta
software personally. I managed though to dissuade someone from switching
to OneNote 2007, quite to my surprise ;)

Patrick Schmid
 
You sound like someone that has been there and done that. <g>
Click to expand...

First beta for a major app in '85 or so and lots more since.

Had so much fun when we had to do Win95 and CorelDraw5 concurrently that I
haven't touched a beta OS since. Learned lots about multibooting for that one,
though. <g>

Had multiple SCSI external drives, set 'em both up as bootable and could turn
on the one I wanted and turn the other off before booting up. Sweet.

This was also when you could boot and run the system off a 90mb Bernoulli drive
w/o too much pain. Things change ...
 
I generally am a lot more wiling to take a risk when it comes to beta
software personally.
Click to expand...

I see that and I'm very glad that you're there. (Patrick's a gem, folks. Be
nice to him. We want to keep him around. <g>)

But you understand the risks and are able to deal well with things when the
apps bite you on the ankles.

It's not a game for most users, though.
I managed though to dissuade someone from switching
to OneNote 2007, quite to my surprise ;)
Click to expand...

Patrick! I'm PROUD of you! ;-))))
 
Patrick Schmid said:
I see that and I'm very glad that you're there. (Patrick's a gem, folks. Be
nice to him. We want to keep him around. <g>)

But you understand the risks and are able to deal well with things when the
apps bite you on the ankles.

It's not a game for most users, though.
Click to expand...
Yep. I totally agree and thanks for the compliment :)
Steve btw knows about the episode when B1TR of PPT 2007 corrupted a
really important presentation of mine and I had to spend a long time
resurrecting it...If you need any help with the new XML file formats,
let me know. I had to learn them very quickly that night ;)

Your story about beta testing Win95 reminded me of a story of mine
around the time Win95 came out. I was big into OS/2, but had limited
space on my boot hard drive. I had Win 3.11, Win95 and OS/2 on it, but I
really needed more space. So I started taking the OS2 main directory
apart and put a sizable chunk of the contents there on another drive
(the Win equivalent would be distributing the contents of the Windows
folder across two drives). Obviously the OS/2 help claimed that you
can't do it, but it ran stable until the day when a virus ate one of the
hard drives, and one of the OS/2 backup tapes turned out to be
damaged...so the backup was ruined. That was the end of OS/2 for me...
Patrick! I'm PROUD of you! ;-))))
Click to expand...
Haha..thanks. I think alluding to my ppt episode helped ;)

Patrick
 
Your story about beta testing Win95 reminded me of a story of mine
around the time Win95 came out. I was big into OS/2, but had limited
space on my boot hard drive. I had Win 3.11, Win95 and OS/2 on it, but I
really needed more space. So I started taking the OS2 main directory
apart and put a sizable chunk of the contents there on another drive
Click to expand...

No matter how wildly off-topic it may be, I have to ask how you made that work.

Or was it sufficient for all the needed files to be on the path?
 
OS/2 had a config.sys which was rather similar to DOS's config.sys and
autoexec.bat. Changing the path of all the files that were loaded there
did quite a bit. Then I also had to change the path, and I don't
remember what else I had to do to get this to work. It wasn't just
sufficient to change the path and it was a painstaking exercise of
moving one piece, trying it, moving the next one, etc.

Patrick Schmid
 
OS/2 had a config.sys which was rather similar to DOS's config.sys and
autoexec.bat. Changing the path of all the files that were loaded there
did quite a bit. Then I also had to change the path, and I don't
remember what else I had to do to get this to work. It wasn't just
sufficient to change the path and it was a painstaking exercise of
moving one piece, trying it, moving the next one, etc.
Click to expand...

Understood. But as I recall, while there were a lot of files in OS2, it was
nothing like the gazzillobytes worth of stuff in Win95 and upward.
 
Probably not. This was the time when you had Windows 3.11 support in
OS/2 by actually launching an installation of Windows.
I think OS/2 was overall more structured than Win95 back then. It was at
that time technically way superior to Win95 though
 
OK thanks Steve,

I'll go the safe way and install on another PC. (Thought so..)
But the discussion about the "good old" times was also interesting!
Have a lot of those stories too. (maybe proceed in San Diego?)

Bye,

Frans
 
OK thanks Steve,

I'll go the safe way and install on another PC. (Thought so..)
But the discussion about the "good old" times was also interesting!
Have a lot of those stories too. (maybe proceed in San Diego?)
Click to expand...

You'll be there again? Great! You know where you'll be able to find me (no, not
the bar, the HELP center!)
 
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