Word 2002, won't work with Vista

Recently my Dell laptop monitor broke. On it was Word 2002. I am a poet and have 5 disk backups from a 2002 Word program installed on my old computer. Now I have a Dell Inspiron 1501 with Vista which uses a new Microsoft Works program. But when I try to copy my disks on to the new Works program the backup disks will not open. After speaking with Dell I was told that Vista is not compatible with the Microsoft 2002 Office program. According to them Microsoft's 2003 version is however compatible. That I need to either download a trial version of Word 2003 or find a computer still using it then copy the backups to that computer. Once copied I should make a second set of backups from that computer which can then be downloaded onto my new Inspiron. Problem....Microsoft no longer has trial versions of 2003 since they want you to buy the 2007 software.
I have 100's of poems on these disks that I need to access. Can anyone help me?

[RicheemxX]

Down load Open Office its free and will work with MS files http://www.openoffice.org/

[Steve R Jones]

Office 2000 and newer will run on Vista.

Quote:

But when I try to copy my disks on to the new Works program the backup disks will not open.

Not sure what you mean by the above...Does Disk one of your set have a Setup.exe file that you can click on in Windows Explorer to launch the installation of Word?

[RamonGTP]

Quote:

Originally Posted by RicheemxX

Down load Open Office its free and will work with MS files http://www.openoffice.org/

With all due respect it's a bit lame to try and push other software without even TRYING to troubleshoot the problem. That's like someone telling a mechanic that his steering wheel shakes when he goes above 70Mph and the mechanic telling him to drive 65 instead and sending him on his way.

MS Word 2002 is fully compatible with Vista. You need to be sure you have an install disk and not a data disk with a bunch of word documents. By your description I was not sure if the backup disks you're refferring to are backup's of your work or of the actual install disk. You also cannot simply copy the disk to the hard drive and have it work. You have to go through the install process. If you have the correct disk, the install process should start when you load the disk in the drive.

[RicheemxX]

Ramon with all due respect the way I read it they have a bunch of data disk with a bunch of word documents that they are trying to open. I might be completely off there but thats what I see. Why else would you say "I try to copy my disks on to the new Works program the backup disks will not open."

I might be way off there...but yeah not troubleshooting was a bit of a goof

[osprey4]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Unregistered

But when I try to copy my disks on to the new Works program the backup disks will not open.

This is NOT an Office problem, if you are not able to access the disks. The Dell techs appear not to understand your problem.

What kind of disks are we talking about? Floppy disks? CDs?

[Elowan]

All my Word files have always opened in any and all versions of Word I've used and into Works as well. If you can't copy the files from the dvd/cd to your HD - then your operating system or hardware is borked.

[davef62]

when i try and get the office 2003 disk i get a "label this blank disc) message . like it wont read it..

any ideas??

most disc i put in this comoputer i have this problem and its really annoying

on vista and trying to get office 2003 to work.. its annoying

[RamonGTP]

Is this a real disk or a burned copy?

There is absolutly NO difference in getting Office 2003 to work in Vista versus XP. The installation process and usage of the program is identical.