XP Home Edition Inadequate

[Craig]

I just purchased a new Toshiba Satellite P15 S409 with
Windows XP Home software from Toshiba. I purchased the
computer over the Internet.

I use the computer overseas in an office environment,
i.e., sharing / editing files. To my extreme displeasure
I discovered that XP Home cannot open Word documents with
the installed software programs WordPad or Microsoft
Works Word Processor. Another program I cannot open with
XP Home are Power Point programs which are valuable as
training aids.

What options do I have?

Upgrade XP Home, if possible, to get the software I
mention above.

Purchase the entire software bundle of XP Office or XP
Office Professional to get the software I mention above.

Are either of these options available for downloading
over the Internet -- remember I am overseas and don't
have a Comp USA or Circuit City down the street.

I appreciate any assistance.

 

[Courtney]

Hate to tell you this, but no version of Windows opens Word documents by
default. Not only that, no version will EVER open Word documents by default.

Word is part of the Microsoft Office suite and has nothing to do with the
operating system. By the way, Works is also a seperate program that has
nothing to do with the operating system.

Your options, buy either Word or the Office suite.

Neither version is available as a legal download. You can purchase them
overseas, however.

courtney

 

[Doug Knox MS-MVP]

These programs may be bundled with your PC, but they are not part of Microsoft Windows XP. Microsoft Word and PowerPoint are part of the Microsoft Office package. If they were not included in your "bundle", then you will have to purchase them separately.

 

[Zebedee]

My personal experience of XP pro says: "don't buy windows next time". Have
you tried downloading open office. It'll do PowerPoint, word and
spreadsheet - even loading Microsoft files. It's free and available from
sun.

--
Yours

Zebedee

(Claiming asylum in an attempt
to escape paying his debts to
Dougal and Florence)

 

[Zebedee]

My personal experience of XP pro says: "don't buy windows next time". Have
you tried downloading open office. It'll do PowerPoint, word and
spreadsheet - even loading Microsoft files. It's free and available from
sun.

--
Yours

Zebedee

(Claiming asylum in an attempt
to escape paying his debts to
Dougal and Florence)

 

[Bill]

Word viewer and PowerPoint reader are supposedly available for free download
from Microsoft website:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...60-E4F3-436D-A5A7-DA0E5431E5C1&displaylang=EN

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...8E-5513-46C4-AA4F-058A84A37DF1&displaylang=EN

 

[Bruce Chambers]

Greetings --

1) Go to store/shop that sells computer software. (No, you cannot
legitimately download these via the Internet, but you could order
them, I suppose. Try www.cdw.com)

2) Purchase either Microsoft Word and PowerPoint or a Microsoft
Office suite that
contains both.

3) Return home.

4) Insert installation CD in PC's CD drive and follow the on-screen
prompts and instructions to install application and desired additional
features.

Neither the Microsoft Office application suite, nor any of its
individual component applications (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Access,
Outlook, etc.), have _ever_ been "part" of *any* Windows operating
system. They are, and always have been, separate applications, that
must be purchased and installed separately.


Bruce Chambers
--
Help us help you:



You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don't ever count on
having both at once. -- RAH

 

[kimmy]

Word viewer and PowerPoint reader are supposedly available for free
download
from Microsoft website:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...60-E4F3-436D-A5A7-DA0E5431E5C1&displaylang=EN
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...8E-5513-46C4-AA4F-058A84A37DF1&displaylang=EN

Not just "supposedly", they actually are available and they work just fine
as long as you don't need to edit the documents.

Kimmy

 

[Guest]

Perhaps you should download open office from open office.org. Download the windows XP version. It is totally free and allows you to save and open files in the office formats.

 

[Tim Slattery]

My personal experience of XP pro says: "don't buy windows next time". Have
you tried downloading open office. It'll do PowerPoint, word and
spreadsheet - even loading Microsoft files. It's free and available from
sun.

It's available from www.openoffice.org, not from Sun. I agree that
it's good stuff, and reads MS Office files. Sun makes a for-pay
version of it called Star Office. I don't know what it has that Open
Office doesn't.

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

In

I just purchased a new Toshiba Satellite P15 S409 with
Windows XP Home software from Toshiba. I purchased the
computer over the Internet.

I use the computer overseas in an office environment,
i.e., sharing / editing files. To my extreme displeasure
I discovered that XP Home cannot open Word documents with
the installed software programs WordPad or Microsoft
Works Word Processor. Another program I cannot open with
XP Home are Power Point programs which are valuable as
training aids.

You say "extreme displeasure," but the problem is simply that you
were unaware of what is part of an operating system and what is
not. You apparently exepected Windows XP to come with Word and
PowerPoint. But I'm sorry to tell you that you're mistaken.
Neither it, nor any other version of Windows, has ever included
Excel, Word, PowerPoint, Access, or any significant other
application software. Such programs have to be bought, either by
themselves or as part of Microsoft Office.

If your previous computer, running an older version of Windows,
came with these, it was because the vendor who sold it bundled
them as part of the package he sold you, not because that version
of Windows came with them.

What options do I have?

Upgrade XP Home, if possible, to get the software I
mention above.

No. There is nothing to upgrade to that provides these
applications.

Purchase the entire software bundle of XP Office or XP
Office Professional to get the software I mention above.

Yes. Alternatively you can also get competitive products, such as
OpenOffice, StarOffice, or Corel WordPerfect Office. The choice
is yours.

Are either of these options available for downloading
over the Internet --

No. However OpenOffice and StarOffice are.