KTJohnson Loc: Northern Michigan

I am using Word 2007 on a Win 8.1 with no issues, however I actually liked using Word 2003 better. It is no longer supported.

Has anyone heard of or using Kingsoft 2013? It's supposed to be free. Any other options? The older programs had many more fonts that I used & liked.

Thanks ahead of time for any info.

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

Any other options? Yes. Open Office. They offer everything MS Office does, plus some. The UI is very similar and quite friendly. Free Windoze and Mac versions.

http://www.openoffice.org/

--Bob

strobe Loc: Central Iowa

Open Office is also available for Linux.

Word doesn't install its own fonts. Fonts are installed on the computer and Word uses them, so if you get more fonts installed on your computer they will be available in Word.

Jahawk Loc: Rhode Island

:thumbup: :thumbup:

stonecherub Loc: Tucson, AZ

Avoid Kingsoft like the plague, it has the plague.

Like you, I have been using an copy of Office 2003 for years and the last time I tried to install it on a new machine, Microsoft balked because they said it was too old.

Someone suggested Kingsoft and it came with drive-by downloads of some very nasty adware. Had to use both Vipre and Malwarebytes to get rid of it.

Libre Office split from Open office a couple of years ago and they seem a little more enthusiastic about updating their software. Both of these are donation-ware.

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

Fedora 14 (Linux) was my first intro to Open Office. Does everything Windoze does, plus some.
--Bob

DirtFarmer Loc: Escaped from the NYC area, back to MA

I have Word2003 on my Win8 machine. It's an upgrade from Word98 and I had to install that first to get Word2003 to install. Had no problems with either. Haven't put it on my Win10 machine yet.

I use 2003 because my wife uses Word on the computer. She's not really into computers and it takes weeks to get her up to speed when we make a change. Word2007 is different enough that the changes would take me months to get her up to speed if it could be done at all.

Everyone else uses 2007 or newer so I just use a conversion program when someone sends me a word file.

bookman Loc: Southeast Michigan

KTJ, I am a tech writer that has, for better or worse, had to use MS Word for many years. When I changed companies back in 2008 and moved from Word 2003 to Word 2007 I was totally frustrated at the new interface, but 2003 was SO full of problems when used beyond a basic level that I felt that I had to stick it out with the newer version. (Plus, I wanted a paycheck :wink: )

I'll tell you, it took a couple of weeks for me to get comfortable with the new interface but once I did I would never go back to the earlier versions even if I had a choice. My work flow has at least doubled with the new GUI and many of the problems with the earlier versions of Word have gone away. My frustrations with the product have dropped considerably.

I have no experience with Kingsoft and only a little with Open Office and so won't comment on them but if you have Word 2007 and can invest a little more time with it you might give it another chance. It really is one of the best improvements MS has made to one of its products in my memory (at least when using it on a professional level) and how often can you say that? :thumbup:

speters Loc: Grangeville/Idaho

You can always add fonts to a program!

Grizlybare Loc: Tennessee

You might want to look into Libre Office or Open Offic You are able to open and work on any MS Office document. e. They are free and I believe better than MS office. Just my opinion. Good luck.

JoelS Loc: Deep South Alabama

I have never used Kingsoft 2013 but like anything, if its free, it comes with a price (meaning adware). I have used Word 2003, 2007, 2010 and 2013, each one takes time to learn. I would recommend WordPerfect which is by Corel. Generally you can go to discount software and buy a CD version for under $20 with no adware, it's has everything Word Office has. OpenOffice is another good program. I would go to C-Net and down load it from there to avoid any third party site trying to put adware on your computer. Good luck!!