Is it illegal to send the program Microsoft Word to someone?

[Destroyer2000]

? Some guy is begging me to send it to him, but I'm refusing.

[Nate]

Um...my only question is, WHY?!

Why would your friend want such a substandard word processing program? I hate Microsoft Word with an all-consuming passion.

Okay, maybe I'm just being opinionated...maybe it's SUPPOSED to crash halfway through something I'm writing without backing it up. I dunno.

I use Corel Wordperfect. Always have, always will.

[Jasdero]

Yeah, legally it's wrong.

[Destroyer2000]

Well, it didn't work anyway.

[Ashley]

A more above the table method for a decent word processor would be a freeware program. I know Linux has some to offer.

[Mithrandir]

Have him try OpenOffice.org. It's a freeware program whose word processor is effectively the same thing as Word. I like it BETTER, personally. And it does everything word can do and then some. (And faster, too).

[Mr. SmartyPants]

beat me to it oldphil

anyway, im sure it couldnt of worked, I tried putting the winword directory in my house from 1 computer to another, and it didnt work

[Mithrandir]

On a windows box, it's not a simple drag-and-drop, no. If you send someone a copy of the disc, or an ISO, then it's a different story entirely.

[blkmage]

AbiWord > all

On Windows, there's also registry keys to be copied. Not CD-keys, registry keys, y'know, that thing that gets cluttered up no matter what you do and you need to format or get special programs to clean it for you. Yeah, that thing.

[Jman]

Sending anything over the internet you bought is Illegal.

[Kaligraphic]

Yeah, what Oldphil said. Openoffice.org all the way! And the files are saved with the same information but smaller size, too. (I love the print to pdf option - try getting that standard in Word. (yes, you can install a print to pdf driver, but most of them cost money and are basically repackaging of the free ghostscript program, which is a pain to set up in Windows.)

[Mithrandir]

Jman - not exactly... You buy a license to a piece of software. It's perfectly fine to send it in electronic copy to another place - provided you don't use it where you originally downloaded it.

Kaligraphic - Every program on the Mac (including word) can "print to pdf" by default. It's part of the default OS X install. When I installed Word, it just worked. So your statement applies to Windows, but not any other opperating system...

[Kaligraphic]

Yeah, and I can set up a stock Linux install with a print to pdf filter (might even be the same one) with no trouble at all. Windows is terribly deficient in this regard. I was just assuming he meant for Windows because that's the most common, and most commonly pirated. (I suppose I should have said Word on Windows)

[Mr. SmartyPants]

ive also noticed you can save open office documents to like, a baillion different file types, so its really good when im switchign stuff from pc to mac

[Mithrandir]

Actually, MSP, that's a very good point. I've used that trick quite a few times to save my friends some hassle, or get in good with the boss.

"Oh no! This report is due, but I can't open this old document!"

"Here give me a minute."

"Hey! It works, what did you do?!?"

"I'm just magic."

"Wow!"

[peter2]

Try Microsoft's own Word File Viewer. You should find it buried under a few thousand levels of pages at Microsoft.com. Your friend should be able to, also.