Should I buy Office 2003 for Windows or Office 2007?

Thanks to the University of Wisconsin-Madison for providing the basis of this AskISR article.

Microsoft has released Office 2007. You can no longer purchase Office 2003.   If you do purchase Office 2007, please note the following:

• The default 2007 Microsoft Office file format is new, and incompatible with all previous versions of Microsoft Office. Users can change the default file format in Word 2007 to the .doc (previous) format by doing this:

  Office button > Word Options > Save > Save files in this format: Word 97-2003 Document (*.doc)

  The procedure for changing the default file format for Excel and PowerPoint is similar.

  Users of pre-Office 2007 Windows versions of Word, Excel, and PowerPoint can use the Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint 2007 File Formats, to make it possible to view and create files in the new Office 2007 file formats. This helps ensure that users of Office 2007 can continue to work with third-party solutions based on earlier versions, and users of earlier versions of Office can work with their colleagues, suppliers, customers, and others who have upgraded.

  The Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint 2007 File Formats is available here.

• There is not yet an Office Compatibility Pack available for Office for Mac.

• Office 2008 for the Mac is now available. This latest version of the Office suite for the Mac will use the Office Open XML formats natively, making it compatible with Office 2007.