InBox

Brian is one of several readers who followed the Inbox directions to change the default language in Office XP. As soon the language is selected and an attempt made to activate the changes, an error message screams for the Office CD. Why is this?

When Office is installed, it only installs the default language - usually English US - unless another is chosen by the installer. If at a later date you choose to change this to another option, the files have to be found to include it in the available languages since they may not be on the actual machine. Do as the error requests - place the CD in the drive and allow the machine to add the files to the arsenal of tools Office uses. Normally this will not require the installation code, but always have it handy just in case the machine spits the registration code error at you. 

Corine has MS Works, but says it is not compatible with the more widely used Microsoft Word. She wants to know if there is a viable alternative that won't irritate her limited budget?

In the past I've suggested Open Office, at www.openoffice.org, as a reasonably compatible suite of programs that in many cases works as well as the hugely popular Microsoft product, though it is a little lean on extras.

There are converters available for MS Works, but users of Open Office do rave about its level of compatibility. Being free open-source software, it is a continuing development project based initially on the Sun Microsystems commercial product StarOffice.

A surprisingly small download of 64 megabytes for the proven version gets you the full suite of software. For the brave, there's the 73-megabyte beta version, which hasn't yet been fully tested.

Microsoft Office sales provide the company with nearly 30 per cent of its income, so it will obviously stay ahead in development and features. But Open Office is definitely a viable alternative to running pirated software when your budget is limited.